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30th
JAN
How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off by Your Web Designer
Posted by admin | Filed under Internet
OK, you’ve heard, read, and been told by folks that having a website is a great way to reach a global audience. You even know some folks who do a substantial business entirely on the internet. You don’t want to be left behind, so you decide to have your own website. But let me warn you - there are several things that you need to do, learn, understand and research before you jump in, unless you have money to burn. If not, let’s get started right away.
First of all, you need to decide what you really want and expect from your website. When I say want, I mean everything - A to Z. How do you want your website to look aesthetically? How do you want your navigation? Do you want a static site or a dynamic one? How frequently do you want it updated? Will you write the content yourself or will you seek the services of a copy writer? (warning: if you copy content off some other website you are doing copyright infringement and may receive a DCMA complaint and even get sued). Always plan your website content keeping the focus on your customer. What does your customer seek before arriving at your website? It is advisable to visit a few websites, especially your competitors and see how they have their websites done. This will give you pointers and help you take directions.
Once you know what you expect from your website, start inviting web design and development quotes from multiple sources, like recommendations from friends and associates, online sources like elance, yellow pages, etc. Also ask them what type of hosting plans will be required. Once you’ve taken sufficient quotes, do some research for hosting providers on Google; you will get several choices. I’ve found that AwareINDIA.net is one of the good ones who give excellent support. Their rates are also very economical (just a few cents to a few dollars a month depending on the plan you choose). You will also need to have some idea of search engine marketing (SEM) costs before you form a budget for web design. SEM is a great way to ensure free long term visitor traffic to your website. While SEM will not be required immediately, it makes sense to know if all expenses meet your budget, else you will require making some compromises. It is also advisable to let your SEM company work hand in hand with your designer, as your website also needs to be search engine optimized (SEO) so that SE robots can index your pages properly and rank them higher for your desired keywords and phrases.
It may interest you to know that there are several open source software available which can take care of your website needs. For example, OS commerce and Zen Cart are some great options if you plan to have a shopping cart system and ecommerce enable your website. If you want a discussion forum, PHPbb is one of the best used extensively. If you’re looking out for a Portal or CMS software, there are Joomla, Drupal, Mambo, Post Nuke, PHP Nuke, and many more. Some folks even use blog software to power their website which gives it an interactive edge. Popular blog software are wordpress, b2evolution and nucleus. The good news is, most of these software can be installed for free at the click of a button without requiring any technical skills, if your hosting provider supports fantastico (AwareINDIA.net does support it). In fact, you can even buy ready made templates specially designed for and compatible with these software. Some companies even make customized templates. It’s a good idea to research on these software and also discuss this with your programmer and weigh the options if it is viable or not. Building a system from scratch would be quite expensive, especially if you’re on a tight budget. In fact, just mentioning about fantastico and these open source software with your designer will immediately cause him to feel as if you’re very much aware of the market and he will certainly think twice before giving you an exorbitant quote!
Some hosting providers also provide a Do-It-Yourself website builder which is quite easy to use, eliminating the need for a web designer altogether. However, there are some limitations with such options. AwareINDIA.net does offer this option; in fact, you can even get a free trial and see if it suits your requirements. If you’re comfortable using Microsoft Word, you should be able to design your own website without much hassle.
If you do plan to use the services of a designer, make sure you have everything in black and white. Keep the terms and conditions of the contract crystal clear. This is good for both of you as it is binding. Use an escrow service if required - most online portals like elance have this option. If you wish to read more of my work, you can visit http://www.bharatbhasha.com/author.php/Nirjara%20Rustom - I’ve written several articles related to SEO, online success, marketing tips, email marketing, etc.
By: Nirjara Rustom
First of all, you need to decide what you really want and expect from your website. When I say want, I mean everything - A to Z. How do you want your website to look aesthetically? How do you want your navigation? Do you want a static site or a dynamic one? How frequently do you want it updated? Will you write the content yourself or will you seek the services of a copy writer? (warning: if you copy content off some other website you are doing copyright infringement and may receive a DCMA complaint and even get sued). Always plan your website content keeping the focus on your customer. What does your customer seek before arriving at your website? It is advisable to visit a few websites, especially your competitors and see how they have their websites done. This will give you pointers and help you take directions.
Once you know what you expect from your website, start inviting web design and development quotes from multiple sources, like recommendations from friends and associates, online sources like elance, yellow pages, etc. Also ask them what type of hosting plans will be required. Once you’ve taken sufficient quotes, do some research for hosting providers on Google; you will get several choices. I’ve found that AwareINDIA.net is one of the good ones who give excellent support. Their rates are also very economical (just a few cents to a few dollars a month depending on the plan you choose). You will also need to have some idea of search engine marketing (SEM) costs before you form a budget for web design. SEM is a great way to ensure free long term visitor traffic to your website. While SEM will not be required immediately, it makes sense to know if all expenses meet your budget, else you will require making some compromises. It is also advisable to let your SEM company work hand in hand with your designer, as your website also needs to be search engine optimized (SEO) so that SE robots can index your pages properly and rank them higher for your desired keywords and phrases.
