DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

By Bob Wilson

DESIGN
How important is web site design? The page you produce or have built for you will create a lasting impression on your visitors. It will help establish you as a professional with a commitment to excellence.

Your visitors first impression is immediately established the second they click on your site. If you wish to establish friendliness, use a friendly design, whimsical, fun. For a more dedicated business site, be more conservative, informative, technical. For an athletic site, possibly more liberal use of colors, sports figures, icons.

How and what you wish to appear to be will determine the direction you will take with your design considerations. You can design your own site if you have the creative ability. You can use templates to establish the theme of your site. Templates are available on the Internet, free of charge for personal or non-profit sites. Some templates require you to pay a fee if they are used on a for profit site. Unfortunately, most templates look exactly like what they are…templates. Most template produced sites look somewhat amateurish and may give the impression of not too much commitment to their business.

You may choose to use our design services. We will supply you with a complete site, designed to your specifications. This could be just one page, a ten-page site, or even a hundred-page site. We will provide you with complete design specifications, site constructions, and assembly and even host your site on the Internet. You will be able to visit your site while it is being built. We maintain space on our servers for you to see how your site is progressing. We use software that will allow you to make notations, corrections, even highlight important points, right on your web pages as they are being built. You will be in direct contact with your designer. You will be able to communicate by mail, email, telephone, or fax. Your concerns, additions, and changes will be dealt with quickly, sometimes even while you are on the line.

We will provide you with a Site Mapping Tool to help you design your site. This mapping tool is very helpful to visualize all the aspects of your site and what you want to include in your site. It will help you lay out your site navigation as well as prevent many omissions in the planning stage.

This tool is free of charge and available to our customers to use for their own benefit in planning other items in their company. An example of a site plan using this tool is here.

If you allow us to assist you in establishing your site appearance, we will be in an excellent position to provide you with a detailed cost estimate for your site construction, hosting costs, promotion and maintenance charges if you require them.

EVAULATION
Your may have a site that is not performing the way you expected or were lead to believe. We can evaluate the site and make suggestions based on our experience. We can help you make decisions on other requirements to meet your needs.

We provide a brief visit and evaluation at no charge. A written report will be provided, possibly along with a couple of suggestions. For a detailed, in depth evaluation and report, a more thorough study will be required. An hourly rate will be established along with a budgeted amount for the total report.

The report will be written in a language that will be understandable and you will be able to give it to any web designer to make the required changes. Please contact evaluation@trimarinerinternetservices.comfor more information.

NAVIGATION
Navigation is a very important part of your design objectives. The largest single fault that will discourage visitors on your site is poor navigation. More visitors leave a site in frustration because of poor navigation that any other reason.

If you are selling an item on your site, your buy signal should be no more than three clicks from your home page. If your customer has to drill down through your site for 10 pages before they arrive at the “Buy Now” signal, many will leave before they get there.

EMAIL ADDRESSES
If you are selling on your site, you will want to collect email addresses from every visitor. Most buyers will not buy the first time they visit your site. The average number of visits before purchase is 7 visits. There are many ways to collect visitors addresses. We can provide the forms and programs to automate address collection so it may operate unattended 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Many customers will have already decided to buy by the first visit, but need to feel confident about the purchase before they put their money down. By collecting the email address of your visitors, you can stay in touch with your potential customers with reminders of a special, reduced rate, or other inducement to purchase.

Your Email list will develop into your most valuable sales tool. It is a common fact that once a customer has bought from you and is satisfied with your product, they will be inclined to purchase from you again. It is far easier to sell to an established customer than it is to sell to a new customer.

Repeat customers will visit your site an average of 3 times before they purchase again. They already know how reliable and trustworthy you are so they do not need to assure themselves that you will deliver the product as promised in your sales pages.

YOU WILL BENIFIT
We are more that happy to discuss your needs, either for immediate use or in the future. Contact Trimariner Internet Services now to open a dialogue that will benefit you many times over. Click here now to contact us.

10 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Usability

By Ivy Hastings

Whether it’s an e-commerce site, an online tool, or just your company’s corporate sites–smart marketers know that web site usability is key to the success of any online presence.

