Web Development Articles

Guide to Internet Business - Website Setup
 by: Steven O. Ng

After planning the design and content of your website, it’s time to actually physically set up your website. This is the step where you put all your designs and plans into action, creating a website that will attract visitors and earn income.

a) WEBHOSTING

A webhost is a company that stores the pages and pictures and other files of your website. When a person visits your website, they will request these files from your webhost’s server so they can view the website. When choosing a webhost, be careful to choose one that is reliable. After all, if your webhost has problems for any reason, people won’t be able to visit your website, and you won’t be earning any money.

In addition, different webhosts have varying services and tools that they offer. Some of the more important points to consider when choosing a webhost are as follows:

If you have been wrestling with the idea of applying for your own 3rd party merchant account then take a look at the following compelling benefits of using a 3rd party provider to mange all of your credit card processing needs.

1. The most inexpensive way to accept credit cards with hassle free, quick application process and set up.

2. New start-up businesses, sole traders and home-based businesses individuals are very welcome.

3. Incredibly low fee structure considering there are no application fees, leases, no monthly fees, no statement fees and no extra charges for software.

4. No charges are needed for payment gateway fees to a third party company as this is already provided at no extra cost.

5. No exclusivity restrictions meaning you are free to have other 3rd party merchant accounts with other credit card providers.

6. Freedom to pick and choose your credit card processing company to suit any variety of different business needs.

7. Able to set up a complete online storefront with little or no HTML programming experience. Simple online step-by-step tutorials and free assistance provided for set up.

Well, a logo for your business. Why is it important? Does it matter what it looks like? Is Yours Professional?

These are some good questions to ask when you are considering to get a logo design or already have a logo for your business. See a logo speaks volume about your company, it right off the bat tells your “future possible client” if you are reliable and instils trust in them. Although how good your service is matters, how you present your company is what will win you their trust and in the end win them as a client.

Even though in the end of everything, how good your service is will decide on if you are successful. The image of your company tells alot in a little way. Your logo says to clients a few different things:

1. Are these guys professional?

2. Do they seem to care about their business(which in turns means do you care about your clients)?

3. Do they seem to know what they are doing?

4. Does their business seem to be one I can trust to do the job right?

How to Choose a Web Hosting Company?
 by: Karolis Petreikis

Nowadays, anybody can afford to order a feature-packed web hosting plan for next to nothing; however, affordable price is not the only criterion which should be considered when purchasing web hosting services. In this article, I’ll explain the basics of what you should look for in choosing a web hosting company, not just concentrating on the best price and features, but also on reliability and honesty. You’re investing your money and effort into finding paying customers and you wouldn’t like to lose them in order to save a few dollars per month on a web hosting service.

When looking for a web hosting company, it doesn’t matter if this is just for the inception of a web or the move of an established site; you need to consider a large selection of criteria to determine which company to go with:

Customer support

Website hosting service isn’t just storage or bandwidth. Based on personal experience and that of others, even a top-notch service is worthless without customer support. If you own a business website, your hosting provider needs to be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem; otherwise, you may end up losing customers and money.

There is story of David and Goliath where Goliath would come and challenge everybody - “is there anyone amongst you who would dare to fight against me?” Who would dare to fight against him? He was a giant, there was nothing one could do to humble him.

David saw the situation in a different manner. Whatever he threw at Goliath it was sure to hit him. In the end we all know that David did win. The internet is also huge.

Small Prints Matter
 by: Florie Lyn Masarate

What is the main purpose in getting your work printed? The purpose is for others to read them and get something out of them. By getting something out of these prints, there lies the basis for your printing job to become the success that you have intended it to be. Business wise, these prints are the money generators that these owners have the great need for. The smallest of printing material can make phenomenal revenues.

Postcards, even in their tiniest sense, can be the best source of keeping the income coming into a business or a company. The purpose in sending postcards into your prospective customers is to make money than the money you spend in the mailing of these cards. If you think you would not profit from this, the probability is you will not send it in the first place. Then there is also the fact that the more creative and beautiful your postcard is, the more response it will bring than those that are plain and boring looking.

Since I made the switch 6 months ago to a tableless design on my main site, I’ve noticed some interesting things:

• My search engine rankings have dramatically improved
• My bandwidth usage has dropped about 50-75%
• I can now make changes to the look and feel of my site easily by just changing the one file, the stylesheet.

Let’s look at why my search engine rankings improved. Now that I have less un-indexable code on my pages, the search engines can now spider my site quicker. Less code, more content, therefore a better ranking. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Bandwidth costs money, and unless you have a really good hosting plan with lots of bandwidth, then your larger files will take up more room on your server, and take a lot longer to load. Tableless designs use up considerably less bandwidth and are more accessible.

Every once in a while I may want to alter the look of my site. I like to change font colors, link colors, menu items, etc?Before I started using tableless designs, these changes took me hours to do. Now I just open up my stylesheet, make the changes I want, and in a few minutes I have my site updated with the new look and feel. It’s so easy!

The Numbers In Colors
 by: Florie Lyn Masarate

Printing companies sole purpose to properly execute any printing job that the customer has put into their hands. This would also mean getting it done without encountering any problems that might have aroused if done by these people themselves. The people get the printers to do the job for them; this includes thinking of the process needed in the printing job.

Color into prints is one of the major factors that printers should take into account. Not only that, with color printers and color printing companies catering to every needs, having an edge over the others is one thing that needs to be taken seriously. A bit of a consideration is needed in the process of color printing. One does not go about this without having basic and the needed knowledge to execute the right colors into prints. The number of colors are specified especially for those with a tight budget to keep up with.

About two years ago, I had a go at commercial web site design. I put a medium-sized ad in a London classified ad paper. Nothing fancy: “Web designer seeks work …” etc. This was expensive, about £500 for a month’s run.

Got a few replies. Lesson number one: advertise where clients of the calibre you want will see it. The clients I got thought £300 was a lot for a web site. They didn’t want to pay web hosting. They wanted a lot of bang for their buck. ‘Mission creep’ was a term I grew to know and loathe.

This set me thinking: how could I give these people all they could ever want, but not spend a lot of time and money? Lately, I realised how.

So how can you get a full featured site up in a day? Easy (ish!).

1. Mambo Content Management System http://mamboserver.com

I wish I’d found this software a couple of years ago. It’s freeware. The default set-up allows people without web design skills to update the site. It has a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) option. This adds HTMLArea code to text input form fields. Each HTML code input box becomes a mini HTML editor.

Design Myths
 by: Florie Lyn Masarate

It is said that in designing, there are certain rules that these designers have to know. These rules were designed to be followed but not necessarily at all times. Sometimes the need arises for them to break them. But it is always best to know them first before breaking them. Knowing the rules would be useful when the time comes when you are questioned why you broke them in the first place.

Never use your font in only one document. In being a designer, it is common knowledge that they have their own fonts, many to be specific. As in other kind of printing job, using different types of fonts will make it jumbled and thus difficult to understand. The readers will get lost in the muddled words that what you are trying to say is not anymore evident. This is also not saying that you have to stick to the usual fonts that printing dictates. It only means you have to stand up for the choices of fonts that you use.