It may interest you to know that there are several open source software available which can take care of your website needs. For example, OS commerce and Zen Cart are some great options if you plan to have a shopping cart system and ecommerce enable your website. If you want a discussion forum, PHPbb is one of the best used extensively. If you’re looking out for a Portal or CMS software, there are Joomla, Drupal, Mambo, Post Nuke, PHP Nuke, and many more. Some folks even use blog software to power their website which gives it an interactive edge. Popular blog software are wordpress, b2evolution and nucleus. The good news is, most of these software can be installed for free at the click of a button without requiring any technical skills, if your hosting provider supports fantastico (AwareINDIA.net does support it). In fact, you can even buy ready made templates specially designed for and compatible with these software. Some companies even make customized templates. It’s a good idea to research on these software and also discuss this with your programmer and weigh the options if it is viable or not. Building a system from scratch would be quite expensive, especially if you’re on a tight budget. In fact, just mentioning about fantastico and these open source software with your designer will immediately cause him to feel as if you’re very much aware of the market and he will certainly think twice before giving you an exorbitant quote!
Some hosting providers also provide a Do-It-Yourself website builder which is quite easy to use, eliminating the need for a web designer altogether. However, there are some limitations with such options. AwareINDIA.net does offer this option; in fact, you can even get a free trial and see if it suits your requirements. If you’re comfortable using Microsoft Word, you should be able to design your own website without much hassle.
If you do plan to use the services of a designer, make sure you have everything in black and white. Keep the terms and conditions of the contract crystal clear. This is good for both of you as it is binding. Use an escrow service if required - most online portals like elance have this option. If you wish to read more of my work, you can visit http://www.bharatbhasha.com/author.php/Nirjara%20Rustom - I’ve written several articles related to SEO, online success, marketing tips, email marketing, etc.
By: Nirjara Rustom
Tags: Budget, Copy Writer, Copyright Infringement, Focus, Global Audience, Google, Left Behind, Own Website, Pointers, Web Design, Web Development, Website Content
27th
JAN
Internet Home Business-options Available for Website Creation
Posted by admin | Filed under Online Business
Not very long back, you had only two choices to create a website- either outsource it or learn the complete HTML. Today’s internet marketer has many more options available that would help you build your site faster.
Apart from HTML, PHP is another language that is commonly used to build the websites. Your web site may just be a one page HTML site or interactive site with lots of content in it. While HTML perfectly suits the former, PHP comes handy in building the latter. You may also like to use databases in case of large websites.
However, for the beginners, HTML is the easiest and quickest option. As I said above now a days you do not need to learn HTML completely. (But it would always be a great help in tweaking your web pages and would save you a lot of headaches if you know the basics.)
These resources would be a great help if you wish to learn HTML basics and advanced.
Sizzling HTML Jalfrezi - jalfrezi.com/
HTML - An Interactive Tutorial For Beginners -davesite.com/webstation/html/
You can find more resources by searching on Google.
But you can create a web page without knowing HTML. This has been made possible with arrival of WYSIWYG editors. Pronounced “whizzy whig”, these programs allow beginners to build complex pages by simply “dragging and dropping” onto the work area. WYSIWYG stands for “What you see is what you get”. These editors allow you to work on an interface that is simple and almost represents the final appearance of your website. All the HTML and other coding go behind the scenes.
There are many WYSIWYG editors available but most common are
* Dreamweavor- macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
* FrontPage- microsoft.com/frontpage/
* Adobe GoLive- adobe.com/
All of these come at a good price. Arachnophilia is a free software and you might like to test your skills on it.
* Arachnophilia- arachnoid.com/
* Nvu (pronounced N-view)is another WYSIWYG editor which is open source and does not charge anything. It is good and you can download it here-http://nvu.com
PHP is more complex than HTML and if you wish to make a website in PHP it is better to find an expert.
Website builders are WYSIWYG editors which are web based rather than running on you computers. Most of the hosts are now offering website builder access in their packages. Check if your host has got one.
Host Gator, my recommended host does. You can check them here.
Another option is to use Content Management System. If you do not wish to go through the hassles of building webpages and uploading them, you can use content management systems. They are mostly free, also come with the package of web hosting and mostly can be installed with one click. All you need after that is to choose a suitable theme and add pages. Layout and categorization is handled by CMS itself. Mambo, Joomla and Drupal are commonly used CMSs.