What a lot of marketers don’t know is the basic principles of web usability and how to apply those rules to their own online presence. Here are ten very easy ways to make an immediate impact on the usability of your site:

1. Home – Users want a home and they expect to see a link to home in the same place: the top left-hand part of your site. Don’t try to be creative and place your link on the right hand side, or at the bottom of a left navigation, or even worse, leave it off your navigation completely. You’ll just end up frustrating your users.

2. Links – Make links look like links. Designers hate the ugly blue, underlined text that indicates a hyperlink, but users love it. The standard blue, underlined text shows users implicitly that the content is a link. Now you don’t have to use that blue, underlined text, but do make sure your links look like links. You’ll want to also make sure that a visited link changes color.

3. Text Size – Another Designer pet peeve is text size. Designers tend to use the smallest size they can get away with. If users can’t read your text, they’ll bail out. Make sure your text size is 11pt. or above. One of the great trends that stemmed from Web 2.0 is the use of really large text, buttons, and features.

4. Navigation – Your navigation is central to the usability of your site. Your navigation should be placed on the top of the page under your logo, or down the left side. Never place your navigation on the right hand side, or worse change the location of your navigation. Users are used to seeing navigation in the same place. If you make them hunt for it, they’ll bail and you’ll lose out on that sale, lead, or client.

5. Orientation – If your site is deep, meaning it has a lot of pages and many levels of navigation make sure that users know where they are in the site, and how to get back. A great way to accomplish this is by adding a breadcrumb trail. This basically shows users their click path. For example, a user who is shopping for skirts might see: Home > Women’s > Clothing > Skirts. Each of these categories should be a link that takes the user back to that category.

6. Content – Though content is usually not mentioned as an aspect of usability, it is so important to use web best standards for your written content. In this case, less is always more. Your site is NOT an online brochure. Web users don’t read, they scan. Use short, active sentences and calls to action that are engaging. You can do this with bold, bullets, buttons, and call-outs.

7. Placement – Put features where users expect to see them. Your logo goes on the top left and is a link to the homepage. Search belongs at the top right hand side. Contact Us should be the last section in your navigation. Login should be at the top left. Eye tracking studies show that users start at the top right, scan back and forth from left down the page, and end up at the top right expecting to complete an action.

8. The 30 Second Rule – The 30 Second Rule states that users should know who you are, what you do, and what they should do next on your site. Do a gut check and make sure you pass. Ask anyone who is not familiar with your site or business to perform this test.

9. Search – Fifty percent of users prefer to use a search tool rather than drill down through your navigation. Give your users search so they can find what they are looking for fast.

10. Speed – Users hate nothing more than waiting. Do you think they really care about the fancy Flash effects your designer talked you into? Every last study also says that Flash-based intros are useless. So, if you’re considering spending good money on a fancy intro, think again.

At least 8 out of ten websites are breaking at least one of these rules if not all of them. Do your users a favor and fix these issues right away; your users and your bottom line will thank you for it.

About the Author:

Ivy Hastings is a Project Manager at a Denver, Colorado web design and development firm. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Ivy has published many articles about Internet Marketing. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Arts Street, a local non-profit that teaches at-risk youth the craft and business of the Arts.

10 Keys To Creating A Profitable Online Business

By Jan Peterson 

Starting an online business is not always as easy as it may sound. But, running an online business has many benefits over its offline counterpart. First, and the most appealing, is you’ll most likely be working from home from your own computer, and working the hours that suit you. And secondly, you have the potential to make a lot more money than you would if you were working for someone else.

Before embarking on an online entrepreneurial quest for the perfect home-based business, it’s advisable to look at the array of online business opportunities available, and decide which would be the most suitable for you. While it’s quite conceivable, that the most profitable and legitimate type of online businesses can be operated successfully by one person, most involve a collaboration of skills and input.

For the individual, making money online is a very real prospect, but there are some important factors that should be considered before taking that first vital step.


1. Should you sell a service?

Unless you have a well-developed skill such as, web design, graphics design, writing or some other creative or artistic flair, you’ll have to concentrate on finding or creating a product.

In selling your services, you must first determine whether a paying market actually exists for your services. Initially, you’ll need to do some research and look at similar services being offered. A good indicator is usually when there are numerous similar services available. This would suggest a buoyant market, but it’s not always the case. A friendly yet inquisitive email sent to a few established service providers in the business you’re considering, should give you an insight.

Take a good look at the existing competition. Look at the quality of their work. Could you do it better? What prices are they charging? Could you do it cheaper? If you can effectively do either of these you’re on your way to building online wealth.


