Course Description
Students will explore strategies that drive traffic to a website, help users find content within a website, and encourages return visits. Search engine optimization methods (SEO), marketing strategies, traffic analysis, and theory surrounding search behavior will be discussed. Students will investigate the relationships between Usability, Accessibility, Information Architecture, Marketing, and Findability in order to implement strategies for creating findable content.
Prerequisites
- FED-110 Web Design 2
- SSD-100 Server-Side Scripting 1 (future release)
Recommended Textbook(s)
- Walter, Aarron. Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond. Grand Rapids: New Riders, 2008. Book's companion site with 5 bonus chapters
Recommended Reading
- The Semantic Web
- High Accessibility Is Effective Search Engine Optimization
- Ambient Findability: Findability Hacks
- The Perfect 404
- Findability: Orphan of the Web Design Industry
- Adding Microformats Magic to Your Site
- Findability Strategy Checklist (PDF) - guide to incorporating findability into new or existing websites
Technologies Required
- Students will need their own Unix/Linux web server running Apache to post their assignments
- Mac or PC computers with internet connection
- Web Browsers (Firefox, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer)
- Web page editor that foster the development of valid (X)HTML and CSS code