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One of the most important responsibilities of a website is to communicate with its visitors. Regardless of whether the site is a blog, a portfolio site, a corporate site, or an e-commerce site, it exists to communicate with visitors. The communication in some cases is two ways (blog comments are an example), but in many ways the website is communicating to visitors before they even offer their feedback. In order for the site to communicate effectively the designer and site owner need to clear purpose of what messages should be evident to visitors. In my opinion, improving the communication is an ongoing process. As I evaluate my own sites, or those of clients, these are some of the factors that I consider.

As web developers, it only makes sense that we find learning resources on our preferred medium, the Internet. However, there are definite pluses to the Old School method of learning; the print book. They've been through rigorous editing cycles, and you can trust solid publishers like O'Reilly. Also, you can trust the user ratings and comments that are on sites like Amazon. You can make an informed purchase with the help of these comments, and you don't have to worry that these highly-rated titles are going to be accurate or poorly written. Publishing contracts are generally only given to industry and thought leaders who are worth listening to and learning from. Here are 50 of the highest-rated, most respected print publications on many different web development topics.

This collection of 50 must read web design for ROI, usability and SEO articles also embraces the philosophy behind designing websites for the ROI of it not the looks. It contains a few all time favorites from the early days of the web which still are true as well as mostly current cutting edge articles and resources.

In a time of economic crisis, web developers and freelancers everywhere have started chewing their fingernails. However, no matter how bad the economy worsens, there will always be work in certain booming fields of web development. As the moderator of the Freelance Switch job board, there are certain types of jobs that are constantly in demand. Here are the 10 skills that are or will be in highest demand for developers. If you are proficient in these skills, you'll be in a great position to find work and weather any economic downturn.

There are ways to build traffic to your website without having to spend money. I've been self-employed for the past 15 years, and one of my favorite ventures was developing websites. One of my sites, a web directory, provided good monthly income through affiliate advertising, but it wouldn't have been successful if I hadn't been able to generate large numbers of visitors. My directory pages ranked in the top 5 on MSN and other places, and I never paid one cent to any person or business or search engine to get there; however, I did spend a good amount of time working to build my traffic.

Most website owners rely on quick website tweaks and the right tools for measurable website success. That's not wrong but that's also not enough. Being serious about business, a webmaster must get links to get additional exposure via search engines, of course predominantly Google. Google still judges a website mostly based on the number and quality of links pointing to it (backlinks). So even today you got to get links, be it via outstanding content, viral campaigns or just conventional link building. Still most people do not take all the measures easily available on the Web today. Some have been around for ages, others just popped up recently. Check the 30 easiest ways to get links and exposure.