2. Should you sell a product?

More people than ever buy products online, but the main thing to consider is whether you want to sell a tangible product or a virtual product.

As with selling a service, you must first determine whether a market exists for your product. Look at similar products then decide whether there’s room for another player. All products will have to be sold through a website, from which an order can be taken and a payment can be processed. If you have the knowledge and necessary skills, you can easily build the website yourself. Otherwise you will have to pay a professional.

A tangible product is something that can be held in the hand, therefore it will also need to be packed and shipped. Processing orders is very time consuming, but more importantly you may have to keep inventory, which can be very expensive plus you’ll need to find storage space.

An alternative is to sell virtual products. These include downloadable e-books, videos and information products. You’ll still need a website with ordering and credit card processing facilities, but you will not need to keep any inventory and it won’t take up any space (except on your computer’s hard drive) Many successful Internet marketers use this method to maximum effect.


3. Selling someone else’s product

Some of the best online business opportunities are very simple to set up and run. The first of these is affiliate marketing. You simply find some existing products that are being successfully sold on the Internet, and sign up for their affiliate program. Basically, this is straight-forward process. You complete an online application form and you’re given a reference number, which you can embed into your marketing links. The host company will also track your sales and pay you commissions. All you have to do is sell their products.

Some people go overboard on affiliate programs, trying to sell anything and everything they can sign up for. It’s advisable to concentrate on a few related items such as e-books on a similar subject. When that enterprise begins to make money online, start all over again with a set of different products. With careful consideration and clever marketing, affiliate programs can be the perfect way of making money online.


4. Buying a business or franchise

If you’d prefer to buy a readymade business, there are many to choose from. Some established and profitable Internet businesses will gladly sell you a franchise. This will most likely be a clone of their existing business, but beware! Owning a franchise business on the Internet will prove useless unless you have territorial rights. The problem with online franchises is your limitations on what you can sell. You must sign an agreement with the franchisor, that you, the franchisee will only sell their range of products.


5. Online investment opportunities

Not strictly a business opportunity, but investing in real estate or stocks and shares has become big business in itself. The Internet has opened up all kinds of opportunities for investors, and it’s so easy to go online and find stock brokers willing to advise you where to put your hard-earned cash for the maximum return. The big consideration with investing is to remember that prices can fall just as quickly as they rise.


6. Finding the right market

Whatever service or product you decide to offer your online customers, you must first establish whether there’s a need for it. If there is, you’ll have to work on an effective strategy of getting your product in front of your prospect ahead of the competition.

It’s been proven time and again that small is big. The small or niche market has been responsible for many people making a nice profit from the Internet. It’s as well to remember, that a niche market on the internet could number well over a million potential customers. Just 5% of a market this size, each buying a product with a $10 profit margin, would return $500,000 in profits. A few examples of niche markets might be: Holidays for singles over 40, sports and fashion wear for children 6-24 months or easy car maintenance for lady drivers.


7. Online Auctions

The phenomenal success of online auctions, eBay in particular, is unprecedented. Not only are the online auction companies making large profits, they give everyone an opportunity to sell something to anyone anywhere in the world. From fashion accessories to collectibles and sports equipment to memorabilia, there appears to be a market, although limited, for everything.

The key to success here is to buy wholesale and sell volume. When you’ve got to the point of making good money from online auctions, simply write a book and tell everyone else how you did it. To get started in online auctions, go to eBay, click on wholesale, buy some stock and resell individually back on eBay.


8. Paid Surveys

Some people might not consider clicking boxes alongside questions a valid business opportunity. But if you consider it work, and the survey companies are willing to pay you, then it must be a form of business to be considered. It’s something almost anyone can do, doesn’t require any specialist knowledge or skill and can be done from anywhere.

The downside is, it’s tedious and won’t make you a fortune. However, it’s the ideal part-time opportunity for people with a few hours to spare or to run alongside a new venture during the ‘quiet’ periods.


9. Enthusiasm, Commitment and Self-Discipline

Looking at the various online business opportunities and how you should evaluate them is only part of the equation for online wealth building. Working for yourself in your home-based business will require real enthusiasm, commitment and copious amounts of self-discipline. Whichever route or opportunity you consider, all will require a degree of ‘do-ability’.

