Advice My Clients Probably Won't Read » Website Basics

Does Your Site Look Good on Phones

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:49:05 +0000

Smart phones and tablet pcs, like Ipads, are where it’s at these days. And it just going to get worse (or better, depending on your point of view).

Ecommerce sites should be readable and usable in both. If you’re shopping cart isn’t mobile compatible and your site isn’t designed to fit the screen it’s on, you’ve just lost some folks who won’t have the patience to try to read your tiny print or to scroll too much or otherwise mess with a site that’s too hard to navigate.

Here’s a Google article that talks about the subject. Yes, it’s got some techy language, but even retailers who don’t know a jpg from a server, will benefit from reading it.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2012/04/responsive-design-harnessing-power-of.html

Site Updates & Sympathy

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:59:09 +0000

Just a quick note to say that I completely understand a client’s frustration when I tell them that their website needs to be redone because the design is not conducive to getting ranked well.

Often, the client has spent thousands of dollars for their website, and they don’t want to hear that it isn’t good enough and they need to spend thousands more.

However, things change in the world of the web. How sites are designed has changed drastically from when I built my first site in 1997. How search engines “read” sites has also changed. And both of those things will continue changing.

It doesn’t mean the previous design was bad when it was done (although it may have been).

Just as you would maintain and update a physical business or home, you need to do the same with a website. We don’t walk out to wells to pump water to bring to the house. We’ve progressed. And if you’re old enough to read this, then you’re no doubt old enough to remember when there wasn’t an Internet as we know it today. Times change; technology changes; websites must change.

So, the best advice I can give is to plan for these changes. Plan now for that next overhaul.

Depending on your site, it might cost $800 or it might cost $5000 (or more). Find a web designer/developer with good references and trust them to do a good job for you and tell you when changes need to be made. And set aside an amount every year so that when the time comes, you’ll be prepared.

Blogs as Websites

admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:16:02 +0000

Twice recently, I’ve been directed to websites that were blogs and when I told the people who had directed me that the sites were blogs, they asked what the difference was. So here you go:

Blogs (a corruption–or abbreviation–of “web log”) began as online diaries available to the public and free or cheap to create, primarily via www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com or www.typepad.com. They have morphed into fairly easy ways to have a website that one can update oneself, providing one is not afraid of technology. If you’re one of those, hire me.

So – the difference between a website and a blog is none–as far as your visitor is concerned.

However, a blog is built much differently than websites were originally built and it’s worth understanding the difference if you have website or need one redone.

A traditional web site is one where the designer can create the web site on her computer, and each page is a separate file that she then uploads to the server that hosts the site. If you’ve ever used Word, think of it as similar to creating Word documents. You can open them in Word whether you’re online or not.
A blog, however, is created almost entirely online. It consists of a database and some commands. It is hosted and there is a login page where you administer it, i.e. define the pages or post articles or approve comments, etc. With a blog, when someone requests a page, the blog has language that pulls the pertinent data from various tables in the database and “builds” the web page you requested in a matter of nanoseconds. Isn’t technology amazing?

So, the big question is: Should you care?

Yes

If you want to update information on your website yourself, whether it’s an e-commerce site or not, then blogs will work just fine as long as you understand there are some constraints as far as formatting and features (unless you’re rich and love to spend money–in which case, call me immediately because I have yet to meet such a person).

If you don’t care diddly squat about technology or you know, in your heart of hearts, that you will never ever log in to update your website/blog yourself, then leave it to your web designer to decide which type of site will best meet your needs. If they are worth their salt, they will make the decison based on your needs.

My philosophy (get ready…sales pitch coming!) is that if you don’t do well, I won’t do well. My goal is to build a site you like, that gets found and gets visitors who don’t complain about it being hard to navigate. Everything else (your products or services) is up to you.

Freshen up!

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:03:33 +0000

Websites are like bread when left out. They get stale.

There’s a reason companies change their commercials and brands update their logos from time to time. Consider whether it’s time to update your website and remember that your website should be designed for your visitors – not for you.

Even if you just change out a picture or modify the color scheme, it can feel like a new, unexplored site to the visitor who may have seen it several times before.

Understanding Your Stats – 404s

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:59:57 +0000

In most website statistics programs, you’ll see one report that shows all the pages or files that people looked for but couldn’t find – the dreaded 404s. You may see pages listed that aren’t even on your website and wonder why someone is trying to find such a page.

In many cases, these are hackers trying to get into your site. They will type in your website address and add something like “/admin” to the end of it. Or maybe something like “/myadmin/setup.asp”

If you see pages listed that you’ve never heard of, don’t worry about them. If they aren’t part of your website, naturally they aren’t going to be found.

