In the same way modular homes are easily assembled using a set of independent sections, or modules, the Web design process can be made much simpler using pre-built elements.

The idea is to create a set of modules that you can pull together for any future design projects. You might use only a few modules per project, or you might use all of them at some point on every page you build.

The basic list of modules you might create are:

- Head

- Body/Table

- External Stylesheet

- Standard Includes

- Menu Blank

Begin by populating your document head with the relevant data, and then save your progress. Then go back and strip away the unique attributes, leaving only the raw tags.

For instance, delete the text between your title tags, and remove the info in your META tags, leaving only the HTML tags in place. Now save this document as head.html; it will look something like this:

< head >
< title > < / title >
< META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”" >
< META NAME=”Keywords” CONTENT=”" >
< / head >

You have just created a head module you can use as the base for all future templates. And since you saved your initial document you can simply open it back up and continue working.

Use this modulation for any specific parts of a page you think you’ll be using often. As we’ve already indicate above you should set up modules for your page body, including at least one type of table module.

Also you should have a base CSS stylesheet that you can open and begin adding data to for any design project you start. If you use server side includes to parse your menus and Adsense blocks you should also have a baseline code for your includes commands as well.

And of course you should have multiple blank menu modules that you can copy and paste into a new design scheme as you go. This will save you loads of time and allow you to just plug in the custom fields such as button title, page URL, etc.

By having half a dozen or so modules available to you, any design project can be launched quickly and easily. You just open up your selected module files, begin copying and pasting, and soon you’ll have your base template document ready for custom coding.

I have found this simple technique can shave off at least an hour of any Web design project and sometimes much more. And by arming your employees or outsource agents with your module suite you will be able to get more bang for your buck in terms of hired labor.

You can even use the module formula for add-on elements like ad blocks, banner rotators, email forms, hover pops, audio players, and more. In fact the more pre-built modules you have for these elements the more likely you are to use them freely on your Web pages.

It’s easy to get lazy after a couple of hours of coding and decide to skip a few special features. But if all you need to do is open the audio module to get most of the legwork done odds are you’ll follow through with it.

The modulation approach can also be sued with WordPress blogs. You can and should have an “installation notes” document that has your entire ping list, specific plugin settings, Technorati Faves code, and any other standard elements you include with most blogs. This can make the process of setting up new blogs quick and easy, even without the use of expensive management software.

Put these simple ideas to sue in your own design work today and enjoy the immediate spike in productivity they are sure to create.

We would love to help you learn Web design with our comprehensive Web Design Course. We now offer video training as well through our special Gold Member program - Click Here Now to get full details on our video Web design training!

Having worked online as a Web marketer since 2005, I’ve seen just about every trick and gimmick imaginable for improving a page’s standing in the search engines. Naturally most of these suggested tactics are unethical, and therefore end up contributing to the creation of new strictures within the search algorithms.

The ironic thing is, you really don’t need any trickery to get the search engines to like you. All this black hat nonsense is just a big waste of time and it ends up causing more problems than it solves.

The pattern works as follows:

Every couple of months a new set of childish tactics is hailed as the next big thing for faking out the search algorithms and getting a page to the top of the rankings. Thousands of marketers who either don’t know any better or just aren’t capable of quality Web development climb on the bandwagon and for a couple of months all participants enjoy improved search engine position.

Invariably, the minds behind the Web’s leading search engines catch on to the hoodwinking, adjust their algorithms and level severe penalties against Webmasters caught using the most recent black hat techniques. Sometimes this will result in a domain being chucked completely out of the search index.

This is especially tragic when otherwise honest site owners have been given bad advice from so-called SEO experts. Generally speaking, there is no process for appeal once your site has been banned from Google or otherwise flagged as a black hat operation.

The good news is you need not worry about this sort of trouble if you simply resolve to steer clear of all suspect SEO strategies. Be sure to do your research and check in with the Web’s more reputable search marketing authorities before executing a new technique.

It’s really not hard to spot a black hat trick. Your gut will tell you if the method is questionable, and again if it’s above the radar you’ll certainly find info about it on any number of honest marketing blogs.

To help you avoid some of the guesswork, I’m going to give you some standard advice on what makes a good, search engine friendly piece of Web property. These rules of thumb haven’t changed since 2003 and it’s unlikely they’ll stop working any time in the future.

First, you need to understand that search engines are looking for exactly the same thing on a page that a human user is looking for: quality! Keep this in mind as you build your pages and set up your blogs and you can’t go wrong.

The most important onsite element for good SEO is your title tag. This needs to include one to three solid keyword phrases. Your title is not only crucial to feeding the search spiders, it’s also the heading that will be displayed when your site appears in the search results.

Next is your META description tag. There is some controversy as to whether the major engines still look at this tag, but I’m telling you right now Google does. Not only will a good application of your main keywords help your ranking, you should know the META description is the text that shows up beneath your title in the results listings.

Within your main page content, be sure to exercise good keyword placement with your H1, H2, and other heading tags. Also experiment with putting relevant keyword phrases into strong, italic, and underline tags to let spiders know where important terms are on your page.

And don’t forget to name your images, links, and other files as keyword phrases. This little-used tactic allows you to slip a few extra keywords into a page without stuffing your content.

When using a blog, be absolutely sure to insert several relevant tags into the appropriate field with all your posts. This function is incredibly effective at getting the attention of the search engines and can result in your posts being indexed literally within minutes.

It’s also a smart move to put together a simple site map. This is essentially a linkage index that allows the spider bots to crawl your entire site quickly and easily. There are a number of sitemap generators online that make this process quick and easy for you.

Taking the above tips into consideration, remember to keep it natural! If you go to absurd lengths to add excessive keywords into your page content you’ll be flagged as a search spammer and end up getting the dreaded slap for it.

If you apply this simple formula for building your pages, you’ll have search engine friendly Websites every time. The only thing left to do is acquire lots of quality back links and watch your ranking improve over time.

Tim Whiston is a professional entrepreneur who enjoys helping other entrepreneurs achieve success. He would love to teach you the basics of Web design with his comprehensive Website Creation Course.
 

The best tip for beginning Website developers is to take things one step at a time. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the thought building an entire Website, so just look at each task in the process as individual projects.

Every HTML document consists of two parts, the head and the body. The head contains your HTML title, META tags, and other relevant data. The body area contains the part of your Web page that will be publicly visible. These two distinct parts of your document represent two separate steps in the building process.

You can break things down further by itemizing each major piece in the head and coding these step-by-step. For instance, you’ll enter your title tag details, style sheet reference, and the META tags you have chosen to use.

Do the same with your body. Create your main table or div elements, and then slowly work your way inward.

Save your progress after each tag or attribute you enter. This will allow you to avoid the chaos of having to start over in the event your work is interrupted by a power surge.

Also, you can leave hard return spaces between lines of code in your HTML editor. These won’t show up as extra spaces on your public HTML page, and they make it easy for you to find specific areas when you need to make changes or updates.

And you can use the comment tag to make notes to yourself that will only be visible when viewing the raw code. This is helpful for breaking the document up into more manageable sections.

Through practice you will begin to see the overall document clearly. The initial sense of anxiety and confusion that comes from opening a piece of raw code and trying to find your way around will pass.

Quickly and easily learn Web design with the author’s amazing online course. You’ll be an ace Webmaster in no time with this full-blown Web design course at your disposal.