Winning Awards: Submiting Your Site
I hate to use the very much overused expression, but it is, once again, true. Here it is: "Content Is King". If you don't have very good content, your site isn't likely to win many awards. That may sound pretty obvious, but it is amazing how many people will submit their sites for awards before they are really ready.
Of course, a site is always under construction. It is never really finished. So when your site is at a stage that you are happy with it, go through this check list. I call it "Joshua's list of things to check before submitting a site for awards".
- Make sure you have a content filled site.
I know I already said this, but I'll say it again. Content is King. Take Promotion World, for example. The only reason it has won so many awards, is because it is packed as full as it can be with content.
- Check for dead links.
This is a biggie. One of the biggest things that award reviews hate is "404 Not Found" errors. There are a number of good, free link checkers out there. Try The Website Garage for starters.
- Page loading time
I know this is an elementary part of webdesign, but it is very important. Most award reviewers are very busy, as some of the big ones receive hundreds of submissions a day. They simply don't have time to wait very long for a page to load. If they can't wait that long, chances are your users won't want to, either. A good rule of thumb is to try to get your page to load in less than 30 seconds.
- Make sure you have a good navigation system
Nothing spoils a page faster than not being able to get around. You need a good, consistent, easy to use navigation system.
- Try to keep your page accessible to everyone
Make sure you provide ALT tags for people that don't have the latest and greatest browser. If you have a graphics intensive site, or a framed site, you should consider providing a text only version. There is a neat little website called "Bobby" that will test your browser for compatibility with a variety of browsers. It also tests for friendliness toward people with disabilities, such as blind people who use voice reader software to surf the net. Bobby scans your site very quickly and returns a "warnings report" that you can print out and look over to decide if you want to fix some or all of the problems it finds. Go try it out.
There are all sorts of other things to keep in mind, but these are the big ones, according to web site reviewers.
For
your submitting ease, I have included a list of some of the higher
class web awards. Make sure your site is perfect before you submit
here. These are some of the hardest awards on the web to win! If
you win all of these, you should have a pretty good (under exaggeration)
website. Here's the list:
So, you submit for an award. You don't get it. What do you do? Well, you shouldn't bash the wall in out of frustration (or something like that). You should simply take it as meaning your site isn't good enough yet. Work at it. Improve your site. Try again a month later. Remember, there is always a bigger and better award to obtain. Even Promotion World (believe it or not!) hasn't won all of them. There is always something bigger to set your sights on.
I hope this tutorial has helped you win some good awards. If you still have questions, however, please just send me an email at webmaster@promotionworld.com. I would be happy to try to answer any questions you may have.
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