Be prepared to spend more time at your computer, especially in the early months, building your business and getting your products in front of likely prospects. If you do it right, an online business can pay you big monetary rewards.


10. Accounting the costs

If you plan to set up and run an online business as your main source of income, beware! The tax man cometh! An online business is no different to a bricks and mortar business, in the eyes of the tax man. If you establish an online business and you’re making a full-time income, don’t forget to inform the authorities. You must have a business name, although this could be your own name, preferably a business bank account and you’ll need to inform the tax collectors.

You’ll need to keep records of all your business transactions for accounting purposes and you’ll need to set aside a percentage of your profits to cover taxes. Microsoft’s Excel program is perfect for keeping records of this nature, but don’t forget to keep a back-up of your files, just in case. The message here is to play it straight and keep it legal.

Of all the things you should consider, when planning to start an online business, the most important is undoubtedly marketing. Marketing strategies can make or break a business. See some available marketing information under the PROMOTION heading

 

The above article was first made available at Workz. com.

5 Secrets To Building A Successful Internet Business

By Jan Peterson 

Everyday I talk with people who want to get started on the internet with their own business. But the whole process seems a mystery to them whether they have an affiliate marketing program, a real estate course or they sell health and fitness products. The easiest way I found to walk people through the basic building blocks is to use a real life example of building a brick and mortar business. Success on the internet is possible when you know how to build it and drive targeted traffic to your website.

Let’s say you wanted to open a coffee shop that would rival Starbuck’s®. Where would you begin? You would probably want to do some kind of research to see how many coffee shops were in your town or city. After all, if there are 5 in a ten mile radius, you might want to think about a different location or how you would make your coffee shop unique enough to slaughter the competition.

1. Identify your niche
Well, it’s not much different on the web. You want to first identify your niche. First, let’s quickly explain what a niche is and isn’t. If you are selling every affiliate marketing program under the sun, this is not a niche. A niche would be to focus on affiliate programs in a specific field like health and fitness. Then you want to find out what the top websites are by typing ‘health and fitness’ into Google. Here you can see the top 10 sites that Google says are important. Remember that even the category ‘health and fitness’ can be broken down into further niches like weight loss for women or top 20 health products for longevity. See what your competition is doing and how you could do it different or better.

Another way to look for niches is to use Overture’s search term tool. Place your keyword in the box and hit go. Overture will spit out anything relevant to that keyword. It will show you possible niches you hadn’t thought of and how many people search for that keyword. For example, you may put in coffee beans and it may show you that organically grown and processed coffee beans are all the rage.

2. Build a user friendly website
Back to the coffee shop. Next thing you might do is have the shop built in a good location where traffic can come and go easily. You too must build a website that has what people are looking for, is easy to navigate, easy to shop and checkout with friendly customer service. Tip: If you are selling weight loss products, don’t try and sell power tools. While this may sound obvious, many people try to take the ‘sell everything’ they can approach and what happens is they end up selling nothing.

What will the environment of the coffee shop be like? What experience do you want your customers to have? Your customers will be entering your website with expectations of finding the information they need and the products they want. In that order. You might invite them to sign up for a free 7 part report on ‘how to lose 10lbs guaranteed over the next 30 days eating healthy.’ At the end of that report you can encourage them to look at your weight loss supplements or vitamins.

3. Good navigation
As in the coffee shop, have your items for sale laid out in a well organized fashion so the buyer can order exactly what they want with little effort except to give you their credit card number. It is best to have your products grouped and images optimized for fast page loads. Think about what you like. Do you want to see ten products described well on a page or fifty crammed in? As you would have nice displays in your coffee shop so will you on your website.

4. Offer something better than your competition does
What other things could you do to enhance your buyer’s experience? In a coffee shop you could offer free samples of new drinks or have a discount card for people who drink coffee with you every morning. On your website, you can offer free tips, reports and discounts on volume buys or repeat purchases.

5. Market wisely
So, how do you get people to come try your coffee shop? Typically, a brick and mortar business will advertise in the local paper. It may be that you have the coffee that is guaranteed to get them going in the morning, free internet access, homemade muffins or the freshest coffee beans available. With your website, you may do pay-per-click advertising, exchange reciprocal links or write articles. Traffic must come in the door of your website, like what they see and hopefully buy from you.

