New website - testing please

[Turgenev]

I like the site, torstan! Nice and simple and to the point. I would give you some rep for that alone but I need to spread it around a bit more before I can.

A few technical (mostly SEO) hints I would recommend are:

* include an 'alt' in your image tags. For example,

<img src="Gallery/Recent/DreestonThumb130.jpg" alt="Dreeston Image Link" />

The alt tag will help people who have images turned off (for one reason or another) or for some reason the image doesn't load properly (the alt text will get shown instead). Course a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) trick is to put one of your keywords in the alt area since Search Engines pick up on this.

* include a 'title' in the link tags. For example,

<a href="Gallery/Regional/dreeston.html" title="Dreeston Gallery">

In some browsers, the title text will pop up when you mouse over the link. It is also a good SEO trick since Search Engine pick up on the title tags.

* another SEO tip is meta-tags. There is some discussion among the SEO community if meta-tags are still relevant but I personally think they don't hurt and may end up helping out in the long run. Meta tags I would recommend are:

<meta name="author" content="Jonathan Roberts" />
<meta name="robots" content="all" />
<meta name="revisit-after" content="7 days" />
<meta name="title" content="Fantastic Maps: The Cartography of Jonathan Roberts" />
<meta name="description" content="The Cartography of Jonathan Roberts." /> 
<meta name="keywords" content="fantasy cartography, role playing game maps, rpg maps, D&D maps" />

The author tag is self evident. The robots tag and the revisit-after tag are instructions that search engine robots are to follow when visiting your site (for cataloging purposes). You should think about having a robots.txt file on your site as well since search engines will be looking for it. There is a lot more info about the robots meta-tags and text files here.

The title and description tags are important because this info is what search engines often pick up on when they display your site in search listings. A SEO trick is to put some of your keywords into your title (which you did by adding cartography to your title). Speaking of keywords, they are important as well. These are the phrases people use when searching so you want to have the right terms listed. keywords are losing their strength in search engine results but they aren't obsolete yet so I recommend using them. Getting the right keywords is an art. Specific keywords (ie rpg maps, fantasy maps, d&d maps, etc) are more likely to bring people to your site who are looking for those specific terms over general keywords (ie maps, cartography, rpg, etc). I recommend having a balance of both and no more than 25 such keywords. I could write pages about keywords and their use.

Finally I also recommend having a HTML based sitemap that collects are your links in one location. This can be handy for the user and search engines love it. Speaking of search engines, I also recommend having a sitemap.xml file on your site as well. Like the robots.txt file, search engines pick up on this file and it helps with your listing in search engines. More info about sitemap.xml files can be found here.

The reason I mention all of this stuff is because building a site isn't enough these days. The trick now is to drive traffic to it. The above tips will give your site an edge over similar sites that aren't using these tips. Course things like links to your site is where you build your search engine love but that is a whole different tutorial.

Best of luck on your site and commissions!

[JoeyD473]

I am using Opera and it appear to work correctly.

[altasilvapuer]

Hi. So I've finally built myself a website that can be found here:
http://www.fantasticmaps.com/

Also, I need a logo that goes with the name. So far I am drawing a blank!

For me, I would look through all of my maps, and try to identify something that's distinctly "you" in them - your signature, so to speak. Build the logo from that. For instance, say your signature is your use of subtle and slightly understated labeling that blends with the picture well while still being defined (something I actually see in larger your maps quite well, especially in Dreeston and St. George's island). Or maybe if you want to highlight more of your battle-style maps, you could use a small piece of one of them.

Then I'd take said small piece and likely lay it in the titlebar opposite the page title.

At least, that's what I see in my head. I usually build things like this based on what's in my head, and then start seeing the things that actually work and end up changing everything.

-asp

[Steel General]

CSS - A wonderful tool that just makes my teeth ache for some reason.

[ravells]

<sniff> no link to the Cartographers' Guild? <cries>

Seriously, very slick looking website! All the links I clicked worked fine. Hey, I didn't know that you did Traveller stuff!

[torstan]

Thanks for the comments everyone. SG - why does css make your teeth ache?

No links to anyone yet - though I certainly need to fix that. Thanks for the nudge!

It seems to be getting attention already - two people have got in touch through the site and it only went up on Sunday.

As for Traveller, yes I did the area maps for Prison Planet and a couple of deckplans for Warships of Babylon 5 - along with Turgenev. I should really put some of them up on the site.

@asp: Thanks for the suggestion - that's a good idea. I've been wondering about the different possible logos, and whether they confine you to a particular genre, but I think there's actually enough fantasy map work to go around, so I might just go with something unashamedly fantasy-esque. No great rush right now.

[Steel General]

I don't know, probably just me. As I said above its a great tool and makes things immensely easier to maintain/change. But for some reason anytime I have to create/edit a CSS file it just irritates me, like finger nails on a chalkboard.

I guess I'm just weird that way...what do you expect from someone who turns a warforged into the easter bunny!

[torstan]

Well that does take a steampunk fetish to places best left untouched...

I agree about the css though. It's a great tool, but it is less that intuitive. Perhaps that's just because my editors don't have syntax highlighting for css. I should sort that out.

[StillCypher]

Very attractive site for your very attractive work! ::thumbs up::