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Go Right to the Source (Code) Ensure a bug-free website by following the best practices of programming and design set by W3C.

By Mikal E. Belicove

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When I consult with a business about its website, I start by asking if it has ever viewed its site's source code. For the uninitiated, source code--which can be generated by many different computer programming/scripting languages and is accessible under the "View" menu of most web browsers--is what makes your website operational.

Comprised mostly of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript, source code looks more like a mangled car wreck than anything resembling a website. But trust me. That mangled wreck, when coded according to universally accepted web standards, makes your website hum like a well-tuned race car.

But if your code doesn't meet minimum standards for the web, your business will suffer an increase in cost to maintain the site--as well as a decrease in usability, which almost always results in a loss of customers.

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