Have you ever wondered why there are so many places popping up online where you can build a website without any html or coding experience? So many beautiful, sexy designs for free (only if you sign up with a hosting package, of course) that you can “click and build yourself—in just minutes!” Wow! “if it sounds too good to be true…”

An exercise in profit-making for the web host, the goal is to rope in as many monthly (or yearly) subscriptions as possible. An inexpensive website solution may be very attractive to consumers and small business owners on a tight budget, so they sign up for the monthly or yearly deal of the day to get the good deal on the website.

Unfortunately, many of these “click and build” sites don’t offer templates that adhere to web standards or coding best practices. And, if a web host can capture the sign ups of hundreds of thousands of people at $10 or $15 per month, why should they care if your template isn’t up to snuff? After all, they didn’t build it. Web hosts that allow template designers to post their invalid products on their sites are doing a great disservice to the average Joe’s out there, not to mention, mucking up the Internet for everyone else in the process.

And that’s just it. Most average Joe’s out there don’t know the difference between templates that are web standards compliant and those that aren’t. Why is that? Well, probably because most people don’t know what web standards are, let alone why they should be used.

I have spent a great deal of time touting the benefits of web standards: to bosses, co-workers and friends, and family members. Sometimes it is really hard to bend an ear. There really are lots of good reasons to stick with web standards, not the least of which is that it gets you more website traffic.

I could go on but why, when there are so many good examples out there already? Here are three I found that I feel explain (in plain language), good business sense for using web standards.

Ten reasons to learn and use web standards

Web Standards: Where the ROI is

The Business Benefits of Web Standards

Well, how do you know if your website is up to standards, Wendy? I’m glad you asked. Just copy and paste your url into this validator. If it is all green and tells you there are no errors, go give your webmaster a big hug (she might prefer a big tip instead). But if it is red, and proceeds to puke out 120 errors or so, go fire your webmaster.

That was just the HTML validator. Now try the CSS validator.

So how did you do? Wasn’t that fun?

Cheers!

Wendy