Archive for July 3rd, 2009
Learn From My Mistakes
Posted by rians in General Interest on July 3rd, 2009
Maybe you are a new web marketer who doesn’t meet my former level of ignorance. I often think, “If I had only known then what I am aware of now.” The “then,” of course, is when I first ventured into the online business world. I could fill an entire book with the idiotic errors that I made due to ignorance. In truth, I could fill a multi-volume set. It’s a bit embarassing.
Every once in a while, I try to share one of those bits of wisdom that have subsequently come my way. I identify one or two simple realities of the online business world about which I had been ignorant and that cost me a lot of money, a lot of wasted energy or, usually, both.
Here is today’s lifesaving tip: Every page on a web site is a landing page.
I laughingly believed that every prospect who came to my site would first arrive at my home page. They would all happily consume the valuable content there and progress through my site in an orderly fashion, like third graders in line on their way to gym class.
If I had discovered someone who could tell me how web users actually find my website and how they act once they get there, my websites wouldn’t have looked the way they did those early attempts. The sites may not have been as pretty, but they might have earned a respectable income. I guess I should have either hired a consultant or used an online marketer to build a business website for me–one that actually had a chance of meeting my goals.
My business would have reached a decent level of success much sooner if I had known these things:
* Most people find their destinations by using search engines
* Search engines don’t really care about entire web sites; they think of the web as a huge collection of independent pages
* Recognize that each page on a web site should be created with the goal of achieving the ultimate purpose of the site (obtaining the desired action on the part of the visitor)
* Having tracking software that would allow me to diagnose how real people move through my site’s pages
* More quickly discovering that, cumulatively, the interior pages of my website receive more first time visits than my home page
* Distinguishing between a pretty website and a productive website
* We should all “bite the bullet” and spend some money wisely in the early stages of our business development, because that will lead to greater income sooner than if we behave as the iconic Mr. Scrooge
I actually love the process of designing the architecture of business websites, now that I actually understand it, so I probably would still not do what I recommend to you: Hire a professional Internet marketer to build yours. However there are lots of things that I should have outsourced (and that I now do) when I was first beginning.
Large or Small Website for Your Company’s New Online Business?
Posted by rians in General Interest on July 3rd, 2009
You are a new online business owner, and the last thing that you need is one more decision to make. I’m sorry, but I have one more thing for you to ponder: What should be the size of your first website?
There are two competing views on this issue and both have data to support them. Of course, if we automatically knew which was the preferred size, there wouldn’t be a choice to make.
I should stress that this topic is not related to the size that you want the business to ultimately become. Businesses that operate a number of tiny sites can grow as well as those that concentrate on one major “money site.” Neither should your decision be based upon some preconceived notion of your target market or your niche. Both small sites and large sites can succeed in any niche.
In other words, the answer to the question is not automatic, and I’ll warn you right now that I’m not going to recommend the “one magical size fits all” approach.
Small websites should be concentrated on a narrow sub-niche built around a cohesive, limited set of relatively long-tail keywords. Sites that are designed to become quite large eventually will develop most of their content in the same focused way, but they will also begin search engine optimization on the shorter, very high competition keywords at the same time.
The two approaches call for different models of long term growth, although both may begin largely concentrating upon a relatively narrow slice of the market. Businesses that begin with a large site as the eventual goal, with fully develop one small sub-niche, then gradually add new sections dedicated to other sub-niches onto their original site. Those who initially built a small site, with intention of always leaving it small, will take a “duplication of success” approach, as they gradually add more an more individual sites to their virtual empire of tiny websites. Thus with each new department in the mega-site model, there is a new set of search phrases upon which to focus. These sites are built upon what is often called the “silo” structure. As the large site grows to twenty departments or categories, the business with small sites might grow to twenty or more individual websites.
Positive cash flow can be established sooner with the small site approach. This is partly due to such a business not investing resources into those most competitive, high level keywords. In the long run however, over the course of many months or even years, the mega-sites can become competitive for the high traffic keywords and might even become recognized as an authority in the broadly based market.
I’ll point to three practical ramifications of how you decide to approach this business decision.
The first has to do with start up cost. Although you’re still beginning relatively small with the site that you plan to become large, the foundation for a larger site must be laid. That means that the site’s eventual architecture must be created and the systems put in place that will eventuall become necessary for operation. Thus, it is more expensive to begin such a site, even though you may start nearly as small as the mini-site business. Mini-sites are much less expensive to build than it is to build the foundation for a larger business site.