One less thing for you to worry about.

Website Tools

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:04:23 +0000

If you don’t use the Google Webmaster Tools, you (or your webmaster) should. Once you authenticate your site, you’ll find lots of good information about how often Google crawls your site and what pages might have problems and so forth.

The Google Group for webmasters (about search engine ranking) is also good, but use it with caution. There are a lot of people out there who know just enough to be dangerous. Or they give anecdotal evidence of how to fix something, instead of …hmm.. not sure what word I’m looking for… maybe factual or technical explanations of why something is wrong and how it should be fixed.

Kind of like saying, “If your foot hurts, you should do what I did to make my foot stop hurting…” As opposed to saying, “Here are the various reasons a foot might hurt and how to make the hurting stop for each reason.”

Also, just because someone who has posted a message in a Google Group includes a link in their posting, doesn’t mean you can safely click the link. There are bad people everywhere who use any means possible to get you to their site so they can install malware on your computer. Be cautious.

But I digress…

Visit the Google Webmaster Tools and take advantage.

And remember, content is king. Google loves real words on a page. Actual, useful information.

Editing Your Own Website

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:14:23 +0000

People frequently ask how or if they can edit their websites themselves.

So I thought it might be easier to post the options here rather than re-writing them every time I get a similar inquiry.

OPTION 1:
I use Dreamweaver by Adobe to design websites. Adobe also sells Contribute (about $200) which a client can install on his/her computer. Note: if you decide to buy it, please use the link on this page so I can make a buck or two.

Pros: Pretty easy to use, especially if you’re willing to read directions. (Surprisingly true for most products.) Also, Contribute doesn’t care whether a site is built with PHP or ASP or plain old html, so it works with any web host.
Cons: Expensive and not as intuitive as one might hope. In other words, read the directions/help files. Another con is that it’s software that you install on your pc. So if you need to make a change to the website and you’re at grandma’s house, you’re out of luck unless you brought your computer with you.

OPTION 2:
A “content management system” which is just what it says. WordPress, Joomla! and Interspire’s Website Publisher are just 3 of the many content management systems out there. The price of these range from free to $695 and up. And that’s just for the product. You will then probably pay someone like me to set it up and get you started.
Pros: Pretty easy to use once it’s set up.
Cons: Most require PHP and MySQL, which your current web host may not offer. Not inexpensive to set up.

OPTION 3:
Use a blog for the parts of your website that need to be updated frequently. I like WordPress because it seems to be more versatile and have more features than Blogger.
Pros: Free – if you don’t mind a URL that contains “wordpress” in it, like http://tomarketconsult.wordpress.com. Also, I find it fairly intuitive. And if you don’t want to be very fancy, it’s pretty easy to set up. Blogger is also easy, but it’s not as versatile.
Cons: If you want it to be more integrated with your website and not have “wordpress” or “blogspot” in the URL, then your web host must support that, and you’ll pay a developer/designer to install it and set it up (anywhere from $150 and up, depending on how much customization and instruction you want).

OPTION 4:
You can also buy a full-fledged web design program like Dreamweaver or Front Page (now called Expressions, I think) or other.
Pros: Complete control over your entire website.
Cons: Do you really want become a web designer? Unless you plan to spend a good portion of time (6 hours a week or more) updating your website, it’s probably smarter to pay a pro to update your site.

OPTION 5:
Microsoft Publisher. Tons of people seem to have this and it can be used to edit websites. If you have the ftp access information, you can download, edit and then upload pages on your website.
…. Changed my mind on this one after trying to help a client upload something. It’s just not made to layout web pages well. Use it for your brochures as it’s intended.

OPTION 6
Buy a shopping cart like PDShop Advanced.Net but don’t use it as a shopping cart (unless you actually sell something, obviously). That’s what I did with http://www.trulytexan.com.
Pros: It can be cheaper to set up than a content management system (as low as $600 for a decent looking site) and it’s easy to manage and add new pages, upload images, etc. if you’re willing to reading instructions.
Cons: Very menu oriented and sometimes not as flexible as I’d like.

My recommendation?

If you have an existing website that you’re happy with, but there’s a page or two that you’d like to update yourself, get Contribute.

If you are starting a new website or are doing a complete redesign, go with WordPress, TypePad or Interspire’s Website Publisher.

Be a Responsible Website Owner

admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:34:11 +0000

If you own a website, even if you have a fabulous webmaster who does everything short of cleaning your house, managing your website and your domain name and such is still ultimately your responsibility.

