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Due to spam attacks I had to password protect editing. The password is the web standard you use to define the presentation of a web site (in uppercase).

Mistakes To Avoid

Validation for the sake of validation

None of the W3C standards are really standards, they are recommendations. There is an ISO standard for HTML, but it is rarely used and is enforced even less.

The W3C validator is a tool to check the technical accuracy of a document; it is not a general quality control mechanism. An unencoded ampersand is not the end of the world, but using a DIV with a CSS class where a styled heading element should go (e.g., <div class="header1"> instead of <h1>) does have accessibility and SEO implications.

Preaching technical expertise to the uninterested

It is easy for a web developer to get excited about web standards, but not everybody is as excited about them as we are. If a car mechanic praised the quality and versatility of his toolbox instead of explaining what is wrong with your car you’d be annoyed, not sold on his expertise.

It is a good idea not to mention HTML at all, because very few people will ever see source code. Content is mostly created either by conversion of Word documents or with a CMS. Sell the effects that using web standards have, using examples and their practical outcome for the client, not the web standards themselves.

Overcomplicating things

It is easy to rant about using best practise web development techniques and overcomplicate your point. When highlighting the benefits, keep it simple and conversational lest the argument gets lost among words.