A second practical difference pertains to your approach to keywords. Your keyword research for a smaller site will be much more tightly focused upon the long-tail terms, especially those that show commercial intent (thus more likely to convert sooner rather than later). If you opt for the silo site, you will be splitting the focus of your keyword research. In one way, you will be imitating the search of your small site competitors by looking for those longer tails that are higher converting, but you must also identify all of the high traffic keywords so that you can begin to attract visitors who are gathering information rather than ready to make a decision to buy or sign a contract.
Issues pertaining to page rank is the third practical ramification of your large vs. small decision. Page rank is impacted by a number of variables in search engine algorithms (formulas), but one of those is the number of pages that a site has (assuming that the site has a search engine friendly linking structure). Thus, it is more difficult to achieve a high page rank than it is for a large site because of its inherent value on that variable.
So I hope I have given you ideas to chew on, even though I haven’t provided a clear cut answer to you. Perhaps, though, these ideas provide you with an inclination as to which approach you should take considering your own unique business circumstances.
My New Website
Posted by rians in General Interest on July 3rd, 2009
Introduction
When I decided I needed a website for my business I had no idea of the very many processes involved. Like most people, I thought web design meant deciding on the graphics and the look of the pages and then by some magic it would all happen.
I have a friend who is in the business of SEO web design and web content management systems so I approached him for a quote. As a complete novice who is computer literate up to a point, I was amazed at the depth of initial questioning required to find out exactly what I wanted to achieve.I realise now it is akin to building a house or other huge project where it is all in the preparation.
I had no idea about the various elements and the structure of the site and I found it mind blowing when I learnt about the amount of work involved. So I thought other people would be interested to know more about this complicated process particularly if you consider yourself a non computer person and have to get a website built. I have asked my SEO friend to supply the technical information for this article.
Stages in the Process
Target Audience
Before building a website there are important questions to consider. I was asked who would be my potential audience. Who are my customers likely to be? Would they be children, businesses, home owners, sales people, parents or teenagers and so on?
The Objective of the Website
Then I was asked, what was the objective of my website? Did I want to sell products on line or use it to market my business and get more leads for potential customers? Maybe I would want to use the site as an online brochure to showcase my services. Another possibility was to use the website to foster a community so that I was in contact with other like-minded people, with chat rooms, online discussions and being supported by advertising on the site.
I hadn’t quite realised the scope of a website but as I was asked these questions it became clear that a lot of careful planning went into the preparation before building a website.
Creating a Site Map
The importance of creating a site map is to get it clear in your mind of all the pages you will have on your website so you can prepare the content for each page and begin to design the flow through the website, such as when a user adds a product to their basket, then enters their delivery and billing address and makes the credit card payment in the correct order.
In the same way that in building a property you must have drawings, so with building a website you must have a site map, everything else, the services if you like, will require the sitemap to first of all be in place, such as SEO plans, copy writing and navigation.
The aim is to make the site as simple to use as possible so that there are no barriers to getting into the website or making a purchase. For that reason often user name and passwords are set for the customer so that they are not put off making a purchase by having to register.
For a non e-commerce site things are simpler with a contact form which allows you to receive enquiries by email without publishing your email address on the website, thus avoiding junk email.Web forms can also validate the information before you receive it, so ensuring that the phone number provided does not contain words, and that the email address is in the correct format, for example. These things may sound very technical to us lay-folk but I assure you everything has to be decided on before starting on the construction of the site.
Your Domain Name
Choosing a domain name is often quite a challenge because every name you initially come up with will almost certainly have been taken. Domain names ending in .com are by far the most popular and internationally recognised; the snag is that it’s very popularity means that the majority of the shorter names have probably already been registered. However, you can usually think of some domain name that is available, which is much less time consuming than trying to purchase a previously registered domain name from its existing owner, most of the time just contacting them, and getting a reply is a challenge.
So looking at names with endings such as .net; .org .co.uk or .info may be able to provide you with the domain name you would like to have. When choosing your domain name it is very important to include one or more of your keywords if possible as this can apparently help with search engine rankings. So although the name of your business is the obvious choice for a domain name, it is not necessarily the only option. You will no doubt have heard the Hoover/vacuum cleaner story, where Hoover is actually a brand name of a certain type of vacuum cleaner, but these days most people still say they are doing the ‘hoovering’ ! This is an important concept to bear in mind when choosing your domain name as hoovers4u.com might be a much better domain name than discountvaccuumcleaners.com, also vacuum is a tricky word to spell so think about things like that too. Also how easy is it to give out your domain name over the telephone for example? Classic examples of this are paydotcom.com and Slashdot.org confusing or what?
