The Website Planning Guide

Filed in Web Development on May 17, 2012 Leave a comment

Whenever we engage a potential client to use our services, we send them a Website Planning Guide. This provides a comprehensive understanding on what needs to be understood and what to organize in order to put together a website. It also explains all the costs involved.

Part 1: Website Development Costs

1. Domain Name Registration

Registration, or domain name registration, is purchasing the .com (or .net, .org, .edu, or dot whatever) name of your site. Domain registration can only be done with special domain registration companies such as Godaddy.com, Network Solutions, Register.com, and several others.

We usually recommend Godaddy.com for this service. Registration with Godaddy is generally a little more than $10 a year for a .com name. You can purchase as many names as you prefer and they can all be pointed to your website using a domain forwarding service or domain alias.

 

2. Web Hosting

Hosting, or web hosting, allows your site to be displayed live on the Internet. To be online, a web hosting company must host your website on their servers. Just as a brochure and catalog must be first designed and then printed, websites must be first developed and then published to a hosting server in order to be available online. Different types of websites require different hosting plans and servers, but most the sites that we create only need a shared hosting environment, which are inexpensive.

You may choose any hosting company you wish, but we usually provide hosting services through our hosting partner. Hosting with us allows us full control of the server and all hosting needs, and allows you the freedom not to have to deal with hosting technicalities. Our standard hosting cost is $12 / month, though sites with low traffic and simple pages can be less expensive.

 

3. Web Design and Development

This is the actual creation of the website. This is where all your ideas and content are combined into a design prototype and then optimized and coded. This also includes programming and debugging for complex websites such as database-driven and shopping cart websites. The cost of this varies significantly, from single page Landing Pages starting at several hundred dollars to standard 10 page websites that range from about $2000 – $2500, to complex data-driven and shopping cart websites that can run several thousands of dollars.

 

4. Website Maintenance

Website maintenance describes the work that is done to a website once the site has already been placed online. Every website requires some level of maintenance; some minimal and some major. The most typical forms of maintenance are page changes and page updates. You may need to change page content or add pages to the site after it is launched, or promote specials and notices. These changes can be done at anytime and are typically billed hourly. We can usually complete any changes that are less than two hours of work done the same day (during business hours if the task is clearly defined and provided early in the day.) Simple text changes that take 5 minutes or less are usually done as for free as a service to our clients. Some of the website we develop have built-in self-maintenance administration modules, known as Content Management Systems (CMS), in which the site administrator can make changes and updates on his own. This is more costly to develop, but can save money in the long run if changes will need to be made frequently.

Another website maintenance cost important to many websites is advertising and marketing. If you want to promote your website to the general Internet audience and to be found by the search engines, you will need to advertise your site. Besides for traditional media venues, websites can be promoted through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or by Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns where you pay to be an advertiser on the search engines. Since there are numerous options for SEO and pay-per click, the cost varies greatly.

 

Stay Tuned for Part 2 next week!

 

Facebook Cover Photos: Practically Speaking

Filed in Web Development on May 3, 2012 Leave a comment

What is a Facebook Cover Photo?

Facebook has a new feature called a cover photo, which is a large photo at the top of your timeline, right above your profile picture. The cover was implemented by Facebook to individualize your page and give a quick identification. A cover photo differs from the profile picture, which is the picture that friends see next to your name everywhere on the site. For example, the profile picture would be a logo for a company, and the cover photo would be a masthead.

 

Why a Cover Photo is Important

Since Facebook implemented the cover photo and timeline in March, these features are being used throughout Facebook and part of their “New Look” campaign. This has now become the standard, and all companies with Facebook pages should make sure to have one.

 

The Cover Challenge

One of the challenges of the Facebook cover photo is that it places the profile photo directly on top of the cover, partially covering it. What often happens is that part of the cover photo has graphic text in that spot which will now be covered by the profile photo and will look strange. In this case, a graphic artist will need to resize the cover photo to ensure the spot that the profile sits on will be blank. On April 27, 2012, we noticed that Facebook increased the size of the profile photo on the timeline page, thereby cutting off profile cover photos that were already resized to fit in. This indeed required many to graphically alter their cover photo to accommodate for the new Facebook size requirements.

 

Practically Speaking

The easiest way to get a custom cover photo without any overlap issues is to have a professional Web Development such as Radial Web create one for you. If you want to do it on your own, make sure to keep the following pixels in mind: The profile photo will start at approximately 25 pixels to the left, and go until 192 pixels on the right. From the top, it will start at 65 pixels down from the top. As far as the dimensions, here are the official guidelines from Facebook: Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you upload an image that’s smaller than these dimensions, it will get stretched to this larger size. The image you upload must be at least 399 pixels wide. To get the best quality image and fastest load times for your Page, upload an sRGB JPG file that’s 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes.

