You’ve made the decision to design your own website. Now what? The first step is to familiarize yourself with HTML coding. HTML is an abbreviation for Hyper Text Markup Language and it is the programming language that web browsers such as Firefox, Netscape Navigator, Opera and Internet Explorer use to interpret the look of your website when it goes live. Your website should be written with clean HTML that can be read by all browsers the same way to ensure that all visitors have the same viewing experience.

There are tools online that can help you clean up your HTML, assisting you with complete syntax highlighting. Web design software such as Dreamweaver, FrontPage or Adobe GoLive require HTML to design a website.

When you design your website with HTML, you want to keep the code minimal for faster downloading times. Using external style sheets and linking to external JavaScript will assist in minimizing downloading time. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is an excellent tool that helps to regulate the viewer’s experience of your website and aides in making quick changes to your website.

Title Tags get your website seen through search engine optimization (SEO). The title tag associated with your website should be under 60 characters and accurately describes each page of your website and markets your business or online company. You want to use a creative yet factual representation of your product in each title tag.

Meta Tags: describe your website with complete sentences. In short, 15 words or less sentences, your Meta Tags describe your website. Include the location of your business, action verbs and an authentic description of your business for your Meta Tags.

* Search Engines no longer rely heavily on Meta Tag keywords to determine page ranking.
* Include the top 10 keywords of your website in your Meta Tags
* The description of your website is what is shown in search engine results and should contain the top 1-5 keywords of your site in under 150 characters.
* Search Engines use algorithms that evaluate keywords within your content to find your page in search requests.
* Keep your overall keyword usage under 20 words that describe your website.

A good website is a simple website. When you’re starting out designing your HTML coding and you learn the basics, you’ll have to fight the urge to over-design your website. Always keep the user in mind when you design your website and make it user-friendly.