Copy
The next stage is preparing the content. This is not the design of your website – just the words and visuals you want to have one each of the pages. A good idea before writing the copy is to have created your site map and decided on your SEO keywords, see below sections.
Having gathered all the above information you will need to decide what imagery you want to use within the website content. As we all know, a picture speaks a thousand words and remains in people’s memory far longer than just words.
For each image you could also have a caption, as the caption of an image is the next ‘most read’ words on the page after the page title. Images and their captions need to be clickable. When you click on a picture it should take you to the next stage of the process such as the sale page or placing an enquiry if your website is for lead generation. All images should also have alternative text or alt tags. Alt tags will display the hover text when you position your mouse over the picture, but also they are used by screen readers to assist visually impaired users know what the image is about. See the section below on Accessibility and Compliance.
Website Design
Finally we come to the design of your website.
At Nottingham Web Design the design can sometimes be a tricky part of the process because it basically depends up on the client liking what you have done. Unlike setting up the web server, or the domain name, which either works, or doesn’t, with design it is very subjective.
There are a number of ways to approach website design but ultimately you need to create a design brief for the designer(s) to work from. Look at other websites and your competitor’s websites to find out what you like or dislike. The design brief should give reference to the logo, any existing brand guidelines or schemes and fonts and colour schemes, and should also detail which pages of the website that the designer is being tasked with creating visuals for. See the Sitemap section below.
The very best results will be achieved by using a graphic designer, and beware – not all graphic designers are the same. A graphic designer who designs specifically for print is working in a different discipline than a graphic designer who designs for screen and specifically the web. So choose your designer carefully, look at other work that person has done and determine whether or not you like their style. It is also worth remembering that design is a personal thing, just because you have used a company before and liked their work, do you know the same person will be doing the work if you use that company again?
If you are working in the big time and budget allows, use multiple graphic designers who have all been given the same design brief and request three concept designs from each designer. If the client themselves also do a graphic design, even if it’s a back of the envelope scribble, you will then have 10 concept designs. The next step is to get them all together and select the preferred elements from each design. Then give the work to the selected graphic designer to work up as the final artwork. Once you have reviewed the final visuals the artwork files will then be provided to the developer, usually in layered Photoshop files.
The artwork should be finalised and agreed on by everybody before construction of the site begins.
Navigation
Another important aspect when building a website is how you want your navigation to work. You can have links within the content of your website, in the text, so there are not just links from the menu. You will need to decide whether the links will open into a new window, retaining your original page open or just change the page to the one clicked on. Next time you go online, you will realise how much thought has gone into the way in which a website works. You will may also have some ideas for improving how some of them work after reading all of this!
Production
Finally the preparation has been done and the site is ready to be constructed. Now for the more technical stuff! You will need to have decided which programming language to use to build the website. There are two main types for developing a website, one is Unix based, and the other is Windows based. Each one has pros and cons. If you are starting from scratch then it probably won’t matter, so you can go with the preference of your professional doing the work. My website is built on the Unix platform (apparently!) which is the same as many of the more well known websites such as Ebay, Facebook, Google and Amazon. Also your website hosting must be compatible with the development language with which your website is built.
Work In Progress
The best way to build a website and be able to monitor work in progress is on the web server where the site is ultimately going to live. This way, those involved in reviewing the work can see work in progress and provide feedback throughout the development process.
Going live
The moment of excitement comes when your site finally goes live and you see the results of all the thought that has gone into the whole process.
When our new demolition web site eventually went live I was really pleased.
As soon as the site has gone live there is no substitute for real world testing though, so ask as many of your friends and colleagues to view the website from their own offices and give you their thoughts.
Accessibility and Compliance
The website has to meet the current standards for website coding and doing so insures that disabled users, such as the visually impaired, can still access the entire website if they are using a Braille web browser. It is also a good idea to also discuss conformance moving forward, particularly if you have a web content management system, because and accessible of compliant site may become un-accessible after six months of being edited by you if you do not add or edit the website content in an accessible manner.
Unforeseen Items
There are always things that arise in any project which you suddenly realise you have forgotten, so no matter how well the website designer prepares and asks the right questions, there is bound to be a last minute change of mind or addition to the site. The main aim is to minimise the number of glitches that might arise because they aren’t calculated in at the start and they could cause extra costs and delays on the date of the website going live.
