Web Development

QUESTION: Should I build and maintain my business Web site myself or pay someone else to do the work for me? -- Wesley L.

Summary

Design and layout can make your communication come alive and your message immediately apparent. Now, with so much technology at hand, design becomes much easier, but you must develop the ability to plan and visualize what you want to convey. Then decide what will appeal to your readers and help them understand the material.

There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet. You NEED to be different in some way from all of them! If you could get a visitor to your website, that means nothing. Only returning visitors must be counted. When they return the second time, "branding" starts to occur. Huge companies advertise not because they want to provide you with information about their product. They do that because they're trying to "brand" its name and image. Actually, it is the brand you are paying the money for when you buy something from "Adidas?, ?Nike? or ?Coca-cola?. People will actually be willing to pay for the brand they know, so make it as bright and memorable as possible. However, it is useful to remember that too complex logo will definitely slip out of peoples' minds.

Wow, we`ve already taken a domain and chosen a web host. Great job ! Now it`s time for something special: making your own website. You could`ve completed this step before, but at the time you`d had finished it, the domain name could`ve been taken. We don`t want any complications right ?

When visitors add your web site to their Favorites or bookmark your site, what shows up in their list of sites? There are at least two things you can do to make sure your site stands out on anyone's list of Favorites, including a great idea that very few sites use. If you have a webmaster, he or she should be able to make these changes quickly, and those who maintain their own sites can easily handle these simple tasks.

Making a web site is easy. Making a good web site is not so easy. There are many things you have to consider if you want to make a good and successful web site.

Through the explosive growth of the Web, companies have realized the benefit of building a strong online presence. By publishing a website to the Internet, companies are able to build their brand, market their products, support existing customers, release publicity pieces, and even take orders. Lost in the feverish pace of growth however, has been an eye on the effect that their current web-building practices have on the bottom line and the future of their online presence. Not only does the website content itself have an impact on the company's income but so does the way the site itself is created.

One of my most salient memories from when I sold real estate in Oregon for my Dad?s company was listing a property where the owners had initially tried to sell it For-Sale-By-Owner with no success. After the listing contract was signed my Dad told them, ?Next time put your phone number on your sign.?

When you consider the billions of individuals and companies on the net who are attempting to influence visitors with their wares, it is vitally important that your site offers something out of the ordinary. An important fact to remember is that what the site says is far more important than how it looks. Why? Because good copy sells!

The Internet is a remarkable publishing medium. With just a little effort, you can make your web pages visually irresistible by playing with color, shapes and text. Whether your websites are already launched or you're ready to create your first few, use the 3 simple steps below to kick things up a notch and make your sites professional and appealing.

As a business you can?t afford to ignore the Internet Age; in 2002 there was an estimated 605 million people online around the entire globe, today this is estimated at over a billion users worldwide.

We are clearly well past the innocent ?golden age? of the Internet ? Darwinian economics have become the order of the day today. Any company worth their salt must maintain a web site as an information resource and/or to generate incremental ecommerce revenue. Qualified traffic is the name of the game, as it?s the oxygen that keeps a good ecommerce web site thriving. Consequently, it?s very important to have an understanding of your web site traffic or visitor activity; i.e. baseline information that includes the number of visitors during specific time periods, originating location (domain), where the visitors went on a site and how long they stayed on specific sections or pages of a web site. The de facto industry standard traffic analysis tool application is Web Trends, manufactured/supported by netiQ, Inc., which we will focus on in this article.

Yahoo has long offered email, an online calendar, notes, bookmarks, and more through their free My Yahoo service. Now Yahoo has expanded this service even more by adding My Yahoo Personal Search to the mix.

Most interactive websites nowadays require data to be presented dynamically and interactively based on input from the user. For example, a customer may need to log into a retail website to check his purchasing history. In this instance, the website would have stored two types of data in order for the customer to perform the check ? the customer?s personal login details; and the customer?s purchased items. This data can be stored in two types of storage ? flat files or databases.

With the New Year upon us yet again, it's time to prepare for the successes of 2005. Did you watch with envy last year as your competitors dominated your industry? Do you think your site is doing just fine because no one has ever called to complain? Well here's some food for thought: 96% of all prospects will click over to your competitor if they encounter a problem on your website.

Let's begin by setting some limits. If you're like me, you like to keep it simple. All we're doing is collecting email addresses together for our mailing list, so biochemical engineering is out the window. If you're using Thunderbird (or that MS product), you can send nicely formatted newsletters out and retain all of the other awesome features of your email program so there's really no need for databases, logins, or pretty much anything else. We're going to stay far away from anything non-essential.

More and more non-profit organizations are developing websites to help share information about their mission and programs. This involves strategic planning about the best way to present your image and message online. Once your site is up, your organization also has to be ready to keep information current and to maintain consistent outreach activities. If your group is planning a Web site, consider:

"I don't sell anything online, I don't advertise online, in fact I don't really even know how to use a computer... why should I pay for a website?"

An accessible Web site is easily approached, easily understood, and useable for all. There are accessibility standards set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium, which all sites should adhere to as much as possible.

Optimal website design is the art of logical navigation.

When a user signs up at your website, you may want to verify their email address so you aren't getting bogus accounts in your database. A few lines of code can send an email to the address specified, containing a welcome greeting and link to activate their account. PHP is the best way to both send the emails and do the activation process.

A PHP Redirect automatically transfers a web user from one URL to another. For example, typing foo.com in the browser automatically transfers the user to another URL bar.com.

Think up a name and check if yourname.com is available. Personally, I like to use http://www.whois.com to check if a domain name is available. You may also check the registrant contact information using ?whois? service if you want to negotiate about purchasing the domain you like from people who registered it first.

See how you can create graphic effects on text with PHP and GD - drop shadows, arcs, fonts and colors.