Similarly, you can also choose to use blogs for this purpose. Most recommended blog platform is Wordpress.
However you would have to play a little with CMS and blogs before you can fully master them.
Most of beginning websites are of few pages at the most. It is better to build them in WYSIWYG editors. Simultaneously you can learn other things and finally improve upon your site.
By: Arun Pal Singh
Apart from HTML, PHP is another language that is commonly used to build the websites. Your web site may just be a one page HTML site or interactive site with lots of content in it. While HTML perfectly suits the former, PHP comes handy in building the latter. You may also like to use databases in case of large websites.
However, for the beginners, HTML is the easiest and quickest option. As I said above now a days you do not need to learn HTML completely. (But it would always be a great help in tweaking your web pages and would save you a lot of headaches if you know the basics.)
These resources would be a great help if you wish to learn HTML basics and advanced.
Sizzling HTML Jalfrezi - jalfrezi.com/
HTML - An Interactive Tutorial For Beginners -davesite.com/webstation/html/
You can find more resources by searching on Google.
But you can create a web page without knowing HTML. This has been made possible with arrival of WYSIWYG editors. Pronounced “whizzy whig”, these programs allow beginners to build complex pages by simply “dragging and dropping” onto the work area. WYSIWYG stands for “What you see is what you get”. These editors allow you to work on an interface that is simple and almost represents the final appearance of your website. All the HTML and other coding go behind the scenes.
There are many WYSIWYG editors available but most common are
* Dreamweavor- macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/
* FrontPage- microsoft.com/frontpage/
* Adobe GoLive- adobe.com/
All of these come at a good price. Arachnophilia is a free software and you might like to test your skills on it.
* Arachnophilia- arachnoid.com/
* Nvu (pronounced N-view)is another WYSIWYG editor which is open source and does not charge anything. It is good and you can download it here-http://nvu.com
PHP is more complex than HTML and if you wish to make a website in PHP it is better to find an expert.
Website builders are WYSIWYG editors which are web based rather than running on you computers. Most of the hosts are now offering website builder access in their packages. Check if your host has got one.
Host Gator, my recommended host does. You can check them here.
Another option is to use Content Management System. If you do not wish to go through the hassles of building webpages and uploading them, you can use content management systems. They are mostly free, also come with the package of web hosting and mostly can be installed with one click. All you need after that is to choose a suitable theme and add pages. Layout and categorization is handled by CMS itself. Mambo, Joomla and Drupal are commonly used CMSs.
Similarly, you can also choose to use blogs for this purpose. Most recommended blog platform is Wordpress.
However you would have to play a little with CMS and blogs before you can fully master them.
Most of beginning websites are of few pages at the most. It is better to build them in WYSIWYG editors. Simultaneously you can learn other things and finally improve upon your site.
By: Arun Pal Singh
Tags: Arachnophilia, Golive Adobe, Google, Headaches, Html Basics, Html Jalfrezi, Interactive Tutorial, Tweaking, Web Pages, Webstation, Whig, Wysiwyg Editors
26th
JAN
Use Joomla in Web Design & Website Hosting
Posted by admin | Filed under Web Design
I was recently asked by a potential client why I recommended Joomla! to be used for building their website. Let me explain the benefits of using Joomla versus using anything else, and by anything else I mean comparing building a website using some type of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, or building a website with a comparative type of software package. Joomla! is a Content Management system, which means that it is built to ensure that website pages can easily be maintained and updated. This includes for example, adding new pages or removing pages. This is the main advantage above building a website in straight forward HTML that would normally be the end product of using some type of HTML editor.But why Joomla? Why not something else like a Microsoft based product or another commercial product? Joomla is Open Source, which means that there are no licensing fees payable, that you have often pay for a Microsoft product or a commercial product Because Joomla is Open Source, there is a huge pool of community resources available to provide support or go to www.master-web-graphics.com
The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries - there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product. There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user. Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.impacts-audio.com
You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not Wordpress, for example?I have to admit, Wordpress is also extremely popular and Wordpress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. Wordpress also has numerous free templates available and it makes Wordpress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that Wordpress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings areJoomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is very limited support for various access groups and access levels.Because it is so popular, it attracts a lot of attention and Joomla! sites get hacked - quite often. The only solution for this is to be aware of your server security settings and to upgrade regularly to stay abreast of the latest Joomla! security updates.Joomla! might be a bit top-heavy for smaller sites, although it still remains the tool of choice for even my smaller sites - it does leave room for expansion later without having to upgrade to a different tool or product!Joomla!’s native search engine friendliness in the older versions leave a lot to be desired, although this has received attention in the latest upgrade. Despite this drawback, most of my Joomla! sites perform well in the search engines due to judicious use of various plugins to rectify this shortcoming.Altogether, Joomla! is an excellent tool to build websites that are easy to create, easy on the eye and easily extendable.