While most of these tips are common sense, it is amazing how few people actually use these critical ingredients in their online business. Pretend you are a customer arriving to your web store for the first time. What could you do to make the whole experience better?

The above article was first made available at Workz. com.

Determine Your Web Site Goals

By Delilah Obie

To ensure that your site benefits your business and its users, clearly define your site goals from the beginning. Focus on a primary function and build your site around delivering that to your visitors. Clearly defined goals will help keep your priorities in perspective as you manage the process of building your online presence. You’ll need to balance your business goals, the needs of your audience, and your resources to create an effective Web site. You’ll also want to keep in mind your longer-term goals, so that you design your site with some room to grow.

Some common goals for Web sites are:

Online sales.
If your primary business is selling physical goods, focus on creating an online store that gives visitors a sense of place (so they can easily find what they are looking for) and makes purchasing simple and easy.

Marketing.
If your primary business is delivering an offline service, you may want an online brochure. This sort of Web site can deliver useful, practical information about your service and enable you to develop your image and build trust and customer loyalty.

Online service.
If you deliver an online service, you’ll need to build an infrastructure for the delivery of your service. This type of site is more complex than the first two. You will need to anticipate what you’ll feature in your product catalog, and how you’ll handle online payments and process online orders.

Information delivery.
If your primary business is publishing information, then your site will be some form of online publication. You’ll need to determine how to charge a fee for your content. You can do this either through subscriptions (which you could bill monthly or annually) or on a per-use basis (which may require that you use sophisticated applications to handle billing through your Web site).

Customer support.
While every business with a Web site may want to provide some level of customer support, a higher level of support will require a much more sophisticated design. Whether you’re selling directly from the Web or from a physical storefront, providing up-to-date product information, tips and tricks for using your product, and a page for frequently asked questions (FAQ) makes it easy for customers to get the information they need. You may want to plan to automate these functions.

Regardless of the primary purpose of your Web site, a number of design fundamentals apply broadly to all good Web site design. One of the biggest shortcomings of many Web site designs is a failure to put the needs of the customer at the forefront.

Give people what they want. It seems obvious, but sometimes we forget and give people what we want instead of what they want. (For more on how to determine customer habits and preferences, see Identify the Primary Audience for Your Site.)

The book Secrets of Successful Web Sites: Project Management on the World Wide Web, by David Siegel (Hayden Books), provides a good resource for Web site planning.

 

The above article was first made available at Workz. com.

How to Hire a Web Designer

By Susan Villecroze

Today, anyone who wants to provide information, sell something, share information or promote a business knows that a Web presence will help them achieve those goals.

A charity organization may want to promote itself to potential members and volunteers, as well as provide information through newsletters and articles related to its work, so that anyone who’s interested can learn about that organization. A rock climbing center may want to display a map with directions that explain how to get to the center, hints on climbing techniques, tips on where to find good equipment, a photo gallery of the gym with action shots of climbers… Unlike other marketing strategies, a Website has a global reach and can be accessed online 24-7.

If you want a Website, but you’re not a designer or developer, how can you go about getting one? You don’t have the time to learn what it takes to be a Web design guru and you don’t trust that your cousin, who studied computer science, has enough experience to build you a professional Website. So, who can you hire to build your site? With thousands of Web designers and developers out there, ranging from individual freelancers to big Web design agencies, how can you make sure you choose the right help?

What Do You Want?
In order to find help, you need first to figure out what you want. Ask yourself the following questions:

* What kinds of information do you want on the site? How big do you think your site will be?
* Who are your users? Do you know which operating system and browser they are using?
* Will your site require regular updates? Would you like to make changes yourself?
* Will you be selling something?
* Will you need a database to store and retrieve information?
* Do you want to rely on search engines to send more traffic to your site?
* When do you need the job done?
* What is your budget?

The Search Begins
Those who can spot a good Web designer are usually a good Web designer themselves, or will at least have done quite a bit of Web design themselves. But for those who aren’t designers, the choosing of a professional can seem an overwhelming task.

Referrals are a safe bet; although you know you may not be getting the very best Web designer in town, you can usually trust that you won’t get the worst, either. However, if you use referrals and also conduct your own searches, you will have a much better chance of finding a designer who’s right for you. Once you’ve compiled a list of Web designers and/or developers from the sources of your choice, you need to do some serious homework.