The Web is Changing – Make sure to stay up to date!

Filed in Web Development on April 19, 2012 Leave a comment

Don’t Fall Behind!

When deciding to use a company to use their services or buy their products, we often look for their website to find out more about them. The website is their tool to publicly represent themselves. If their website is out of date, we assume that their company is also out of date and lacks professionalism. Don’t let your company be like that! Stay up-to-date and make sure your prospects think of you as cutting edge. If your site was designed over three years ago, it’s already out of date! Your website visitors will notice this and make important decisions about you based on how they see you represent yourself. Make sure to not fall behind and let your website get rusty.

 

Emerging Technologies

Blogs, mobile sites, web video, animated sliders, social media, ipads, tablets, etc. These are Internet buzzwords we are all hearing. These technologies are all changing the face of the web. Stay up to date and don’t fall behind! Here is a brief description of these emerging technologies:

  • Blog Websites: Blogs are a popular way of presenting content and getting information out in the world. Our company can configure most of the standard blog types such as WordPress and Blogspot, or we can configure a custom blog for you.
  • Mobile Websites: Many organizations are joining the mobile-friendly world by developing websites specifically designed for smartphones. This is a new service being offered by our company, so get on the bandwagon and have us create a fast-loading, efficient, and trendy mobile site for your organization.
  • Social Media Integration: Social Media has taken the Internet by storm. Our company can take care of all forms of social media for you, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
  • Web Animation & Sliders: Jquery and other technologies such as AJAX are being used increasingly to make websites come alive with interactive animations. From smooth page transitions and sliders to complex interactive presentations, our company can provide you with any animation needs.
  • Web Video: Of all the new tools on the web, web video is certainly the most important new standard. Its use is becoming increasingly apparent and integrated. From seamless integration of video into your website in a fast streaming format, to simple YouTube video posting and embedding, our company can optimize your site and enhance it with effective web video.
  • Email Blasts: Our company can produce dynamic, automated email newsletters and blasts, as well as assist you with setting up an email list. We can design the templates for your email blasts as well as integrate the newsletter functionality within your website with administration controls and options that allow users to subscribe and unsubscribe on their own.

Targeted Email Blasts

Filed in Web Development on March 23, 2012 Leave a comment

Targeted emails are newsletters or updates that are sent via email to clients, customers, business partners, or vendors. These are often called “Blasts” since they are “blasted” out to multiple email addresses with a single click. Targeted emails provide an important way to stay in touch with your business contacts and keep you on their radar.

How does one send out these mass email campaigns? Some people foolishly try doing this in outlook, and put dozens (and sometimes even hundreds) of email addresses in their “to” list. Besides for being blocked by spam for bulk emailing, this also exposes the recipients email addresses to all other parties in the distribution list, and may place the addresses in the hands of spammers and scammers. The proper way to send a mass emailing is to use one of the many email campaign systems available. These include Constant Contact, VerticalResponse, Campaigner, EmailDirect, and MailChimp, to name a few. These systems all work together with the spam filters to ensure their emails are protected from the filters. They all require strict adherence to spam prevention policies. However, if you are sending an email or forwarding an email to a selected distribution of contacts, you can responsibly send it in outlook by adding a small group of email addresses into the BCC field (this hides it from being seen by everyone else in the distribution list). The amount of emails that you’ll be allowed to send this way depends on your hosting companies email policies.

When sending out targeted emails, there are two primary design approaches. The most professional approach is to have a custom HTML design created which reflects your company’s theme and matches your website. However, this involves more design work and requires having a professional designer set it up, as well as type in new HTML anytime you want to create a new campaign. The other approach is to select a pre-defined system template (provided by your email campaign system), and then populating your content and logo in the template. While easier to control on your own, and definitely more cost-effective, this method still lacks the full level of professionalism presented in a custom-designed HTML email.

Another feature of email campaign systems is their signup code. All of them will provide you with HTML code which you can place on your website. Web visitors can then fill in their info on your site with this code, and automatically sign themselves up on your list. The email campaign systems also provide detailed statistics of the campaigns, and you can usually see how many people opened the email, how many people clicked a link on the email, and how many people unsubscribed from the email.

Some companies will need more than one distribution list, to direct different targeted emails to specific groups of people. For example, a company may want to send a different targeted email to their customers and to their distributors. Most email campaign systems provide the functionality for this by allowing the email addresses to be classified within multiple lists.