Reporting and Monitoring
Once your website is up and running, you might like to know how many people visit your website and from that number how many actually buy the products or place an enquiry. From these statistics you can work out the ratio of visits to sales and gradually make changes to improve the ratios. There are some reliable statistics packages such as Google Analytics or Web-Stat.com which allow you to collect and review website visitor data in near real time. All you need to do this is to have a small block of code inserted into each web page on your site.
Another useful service that Web-stat.com provides is to monitor the website and warn you by email or text message if the site is not reachable.
Marketing
Once the website is live there are lots of things you can do to market your product or service. The first step is to submit it to the search engines and at the same time write articles, and press releases. Getting links to the site from forums, blogs and other social networking spaces are other options. For more on this subject ask your agency about SEO{, remember that’s search engine optimisation}.
How to be Found on the Web
One of the first questions I was asked was, ‘Do you want it to be found by Google the main search engine?’ If I did then there was a whole process of establishing Keywords. So finding the best keywords are vital if you want to be found in Google. He says there are two main types of keywords. The first is the trophy, or generic, keyword for the industry which in my industry is simply ‘demolition’. The second kind of keyword is the long tail keyword. These are not searched for as frequently but if you can get a match then they are much more likely to convert into customers. A good example of this in my industry is ‘factory demolition company Derby’. So it is very important to do a lot of research on keywords to find both those that are the most popular and the most specific. Generally most users only look at the first page of results so you will want to get your website promoted so as to get on this page for your chosen keywords. By using a keyword research tool such as the keyword lookup in the Google Web Master Tools kit you can find the single most popular keyword for your industry.
Conclusion
Wheww. What an amazing amount of work! I hadn’t realised when I started the process of getting a website up and running, how complicated it all is and how many factors you have to consider before even designing the website. The word web design is really a misnomer, as people often think it’s just about the graphic design on the home page, and the branding of the product. Unless you are a computer whizz, most people have no idea how much goes into designing and building a website and the systems that support the work you want it to do. I hope that this article gives you an understanding and insight into the whole process of website development from start to finish.Next time you type in a web address or click on a link to a website, remember all the above work that has probably gone into it!
Essential Tools for Website Designers
Posted by rians in General Interest on July 3rd, 2009
Web designing is almost the same as print designing. The same basic principles work. You have to set up your space plus layout, opt on the proper lettering and what colours to utilize and turn up with the correct matter to attract visitors. Somewhat that comes out by putting these combined efforts and considerably persuade your clientele is known as designing. And by mastering a few important seo web design concepts, you can offer value-added services to clients.
The recognition of best web designing tools is must for everyone affiliated with it; else, the increasing web traffic may bring you hassles. A superior software may save your plenty of time and finish your nearly all of web designing work for you, thus it makes you an expert in this field. Searching reveals out a large amount of web designing tools fit for your needs.
Adobe provides a great creation in a group of distinct amalgamations. Each tool works alone or combining with other tool for different use. You can get any version, each one is compatible to other tools of all versions. These all appear to perform remarkably. Adobe has a great reputation so you might wish to explore this.
They own a software called ‘Coffee Cup’ which is recognized for it’s little charge. It is easy to use and for most of us, the price is always important. Furthermore, they allow free updates and support everlastingly. Their HTML Editor is one of the best tools available. It includes a lot of features with tons of styles and pictures, citation of all of these qualities now is impossible.
Once you have designed your website speedily by means of these tools, it’s time to optimize it by submitting it to famous search engines namely Google, Yahoo, MSN and many others. Well, Google is topmost since it has a free website testing and optimization software. It will provide you with a wealth of report that will permit you to boost the worth of your websites and traffic with no incurring a cent. You can use it to test and optimize site’s content and design.. If you use it perfectly, you can easily increase revenue.
Furthermore, they educate everyone the way of testing your website by elucidating in simple language with crystal clear, trouble-free bit by bit directions. Training issues consist of Landing Page Principals, A/B Testing, Basic Testing as well as Advanced Testing.
Merely making a website quickly using your preferred web designing tool can get you zero unless and until you optimize it. But never overlook to optimize and tweak your site using some of the tools, Google facilitates for free.
The Process of Web Development
Posted by rians in General Interest on July 3rd, 2009
Introduction
The term ‘Web Design’ creates a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. The word design suggests graphics and layout so many people think that’s what designing a website is all about. Most people think that website design is very simple, all you need to do is install the company logo, add the relevant wording, decide on the arrangement of the pages and that’s it.