What if some of the designers on your list are from out of town? Don’t rule them out if you really like them. If you don’t mind working via email and talking on the phone, you may be quite happy with your choice. There’s always an advantage to meeting in person and onsite visits can be important, especially if there are problems.

There are many things to consider when reviewing your list of potential Web experts. The first, obvious thing to do is to check out their Websites. Browse through the pages and find as much information about them as you can. Ask yourself:

* Is it easy to find information and to get back to where you started?
* Do you like the navigation system?
* Are the pages accessible [1] (no broken links)?
* Are the pages and overall design consistent?
* Are there a contact page and site map and can they easily be found?
* Is there enough relevant information on the site (eg. details about the company including location, what they do, the people, policies, etc.)?
* Are things aligned properly?
* Is the text easy to read?
* Do the pages load fast?
* Are the pages short, so that it’s not necessary to scroll horizontally, and there’s little or no vertical scrolling?
* Do links open onto the same page?
* Is there a portfolio you can view?
* Does the site discuss the designer’s technical background?
* Does the site make use of the right colors?
* Are page titles appropriate and informative?

Hopefully, the answer to all the above questions will be yes. Basically, if you don’t like a Web designer’s site, you probably won’t want them to design your site. Check their portfolio and see if the style is right for you. If you see sites that you really like, make sure the employee/s who built those sites are still employed and can work on your site. What technologies does the designer use? Will this technology work for you and your viewers? Does the team follow Web standards or are they still stuck coding sites like it’s the 90s? Ideally, you want your site to work independent of the user’s operating system and browser.

Has the team created sites for other businesses in your industry? If so, were they able to reflect the business properly? If yes, then this team already knows the needs of your industry and will be more the kind of expert you need than will other Web design generalists who haven’t produced these particular sites. If the site offers testimonials, read them to see what past clients had to say about the work they received. In addition to having technical skills, the designer should be continuing his/her education in order to keep up with the latest technologies and standards.

Beware of companies and individuals who claim to be Web designers and developers but perform mostly graphic design and work in print media. Being able to use Web creation software such as Dreamweaver does not make a Web designer. Your Web designer should, at the very least, be able to help you with Web design and development, Web hosting, graphics creation, database creation, Web content, maintenance and Internet marketing and promotion.

Freelance vs. the Big Web Design Firm
After you evaluate the selected sites, you may need to choose between engaging a freelancer and using a big Web design company. A big Web design company may appear to have a lot of credibility due to its large portfolio, many testimonials, and large collection of experts in all areas of design and development. These experts have to work together to deliver a consistent and successful package for their clients. The size of this kind of organization can make clients feel secure and confident in enlisting in their services.

Freelancers are individuals who can take on all the necessary design and development responsibilities. These kinds of providers often work very closely with others to get the job done, and such close collaboration between fewer people (or in some cases, just one person), means that consistency is easy to achieve. Working alone or in a small group can also generate more motivation and dedication to completing projects in which clients can be guaranteed satisfaction. In this type of arrangement, what you see is what you get: the professional freelancer you meet on the Web will be the Web specialist for your project, and can be held personally accountable. In contrast, in working with a larger company, a perfect stranger may be assigned as your account manager once the sale goes through.

Freelancers may also represent better value for money. With a freelancer, there are rarely any hidden fees, nor many complex contractual details to overcome before the project can begin. Freelancers may also be more readily available to go onsite if required.

Depending on the size and complexity of your site, a big agency may be the right choice. A larger company may be in a position to deliver bigger projects more quickly than can an individual freelancer. An individual freelancer may often need either to subcontract or learn certain skills or technologies in order to get a job done. This can mean extra time and/or cost, and, depending on the freelancer involved, can also result in a less-than-expert product. For this reason, if your project requires the use of a particular language or technology, it’s a good idea to seek out designers who already specialize in that area.

Pricing and Guarantees
To further refine your list of possible designers, you’ll want to make note of their service rates. The prices designers put on their services can vary drastically. Compare rates between designers with similar levels of education, experience and talent. Like most purchases, with Web design, you tend to get what you pay for. If your project is fairly small and straightforward, freelancers may charge less than big agencies. By “small”, I mean a site with a few forms and a small database.

Once you’ve narrowed the list, get in touch with the companies or individuals concerned, explain your project, and ask for an exact price quote. Make sure your designer can outline all costings and the work in detail for you. If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask, and remember: it’s not unreasonable to negotiate a lower price that that quoted if you feel the quote price is not justified.