Tips for being responsible:

Know who your web host is. This may or may not be the person who manages your website, i.e. the one who makes changes when you need them.
Know who your domain registrar is.
Know how to log in to your account with your domain registrar.
Keep your email address updated on your domain registrar account.
Know if you have a Privacy option on your domain name registration.
If you have privacy, such as “Domains By Proxy”, know how to log in to that account.
Keep the email address up to date on your privacy account.
Know the FTP info for your website. If your webmaster wins the lottery and vanishes, you’ll need to give the FTP info to another webmaster.
Know how to access your email account online and add/change/delete email addresses related to your website.
Review your website often. Look for errors. Read sentences backwards which is a great way to catch spelling errors. Check all the links to be sure they work. No webmaster is perfect. Unfortunately, that includes me.

Follow the steps above and your life will run so much more smoothly, relative to your website at least.

ICANN

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:27:16 +0000

Once a year your domain registrar will send you a notice asking you to confirm your contact information for each of your domains. It’s that time of year.

The email will normally contain a link to a web page and a code for you to copy and paste into that page. It’s important that you do what the email says, particularly the part about confirming your information.

ICANN is the international authority that controls domain names and designates who can be registrars (such as Network Solutions, GoDaddy, TrulyTexan, etc.).

If you don’t receive an email from your registrar in the next month, use this as your reminder to confirm that your registrar has the correct mailing and email address for you. Otherwise, your domain name could expire and one of those awful name squatters will snap it up and offer to sell it back to you for some ridiculous price.

Happy Halloween!

Website Basics & Definitions

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:59:54 +0000

Communication between webmaster and client can be tough since most of it is done via email, and to a lesser degree via phone. Rarely do I actually meet a client in person.

That said, when a client has a problem or question, they sometimes ask it in a way that is perfectly clear to them but that means something entirely different to me. So, I thought I’d give everyone some tips that will help us both when we communicate.

1. The passwords that I give you are useful only relative to the services I provide AND to the particular service I’m working on. The Internet is a not one big computer. It’s a bunch of computers that each have their own function. If I give you a password for your mail account on my mailserver (a computer that serves mail), that is probably the only place that password is valid. I’ll give you a different password for ftp access and for domain name registration and for shopping cart admin. It’s a pain, but it’s the responsible and safe way to manage your business.

2. Domain registration is paying for the privilege of using a domain name, such as trulytexan.com or mercysake.com. You can own(rent) all the domain names you want. That does not mean you have a website for each one. Domain names are rented on an annual basis from a registrar. I’m a registrar (I actually resell domain registration services). So are Network Solutions, GoDaddy and numerous others.

3. Web hosting is paying for someone to have a file on their server (a computer with website-serving software) so that when some types in your domain name, a page comes up. This is charged monthly. You are renting computer space on a computer that is connected to the Internet. Your monthly hosting fee covers the cost of your webhost keeping the site available (up) on the internet. It does not cover making any edits to the website.

4. Website management means keeping a website updated, fixing cart problems that arise, updating shopping carts, changing pictures on the site, etc.

5. Website hosting does not include management or maintenance services. Depending on the hosting plan, you may get some basic level of support. Or you may have to figure out a lot of things yourself by reading help files or submitting support requests when your website doesn’t come up or you can’t access your email on the web.

6. Your web host has nothing to do with things that happen on your computer. If you cannot send mail from Outlook, talk to your Internet Service Provider first. A good way to understand where the boundary is, is to think, “If I didn’t have a website, would I still use this program?” If the answer is yes, then it’s probably an issue for you to resolve.

7. There are 3 kinds of email.
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) gives you an email address. That is called a POP3 account, which means you can access it by going to a specific URL and you can also retrieve it so that you can read it in Outlook (or Eudora or Thunderbird, etc.) on your computer.
You might have a free web-based email account, such as a Yahoo! or Gmail or Hotmail email account.
You will have an email account associated with your website. Almost every website will have at least one POP3 email account.
POP3 mail accounts can be “downloaded” to your computer’s email program (probably Outlook).
There are also “alias” accounts which are exactly like forwarding addresses. Mail can be sent to such addresses, but they are immediately forwarded to a different POP3 address.

8. Mail you send via Outlook does not go through our server. You may have it set up so it looks like it comes from your website, but it doesn’t really. It’s like mailing a letter when you’re in Colorado but putting a return address on the envelope of Buda, TX. So, when you have problems sending mail, it is an issue with your ISP, not me.

That’s probably enough for today. I know that when you don’t think about this stuff every day, some of it seems difficult to grasp. It was difficult for me to grasp when I first started doing this stuff 12 or 13 years ago.

I would love know if you read this and found any of it useful. Feel free to comment by clicking the Comment button below.

(As of Jan, 2010, no one has commented or told me they’ve read the above. Hah! Not a surprise, but a tad disappointing)