Alt text (alternative text) is the text description of an image on a web page. It’s used by screen readers and search engines.

Backlinks are links from a page on one website to another. Search engines analyze the quality of a backlink to estimate how important a page is.

Some websites are considered brochure websites because they contain static information created to provide basic details to internet users, similar to a traditional paper brochure.

Brochure websites tend to have the majority of their content on the home page and minimal navigation to other pages.

More than half of all websites are created on Content Management Systems, the most popular one being WordPress, but other common platforms include Wix, Squarespace and Shopify.

Image Description: How to read the diagram: 33.1% of the websites use none of the content management systems that we monitor. WordPress is used by 43.0% of all websites, that is a contentent management marketshare of 64.2%.

Shopify: 4.2% of all websites

Wix: 2.3% of all websites

Squarespace: 2.0% of all websites

Less than 2%:

Joomla, Drupal, Adobe Systems, Google Systems, Bitrix, Webflow, Prestashop, OpenCart, Weebly, GoDaddy Website Builder

Conversions track a desired action – clicking a button, submitting a form, purchasing an item, etc.

A cookie is a small amount of data generated by a website and saved by your web browser. Its purpose is to remember information about you, similar to a preference file created by a software application.

See more information about compliance surrounding cookies, and read our own Cookie Policy.

While cookies serve many functions, their most common purpose is to store login information for a specific site. Some sites will save both your username and password in a cookie, while others will only save your username. Whenever you check a box that says, “Remember me on this computer,” the website will generate a login cookie once you successfully log in. Each time you revisit the website, you may only need to enter your password or you might not need to log in at all.

Cookies are also used to store user preferences for a specific site. For example, a search engine may store your search settings in a cookie. A news website may use a cookie to save a custom text size you select for viewing news articles. Financial websites sometimes use cookies to store recently viewed stock quotes. If a website needs to store a lot of personal information, it may use a cookie to remember who you are, but will load the information from the web server. This method, called “server side” storage, is often used when you create an account on a website.

Posts are a WordPress feature that typically create blog posts, and they can be categorized and displayed based on those categories. On the back-end we can add another post to organize items, and these are Custom Post Types, or CPTs. Common CPTs are Services, Team Members or Locations.

Fields are a way to add details to those items. If we use Services as an example, some custom fields that can be added would be: service area, tagline, description, photo, price, etc. These details are added using a format that is similar to any other common internet form.

These features make your website dynamic – if you change any of the details, it will update everywhere it is set to display on the website. It makes it incredibly easy to manage and change your data.

Some practices that are considered Dark Patterns or Black-Hat:

“According to Harry Brignull, there are 12 main types of these patterns, with names that are truly eye-catching.

1. Misleading questions. This is often the case when you register on a service with a form. When you look quickly at the boxes it may appear to ask one thing, but if you read more carefully it is a completely different question.
2. Sneak into basket. This occurs when you go to buy something and at some point in the process another product enters your basket, without you being fully aware of it.
3. Roach Motel. When you can sign up for a service very easily, but then it is very difficult to find out how to unsubscribe.
4. Privacy Zuckering. When you are tricked into sharing more private information than you want to.
5. Price Comparison Prevention. This makes it harder to make an informed decision, because it makes it harder to compare different options.
6. Misdirection. Taking your attention from one item to another.
7. Hidden costs. This is when you get to the last step of the buying process and realise that there are additional costs.
8. Bait and switch. When you want to do a certain action but something else happens.
9. Confirmshaming. In this case the user is blamed for choosing an option, such as not subscribing to a newsletter.
10. Disguised ads. These are hidden adverts so that you click on them without being aware that it is really an ad.
11. Forced continuity. When the free trial of a service ends, they automatically start charging for it without warning.
12. Friend spam. This occurs when permissions are requested from the user justifying it for a specific purpose, but then spammed to all their contacts in a message claiming to be the user.”

Your domain name is your web address. It is an easy way for internet users to remember how to locate your website.

“Whenever you visit a website, the domain name appears in the address bar of the web browser. Some domain names are preceded by ‘www’ (which is not part of the domain name), while others omit the ‘www’ prefix. All domain names have a domain suffix, such as .com, .net, or .org. The domain suffix helps identify the type of website the domain name represents. For example, “.com” domain names are typically used by commercial websites, while “.org” websites are often used by non-profit organizations. Some domain names end with a country code, such as “.dk” (Denmark) or “.se” (Sweden), which helps identify the location and audience of the website.

Domain names are relatively cheap to register, though they must be renewed every year or every few years. The good news is that anyone can register a domain name, so you can purchase a unique domain name for your blog or website. The bad news is that nearly all domain names with common words have already been registered. Therefore, if you want to register a custom domain name, you may need to think of a creative variation. Once you decide on a domain name and register it, the name is yours until you stop renewing it. When the renewal period expires, the domain name becomes available for others to purchase.”

“Stands for ‘Domain Name System.’ Domain names serve as memorizable names for websites and other services on the Internet. However, computers access Internet devices by their IP addresses. DNS translates domain names into IP addresses, allowing you to access an Internet location by its domain name.”