If possible, also take a look at the supplier’s Web contract. Make sure that the client is protected under this contract, and be sure to check the copyright and payment policies. Make a note of the supplier’s response time, too. You want to work with someone who’s readily available, easy to contact, and who will get back to you promptly.

Look for, and ask about a guarantee of work. Stated policies such as, “If you are not 100% satisfied, we will give you your money back,” or “Our rates are competitive but if you find a similar service for less, we will be happy to match it,” will give you a clear idea of the designers’ confidence that they can meet your needs. Guarantees are important: there’s nothing worse than paying big bucks for a site you’re embarrassed to show your clients or customers.

Guarantees show potential clients that the company cares about making them happy and is doing its best to ensure your project’s success.

Last Steps: Contact and Check References
When you’ve narrowed your choice down to just a couple of designers, it’s time to contact them and check their references. First, call the providers and ask questions. Are they polite on the phone? Are they good listeners? Were they helpful at all? If they are difficult to talk to and you don’t like the way they treat you, it will be difficult to work with them.

Check each provider’s references by reading any testimonials on the site and perhaps even talking to past clients. Go to their portfolio page, locate the contact information for a couple of clients, and give them a call. If there are no testimonials, ask for references when you call the provider. You are looking to hire, so you have the right to check their work references.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to meet with the designer in person and go through your project ideas. Even at this point, you are not obligated to enlist in their services unless you are perfectly confident they are the right person for the job.

It’s Worth the Work
Follow these steps and you should increase your chances of successfully finding and hiring a Web designer or developer who meets your needs and those of your project. This process may seem like a lot of work, but when you’re spending thousands of dollars, over many years, on your online presence, it pays to do your homework!

 

The above article was first made available at Workz. com.

How Web Sites Work

By Russell Shaw

Many different components are involved in getting a Web page up and running. A Web browser, server and host work together to call up a given site while firewalls protect internal networks from intrusion.

What a Web Browser Does
A Web browser is a computer software program that can go to a Web server and request a page. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are the most common browsers, although there are a number of others. Online services such as America Online (AOL) and CompuServe use adaptations of these popular browsers. The browser then pulls the page through the Internet, and ultimately shows it on your computer screen. It’s also able to interpret the various computer “languages” that Web sites use to form Web pages, and it displays the Web site you’ve requested on your computer screen.

What a Web Server Does
Web servers are programs that run on server machines, either at your business or at the Web host. They identify and retrieve the particular page you’ve requested through your browser, and then instruct that it be sent out over the Internet and displayed on the requesting computer screen. They handle many requests on many pages simultaneously. In general, the more powerful the server machine, the more pages it can serve at the same time.

What a Web Host Does
Web hosts literally house Web sites and provide the Web services that make those sites available on the Internet. Host computers store the contents of your site, as well as your e-mail and Web site address identifying information that enables others to communicate with your site. Some larger companies and many government and educational institutions host their own sites, but virtually all individual users and many companies find it too unwieldy and expensive to purchase and maintain the equipment necessary to host their own sites.

What a Domain Name Does
Web browsers and Web servers work together through Web hosts to call up Web pages by using the Internet protocol (IP) address that is registered along with a domain name. A Web browser finds a Web page based on its IP address, also known as its URL (uniform resource locator). All Web servers on the Internet also have domain names, which are registered to a particular IP address. Domain names are easier for humans to remember than the numerical locator that makes up the actual IP address. Ours is “www.trimariner.com” (the entire URL for our site is “http://www.trimariner.com”). This name is actually a three part designation: the host name (“www,” for World Wide Web), the domain name (“trimariner”), and the top-level domain name, “.com,” which indicates a commercial or business site. Other domains include “.edu,” for education-oriented sites; “.org,” for organizations; “.net,” for some specialized Internet and computing sites; “.gov,” for government sites; and “.mil” for military sites. Domain name servers at network access points are able to access a list of all currently valid registered domain names that are registered and match them to their corresponding numerical IP address.