By: subhash
The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries - there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product. There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user. Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.impacts-audio.com
You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not Wordpress, for example?I have to admit, Wordpress is also extremely popular and Wordpress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. Wordpress also has numerous free templates available and it makes Wordpress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that Wordpress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings areJoomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is very limited support for various access groups and access levels.Because it is so popular, it attracts a lot of attention and Joomla! sites get hacked - quite often. The only solution for this is to be aware of your server security settings and to upgrade regularly to stay abreast of the latest Joomla! security updates.Joomla! might be a bit top-heavy for smaller sites, although it still remains the tool of choice for even my smaller sites - it does leave room for expansion later without having to upgrade to a different tool or product!Joomla!’s native search engine friendliness in the older versions leave a lot to be desired, although this has received attention in the latest upgrade. Despite this drawback, most of my Joomla! sites perform well in the search engines due to judicious use of various plugins to rectify this shortcoming.Altogether, Joomla! is an excellent tool to build websites that are easy to create, easy on the eye and easily extendable.
By: subhash
Tags: Building A Website, Community Resources, Content Management System, Developers, Google, Master Web, Microsoft Product, Perspectives, Software Package, User Groups, Web Graphics, Web Hosting
26th
Joomla-how to Use in Web Design?
Posted by admin | Filed under Web Design
I was recently asked by a potential client why I recommended Joomla! to be used for building their website. Let me explain the benefits of using Joomla versus using anything else, and by anything else I mean comparing building a website using some type of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, or building a website with a comparative type of software package.Joomla! is a Content Management system, which means that it is built to ensure that website pages can easily be maintained and updated. This includes for example, adding new pages or removing pages. This is the main advantage above building a website in straight forward HTML that would normally be the end product of using some type of HTML editor. But why Joomla? Why not something else like a Microsoft based product or another commercial product?Joomla is Open Source, which means that there are no licensing fees payable, that you have often pay for a Microsoft product or a commercial productBecause Joomla is Open Source, there is a huge pool of community resources available to provide support or go to www.javascript-magic.com
The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries - there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product.There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user.Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, and project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.master-web-graphics.com
You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not Wordpress, for example?I have to admit, Wordpress is also extremely popular and Wordpress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. Wordpress also has numerous free templates available and it makes Wordpress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that Wordpress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings are:Joomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is verylimited support for various access groups and access levels.
By: subhash
The Joomla community is huge worldwide as well as in local countries - there are often local user groups which are very well supported often even in small countries such as South Africa. There is an enormous pool of people supporting the product. The forum on the Joomla.org site has over 200 000 members all providing support and input into making Joomla! a better product.There are millions of sites worldwide (about 10 Million if you do a guestimate using Google) that runs on Joomla. It is therefore extremely popular and widely used which also means that it will never be difficult to find developers and people to support it.Because it is so popular, it also means that by now there have been quite a few books written about Joomla! from various perspectives to assist both the developer as well as the end-user.Some other good reasons to use Joomla!One of the most attractive features of using Joomla! is the fact that is so very easy to extend its functionality. You can build anything from a brochure website to a full-featured shopping cart or interactive membership site. This is because there are over 3500 add-ons and plugins available to extend its functionality. This ranges from shopping carts, image galleries, video plugins, forums, blogs, and project management tools, etc etcThe Joomla templating system also makes it easy to change the look and feel of your site without having to redo the whole site from scratch you can visit www.master-web-graphics.com
You can literally change the whole graphic design/look of the site in a matter of seconds while retaining the content. There are also over 2000 templates, most of them free, available to change the look and feel of your site.But again, why Joomla! Why not Wordpress, for example?I have to admit, Wordpress is also extremely popular and Wordpress also makes it extremely easy to add new pages. Wordpress also has numerous free templates available and it makes Wordpress an extremely attractive option to build websites quickly and easily but it must always be kept in mind that Wordpress is essentially a blogging platform. Although it also has numerous plugins available to extend its functionality, it just does not have the raw power with regards to its underlying infrastructure to allow it to easily plug in something like a shopping cart, for example.So what is the catch? It can’t be all roses?Having worked with Joomla! for a couple of years (and before that, with its predecessor, Mambo) I can tell you exactly what the shortcomings are:Joomla’s membership capabilities fall far short of what they could be. There is verylimited support for various access groups and access levels.
By: subhash
Tags: 10 Million, Community Resources, Content Management System, Countries, Google, Microsoft, Open Source, People, Perspectives, Software Package, South Africa, Web Design
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