Web development encompasses many stages i.e. Planning, Analysis, Web design, Implementation, Promotion and Innovation. Each of these stages requires use of different sets of tools and professionals with varied skill sets.

Planning and Analysis don't require as many software tools as the experience of the web master or project director. They need working knowledge with all aspects of server and database. Familiarity with Operating Systems and the Internet server applications are required. Experience with IP networks, programming languages and database development are also essential. The two most common Operating Systems used are Windows NT/2000 and Unix, although many also use Linux. Most commonly used Internet programming languages include PERL, CGI, ActiveX, ASP, and Java among others.

In the next stage of Web designing, tools such as HTML Meta tags, JavaScript, CGI, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia DreamWeaver and Adobe Photoshop are used. Web templates, graphic designs, photographs, texts, clippings, audio and video are also included, as per the requirements. Flash helps in animation that gives an identity to a website. Visual Basic is the most common language for scripting and SQL with other database engines are used for database management on the website. To create Search Engine Optimized content, tools such as Overture are used. Once the most popularly searched words in your industry are identified and short-listed, the content creators write content using these search words. This ensures that your website lists high in the search engines and directories.

In the Implementation stage, the website is implemented and tested on various browsers. Any functional errors, if found, are corrected. The Promotion and Innovation stages, help in marketing a website. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Promotion, Loyalty Programs, Email Campaigns and Online Games are some tools used for website promotion. Tools such as site statistics software and reporting from site searches let you know what exactly your visitors are looking for. The content and marketing strategies are then adjusted accordingly. A website also needs to be maintained and continuously evaluated and updated with respect to content, presentation, layout and technical aspects.

Use of good web development tools ensures that your pages have good content, Meta tags, a high link popularity score, appropriate keywords and visual appeal. Although web development tools are essential, it also takes a seasoned team of programmers, graphic designers, content creators, consultants and marketing staff to work in tandem to create a technically sound, visually appealing and highly functional website. A well-planned site, apart from being high in functionality, is also easy to re-design or alter, at a later stage.

I am using the time I alloted today to work on the real estate investor marketing in the Learn To Be Rich on-line game to lay out a framework of the steps we need to follow to get this new feature implemented into the game.

First, I will need to access the Php MyAdmin control panel and manually add in some of the sample types of marketing so that I begin to play with those with my test player in the game. My intention is to add 3 or so different ones like classified ads, bandit signs and door to door flyers.

Next, once I have those three in the database, I will need to add some code so that there is a chance each turn to learn that from our in-game Marketing Consultant. This includes adding the type of marketing to that players database table as something that is available. It also includes making sure that it shows up on the Real Estate tab as something you can work on.

Once I have it in the players database table, I need to add the code for the player to be able to modify how much to spend each turn on that type of marketing.

Next, I will need to write the code to determine the number of new houses that appear for you to look at based on the marketing you are spending money on.

Once I have this basic system working, then I will go back and add more types of marketing and tweak the interface to get the right balance in the game.

So, that is the plan right now to make the game have that new feature for modeling the marketing to find motivated sellers.

With billions upon billions of people on the Earth and an estimated fifty seven million square miles of land, who would have thought that it would be possible to interact with virtually every single person from the comfort of your home or office. No, I'm not talking about talking to them over the phone or writing to them by mail but being able to interact with them via the Internet. Now more than ever, more and more people own computers with Internet connections and are surfing the web.

With billions of Internet users jumping from site to site, there will be those that will stumble upon your website. The question is, do you know anything about those website visitors? Are you getting detailed reports about your web visitors? If not, then as a webmaster you need to seek out the proper website visitor tracking software.

One that will be able to tell you everything about your visitors, like what they're doing when they visit your site or how long they are staying on your website? What links are they clicking? All these questions and more need to be answered. So if you are going to use a visitor tracking software, you might as well use the best. Provided by the advertising behemoth Google incorporated, Google Analytics is just the tool to use.

Google is a multi-billion dollar company that has resources to craft an excellent website visitor tracking software for all webmaster everywhere. This versatile services has an array of features including fast implementation, geo-targeting, customizable dashboards and more. The best part about Google Analytics is that its free. Any and every webmaster can afford the service. So if you are looking for a website visitor tracking software, I highly recommend Google Analytics.

If you are wondering why it is important to keep track of your website visitors, here are few reasons why. First, if you know important information like what your top exit pages are, then you can optimize those pages to preserve your traffic. Secondly, if you have ads on your website, you can use the site overlay feature to see what links your visitors tend to click on the most and reposition those links and place ads there to increase your ad revenue exponentially.

You see, Google Analytics can provide you with tons of valuable information. Information which can increase the productivity and effectiveness of your website. But I must say that there may be some what of a learning curve to the service. You may need to visit the Google help center or watch high quality training videos from programs like GlyticVideos. Once you've gotten a great understanding of Google Analytics, then you can fully utilize and get the most out of the service.