What a Firewall Does
A firewall is a security system on a computer network that blocks unauthorized packets from using the Internet to gain access to the company LAN (Local Area Network). The firewall protects the LAN resources from users outside the network with the help of a proxy server. Proxy servers are software that sit within a firewall and monitor access to the Internet. For instance, when someone on a company network attempts to log on to an outside Web site, her request is sent from her machine to a proxy server, which then contacts the Web server and retrieves the site. The indirect connection that the proxy server enables reinforces the firewall. Many companies use proxy servers to monitor Web use by their employees. A firewall is often installed in a specially designated computer separate from the rest of the network so that no incoming request can get directly at private network resources. This barrier protects internal company data, as well as Web pages, from being corrupted by outsiders.

The above article was first made available at Workz. com.

Additional Features To Enhance Your Site

By WorkZ Staff

Here’s a list of features that you might want to consider when imagining your site. Some of these features go well beyond the basics of what you’ll need for your site. But you might find that some of them will be instrumental in maximizing your Web site profits.
When evaluating any feature it’s always a good idea to compare the cost to add the feature against the possible revenue the addition of the feature might bring.

The list of potential features includes:

On-site search engine
If a potential customer comes to your site for one reason and one reason only, you want that customer to be able to find what she is looking for quickly and easily, otherwise she’s probably going to surf somewhere else. Providing your visitors with an on-site search engine is a relatively easy way to ensure that your products, ideas, designs, and content are easy to find.
It’s also possible that, if you purchased a turnkey solution, you purchased an on-site search engine, so check with your provider to find out. Many companies offer free or low-cost search engines for your site.

Newsletters
Keeping your site’s visitors up-to-date with changes in the site’s content, sales and promotional items, and related news is a great way to keep visitors coming back. One way to do this is to publish an e-mail newsletter. Site visitors can sign up by entering their e-mail information into a form that you provide on your site. If you choose to make this newsletter interactive, you’ll need to create an opt-in e-mail forum. If you offer news and information in your newsletters and do not allow users to post to the group, the software and maintenance are, obviously, much simpler. In fact, in order to run a newsletter, all you need is an e-mail client.

Community
An essential element of any Web site, community refers to the group of people who frequent your site. It is important to cultivate this group in order to organize a community of repeat customers and develop a sense of interdependence. There are many ways to build community. For example, you can offer chat rooms, Web-based forums, discussion groups, and newsletters. You’ll need to choose forum technology and forum hosts to get things started. The following community building tools are easy additions to your site, because you can often find free downloads and free service providers that will provide access to (and host) these elements for you.

Chat Rooms
Providing your visitors with real-time communication capabilities promotes true stickiness. Visitors will likely remain on your site longer if there is a hot discussion or an immediate exchange of ideas and assistance.

Web-Based Forums
A common example of a Web-based forum is a message board. A message board is similar to a chat room in that it allows your site users to exchange ideas and thoughts and it keeps them at your site while they do so. Message boards and other forums differ from chat rooms in that they are asynchronous: Visitors do not communicate in real time and therefore need not be present at a certain time in order to participate. Your forum’s design and functionality depend upon which platform (NT or Unix) your site uses.

Discussion Groups and Opt-In E-mail Forums
Opt-in e-mail forums have the advantage of being both private and convenient. Those who have asked to be included in the thread or discussion receive the same e-mail and are able to post thoughts and ideas by submitting an e-mail message to the group’s moderator. The opt-in format allows users to take themselves off the list and add themselves back on whenever they wish. The software that enables this type of discussion is easy to use and widely available. You may want to outsource the service entirely, in which case you will want to choose either an advertising-based provider or a provider that charges a fee.

Affiliate Partners
You can significantly increase site revenue and traffic by starting your own associate or affiliate program. Planning your program will involve choosing or developing your software, setting up agreements with your associate sites, and deciding how much commission to pay.

Streaming Audio or Video
Streaming audio or video is an excellent way to distinguish your site from the millions of Web sites out there. You’ll need to be aware of your audience and of access issues before you introduce this bandwidth-intensive feature. To do this, you’ll need to understand how bandwidth, Net connections, and modem speeds affect your visitors’ experience.

Online Forms
You’ll use online forms to collect information about your customers, run online surveys, create opt-in email, and process orders.

Database Software
You’ll need some database software to capture your customer and product data. If you choose a turnkey solution provider to build your site, you may find that this is included, because many turnkey solution providers will offer this as part of their package. If you build your site using off-the-shelf software, you’ll want to choose one that will enable dynamic access to databases.

The above article was first made available at Workz.com.