Well I am about to shock you by outlining the many complicated processes involved in web design. Think of it this way; when an architect designs a house all we see is the way he lays out the rooms, how the available space is arranged. We normally do not concern ourselves with the amount of technical detail that goes into the design. The architect has to work out the stresses on the walls and the weight of the roof. If there are fireplaces he has to know about draughts and the shape of chimney for it to do the job. He has to plan heating systems, plumbing systems, drainage and sewage, what type of windows to use, door fittings and many other details so that when it’s finally complete the overall effect is pleasing and suitable for the purpose intended. Web design is similar. A customer may have an idea of the layout of the website but will need the services of the Web Designer to make it all happen.
Stages in the Process
There are many items to be decided on before even starting to build a website. Some of the important questions to consider are:
· Who will be the target audience?
· What is to be the purpose of the website?
· Do you want it to be found by the search engines?
· What is the domain name for the site?
· What links need to be in place?
· What type of graphics do you want to use?
· Do you want to include photographs?
· Do you want a system of monitoring visitors to the website?
Once the webmaster has the answers to these questions then he can start the process of designing the site to give you what you want.
Target Audience
What sort of people are going to visit the new website? Are your customers likely to be businesses, sales people, home owners, parents, teenagers or children and so on?
Objectives of the Website
Is the website to be used to sell products on line, or to market your business to get leads for new customers? Maybe you wanted it to be an online brochure to showcase your products. Balloons for trade have a website for resellers only so that they can look up the products before placing an order. Because there is no selling on line there are no contact details on the site. You may want to use the website to foster a community to be in contact with other likeminded people. You would need a design that incorporates a chat rooms and online discussions.
Being found on the Web
An important web design process is thinking about search engine promotion, assuming this is how you intend to get your website traffic, whether from paid advertising or organic search results thorough keyword research is vital.
The first step is a search of key words in the industry. Finding the best keywords is vital if you want to be in the top ten listed in Google. Every SEO or web designer will tell you this and it really is very very important. By using a keyword research tool you can find the single most popular (trophy) keyword; the one everyone puts in. For example people looking for a vacuum cleaner might type in Hoover although this is in fact a brand name. You will also need to research buying keywords, geographical variants and long tail keywords, these are keywords that are much more likely to convert into a sale but have lower search volumes, you can find out more information about these types of keywords by performing a web search.
Domain Names
Domain names can be the hardest part of setting up your website, because nearly every name you come up with will most certainly have been registered already. By far the most popular are domain names ending in .com as they are internationally recognised. For that reason alone the majority of shorter names will already have been registered.
Choosing names with endings such as .net; .co.uk .org .info may provide you with the domain name of your preference. When choosing your domain name it is a good idea to include one or more of your keywords. Although the name of your business may be the obvious choice for a Domain Name, it is not necessarily the only option.
So as you can see choosing domain names and keywords right at the beginning of the project will determine how the site is constructed so that it is suitable for the purpose required.
A brand new domain name space has just been launched.
Companies can now apply for their name in this brand new .tel name space and it is intended to replace the telephone directory. When the domain name is viewed in your web browser it will provide the companies details and telephone number.
Creating a Site Map
It is very important to have a site map to outline the pages on your website, e-commerce website or forum space. It shows the design and flow through the website so that when selling on line, items work in order such as; adding product to basket, entering delivery and billing address and on to making credit card payment. The site map helps to identify how user friendly the website is so that there are no difficulties in getting onto the site. Often the user name and password are set for the customer so there is no hindrance to achieving the initial purchase.
Non e-commerce sites are easier because it is possible to receive enquiries by email, without publishing the email address on the website. By using a contact form you will avoid spam and also validate the information before you receive it. The aim is to create a balance between discouraging junk mail, and making it easy for the enquirer to use the site.
Links
An important consideration when designing a website are links. These can be links to other pages of content within your website, and links within the content of your website in the text, as well as links from the menu. Consideration has to be given to whether the links will open in a new window so you still have your original page open or will the new window replace the previous one.
The Copy
The copy is the words and visuals you want on your website. Having made decisions about the target market and relevant links, along with the keywords and using the site map information, the next stage is to decide what imagery you want displayed. A picture speaks a thousand words and remains in people’s memory far longer than just words. So images are important to reach your audience. Each image needs a caption which is the ‘most read’ words on the page after the title. The caption of an image need to be clickable so that when you click on a picture it takes you to the next stage of the sales process.
