A very good question, one I have been asked many times before. A simple answer is; advertising. A website can instantly be easy to find by anyone in the world with an internet connection (providing you have a fully optimised and well structured website of course). This opens the door to a an audience of around 1,500,000,000 people.

Another quite obvious answer is that you can display an extensive catalogue of your services and update them as often as you like for much less money than the traditional paper equivalents.

A website can prove to be a reassurance to potential clients; if a company has a striking, professional looking website then it sets a good impression. It is also important for these same potential clients to be able to get into contact with you and a ‘contact us’ page is one of the most visited pages on any successful, professional website.

The fairly recent development of the social networking boom, spurred on by the likes of Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, has enlightened internet users to the fact that they can interact with the people they are dealing with through their websites. Features such as web blogs and news feeds are becoming increasingly popular and these technologies not only provide a means for up to date information, but also contribute to user’s being more able to identify with the people and companies they deal with through websites. Through this identification, trust is formed and the business/client relationship is maintained and expanded. It is far easier to retain clients than to get new ones and keeping them up to date via your website is a very quick and effortless way of doing this.

In conclusion; your company may not need a website but with the above opportunities available to every company out there, including competitors, the real question is: why would you not want a website?

The aim of this post is to look at the technical terms I use nearly everyday in describing aspects of web development and to make them more ‘user friendly’.  I have listed my most used phrases and given a brief description of what I actually mean when I use them.

• Accessibility -This is a pretty important one, a website that is accessible means that anyone can browse the site regardless of their computer, browser or any disabilities.  It means that everyone has equal access to your content.
• Back End - The back end of a website is where the admin user(s) edit or update the content of their website via a Content Management System (see CMS)
• Backlink - A backlink is quite simply a link from an external website to your own website and these are used to promote the website and improve search engine rankings.
• CMS - A Content Management System (CMS) is the admin system of a website.  Admin users have login details to access this protected part of the website and are able to add, edit, delete and publish website content.  When content is altered via the Back End the Front End is also updated.
• Database- A Database stores all the content you have added via your CMS as a catalogue of data and is used via the Front End to display the content.
• Favicon - This is the small icon that appears to the left in your browser address bar when you visit certain websites.
• Front End - This is the website as the user sees it when they visit your URL. This is generated from the content added in via the Back End and stored in the Database.
• Landing Page - A landing page is the page that a user first sees when they arrive on your website.  They will have got through to this page via a search or a direct link.
• Meta Description -The meta description is hidden in your website code and is used to briefly describe your website and more specifically the page.  Search engines sometimes use these descriptions when displaying search results.
• Meta Keywords - Similar to the Meta Description but a list of related words as opposed to a coherent sentence or paragraph.
• Navigation - Users click on links to browse through your website and these links are known as the website navigation.
• Template - A template contains the design elements that make up the look and feel of the website.  A template is pulled in by every webpage to ensure consistancy throughout the website.
• URL - Each website has it’s own unique URL and this is the address at which the website can be found - this website URL is www.devec.co.uk
• Usability - This term is extremely important. The usability of a website dictates how easy it is for every single user to use your website.  It is closely linked with Accessibility.
• Web Server - Every website is hosted on a web server and this is what enables the website to be viewed.  The server runs software for displaying websites.
• Web Standards - Web Standards are followed to ensure Usability and Accessibility constancy and were created by the World Wide Web Consortium.

Welcome to the new website and blog.

I am very happy to get the website finished and start working on the blog.  devEc is an up and coming web development company that is user oriented; it is our main goal to provide our clients with a good looking, tidy website with a focus on usability and optimisation.  It is extremely important that every member of your target audience can find and use your website.

The company has taken off in a big way, there are a lot of projects currently underway and many more that are set to get started in the near future.  The aim of this blog section of the website is to keep everyone up to date with devEc activities and to work through the occasional tutorial to help our clients and readers utlize the many resources available to them through devEc.