There are several policies to adhere to when sending out email blasts. First and foremost, don’t spam! Everybody hates spam. Spam is defined as any email that comes unsolicited. Only send out your mass emails to customers who already have a business connection to you. Another way to legitimize your email campaign is by making sure to put a valid address and phone number within the body of the email being blasted. Most (if not all) of the email campaign companies require this, and they will prevent your email from going out without this. Another important practice is to make sure the information you are placing in the email campaign is relevant to its recipient. Make sure the content is informative or useful; otherwise you are better off not sending out the email at all.

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Social Media Website Integration – Do You Really Need It?

Filed in Web Development on January 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Social Media Integration has become a standard on the web, with all forward-thinking companies integrating some form of social media platforms into their websites. As Social Media has continued to develop, it has greatly influenced online marketing and activity. It seems as though the web is continuing to build itself around Social Media. For example, cell phones now have built-in Social Media Apps, websites are allowing users to login with their Facebook accounts, and blogs like WordPress already have built-in widgets and tools for Social Media.

The facts speak for themselves. The connected world is utilizing Social Media, and it can be easily  harnessed to promote your business or cause.  Your friends and colleagues are already spending plenty of time posting on Facebook, and people are reading and interacting with these posts. I am not an avid Facebook user, finding myself lacking the time and desire to share endless posts with my Facebook “friends”. Despite my relative quietness on Facebook, I am careful to check my account and post every once in a while just to remain in the loop and retain a sense of “connectivity”. On my Facebook company page, I try to post once a week a few new interesting tidbits or short musings pertaining to the company. This allows my Facebook friends to see these posts, effectively generating buzz for my company.

Is Social Media a necessity for a website? My answer is both Yes and No. It’s a resounding “no” if no one in the organization will be posting to these venues on a regular basis, or if the Facebook and LinkedIn profiles are not well-connected. To have empty profiles or dusty postings will actually cause much more harm than good. Those visiting these sites will perceive the organization as outdated and out-of-touch. It is better to do nothing at all, rather than do it the wrong way. However, if one or more people in the organization have many Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections, these Social Media items can be very helpful to boost exposure — with regular postings.

As far as Twitter is concerned, if it is going to be used, then at least one Tweet should be made during a given week. Additionally, customers or supporters of the organization should be encouraged to follow Tweets, as well as connect on LinkedIn and Facebook. Someone within the organization should be designated to regularly post news and items to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Without a designation, postings will happen the first several times and then will be forgotten.

The easiest way to add Social Media Integration to a website is to add icons that link to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. Make sure to set up a dedicated company page for both Facebook and LinkedIn, and link your site to these with recognized Social Media icons in the website footer. Facebook posts should be personalized and can be a bit more lengthy, whereas LinkedIn and Twitter posts will accommodate only short news items less than 140 characters. Social Media widgets and plug-ins, such as “scrollers”, can also be added to the website.

This past December, I first added Social Media icons to my website, and started a Facebook company page for Radial Web. I created my first company page post, and immediately a friend of mine from my elementary school days (who is also a friend on Facebook) read the post and contacted me to design a website for him. We subsequently went to contract, and I am now developing his company website. This proves how effective Social Media Integration can be at building your company into a more successful business.

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Why I Started This Blog

Filed in Web Development on January 12, 2012 Leave a comment

Welcome to the new Radial Web Blog! I just finished setting this up today, and am quite excited to get this project off the ground. I chose WordPress because it’s the most dynamic and accepted format for creating blog posts. One of the services that I offer is blog setup, so I felt that it is important for me to have my own web design and development blog to share my thoughts and musings. In today’s technological world, information is valuable. I know that I have an experienced knowledge of web design and related topics that could be useful to others, and I have the desire to share this with you!

It’s very important for my potential clients to see this blog and realize that Radial Web is a dynamic, forward-thinking company. So besides for the valuable content which I hope to provide, I would like this to be a showcase for my portfolio. Additionally, this will be very helpful for my SEO rankings. Search engines like dynamic and fresh content, and I can use this forum to provide legitimate inbound links with valuable keywords and content that is freshly added on a regular basis.

I have two other blogs which I setup and maintain. One of them is Harriman Hiker, my hiking blog which documents my weekly hiking excursions. The other is my Minerals.net Blog, which outlines my updates on my extensive Minerals.net website. Harriman Hiker is done in Blogger, and was set up before WordPress was as popular as it is today. The Minerals.net Blog is running BlogEngine.net integrated within the Asp.net code of the website. This is effectively my first personal WordPress blog, and I hope I can inspire you.

- Heshy

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