Design
The final design of the website is often the most difficult stage of the process because it’s subjective. In a large corporation, many people from various departments will have an input for their division. Everyone has their own ideas of what they think the site should look like and trying to gain a consensus can be a nightmare because nobody will ever agree.
If you are setting up a web design project just for yourself then you will probably have a clear idea of what you want to see on the site. But even then unless your ideas are workable in the medium, you may have difficulty getting something you like.
Modern CMS content management system driven websites are great because they enable you to quickly and easily update certain content sections without having to refer to your web designer. However, it is important that you have a clear idea in your mind of how you want your website to look and all the content for each page, before any design or build work is done. A CMS is great for editing a quick sentence but you want your designer to create the entire site with content before you start editing it.
Look at competitor’s websites in mind of your ideas to make sure your design will be an improvement on what is already in the market place.
Once you have done that you will need to create a design brief. The design brief should have a reference to the logo and any existing brand guidelines, colour schemes and fonts adding in any other relevant information.
Having done a design brief look for an experienced graphic designer. Choose your designer carefully, finding one who designs specifically for screen and the web to achieve the very best results. Beware of choosing a graphic designer who designs for different discipline such as print as they are very different processes. Look at other works the designer has done and decide whether or not you like their style.
Using multiple graphic designers is the best option if you are working in the big time and budget allows. Give each designer the same brief and request three concept designs from each one. The client might also do a design, even if it’s a scribble on the back of an envelope, there will then be ten concept designs. Get everyone together and choose the preferred elements from each design. Once the items you want are selected choose one graphic designer to do the final artwork.
All parties need to agree on the final artwork before construction of the site begins. Consideration should be give to the fonts used for the titles and buttons etc. Fonts have to be licensed so if the designer has not supplied something then the developer will need a copy of the fonts to achieve the task. Professional graphic designers will usually provide the artworks in a layered Photoshop file so if titles are not going to be in plain text get the designer to also supply the fonts.
Production
At last all the preparation has been done and the site is ready to go into production. This is where it gets technical! You may not want to go into the detail in which case leave it to your Web Master to choose for you. There have to be decisions about what language to use, either Unix or Windows based, to build the website. Each have advantages and disadvantages with multiple variants but sites such as Ebay, Facebook, Google as well as other well known websites are built on Unix. Your website has to be built with the development language of your web host provider so that they are compatible.
Accessiblity and Compliance
These are current standards for website coding to insure that disabled users, such as the visually impaired, can still access all sections of the website.
Development
Development of the website is best done on the web server where the site will reside. Those involved in reviewing the work can then monitor work in progress and provide comments throughout the development.
Unforeseen Items
As the site building gets under way the customer suddenly thinks of something they must have. No matter how well the web master prepares and asks the client the right questions, there are always some last minute adjustments to the programme. The main aim is to minimise last minute additions because they aren’t calculated in and will generate extra costs and cause delays to the date of the website going live.
Going live
At last your site is up and running and you see the results of all the preparation that has gone into the whole process. There is no substitute for real world testing so as soon as the site is live ask your friends and colleagues to view the website from their own computers and give comments.
Marketing
Once the site is up and running it’s time to turn your attention to marketing your products by submitting the site to the search engines, writing articles, and press releases and generating links from forums, blogs and other social networking spaces.
Reporting and Monitoring
Skilled web design companies won’t have a problem installing your webstats for you , although some of the advanced tracking can be a bit tricky to setup at first, such as tracking PDF or MP3 downloads, but it is all possible and will inform you about your website users activites.
Use a reliable statistics package such as Google Analytics or Web-Stat.com to collect and review website visitor data. All you will need is a small block of code inserted into each web page on your site to collect visitor information to help you assess the success of your products in near real time. Web-stat.com also monitors the website and alerts you by email and text message if the site goes down.
Conclusion
The title ‘Web Design’ is a bit misleading in that people often assume it means the graphic design on the home page and the branding of the product. Unless you are a computer expert, most people do not realise the amount of work that goes into designing and building of a website. Clients are not aware of the amount of complicated technical work necessary to build the systems that support what they want the website to do. In such a complex process anything that gets tacked on at the end will end up incurring more cost to your budget.
The degree of initial questioning is an indicator of how competent your Web Master will be. Every aspect of the construction has to be decided upon before you even start the design. These things may sound very technical to us non techies but it is essential for the Web Master to find out exactly what is required so that everything can be costed accurately and built into the design from the beginning.