15 posts tagged “main articles”
Server problems should all be completely resolved now. Thanks for waiting this out with me, and hopefully now we can get back on track…
“Blog” is a combination of the words ‘web’ and ‘log’. People who write blogs are bloggers, and the act of writing is calling blogging. It’s kind of like an online diary or newsletter. What makes a blog different is the ability for the blogger to update their posts easily, and for visitors to comment on the entries. Each blogger has their own ‘voice’ or tone, and the way they view their subject matter. Blogs are usually updated very regularly. What you are reading here is a blog!
RSS feeds (see yesterday’s post for more about RSS feeds) make it easy for users to subscribe to a blog, and then they can read new articles without having to visit the site regularly. The greatest thing about blogs is how specialized they can be. There are blogs available on every conceivable subject, meaning you can find and subscribe to any topic that interests you. You can contribute to the ‘blogosphere’ by creating your own blog, as well. There are many free services you can sign up for and begin blogging today:
The web has always been a place for people to share ideas and post their views and comments, but it hasn’t always been easy. Today, the web has become much friendlier, with the popularity of such sites as MySpace and Wikipedia. The software behind these types of sites makes contributing, and taking part, in the online community easy and more personal for users. Even novices are finding their way into the social community of the new web.
Socialization on the web takes place through the many ways users can build communities if friends and family who share the same interests or views: sharing of pictures and videos, conversations through comments, and online ‘presence’ streams through such sites as Jaiku or Twitter.
Over the next few days, I’m going to cover some of the sites and tools that I find fun, useful, or just plain interesting. But before we get too far, an important tool to understand is content syndication or RSS Feeds, and a general defining of the term “Web 2.0″
Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many
Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Britannica Online Wikipedia personal websites blogging publishing participation directories tagging stickiness syndication
It means distributing your resources onto the internet network. Think of it as the Internet Operating System. Almost everything you use your computer for now will done online, without software installed on your computer. And many tasks you don’t use your computer for can be done more efficiently online.
Web 2.0 Meme map from “What is Web 2.0” by O’Reilly
In the 1.0 model, you bookmarked a web site you found interesting, and maybe you remembered later to return to it and check for new content. Today, syndication is major part of almost all regularly updated sites. Syndication is accomplished through RSS Feeds.
The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, it was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. A great (simple) explanation of RSS can be found at “How to Explain RSS the Oprah Way”
So, to make RSS much easier to understand, we’ll say RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite sites all in one place.
Suppose you have 50 sites that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each site everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can “subscribe” to a the site, and get “fed” all the new headlines from all of these 50 sites in one list, and see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours.That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the sites you have subscribed to.
To “subscribe” to a site’s RSS feed simply means that you are telling that site, “Yes please. Send me your story headlines.” It’s like subscribing to a magazine or newsletter. Instead of getting a magazine or email, you will just get a list of headlines sent to your RSS reader. If the headline looks interesting to you, all you have to do is click on the headline and you’ll be sent to the whole story.
In order to subscribe to a site’s RSS, all you have to do is click on an RSS symbol like one of those shown in the diagram above, or a text link of the words “Subscribe to our RSS feed”.
If you’d like your RSS list to be accessible from any computer or mobile device you may have like a PDA, laptop, or cell phone, some popular RSS readers include
MyYahoo
MyMSN
MyAOL
Google Reader
Bloglines
NetVibesAnd many popular email programs have the ability the add RSS feeds, as well. Then, when you check your email, you’ll get your subscription feeds as well.
Another use of RSS feeds is for you to consolidate all of your own online presence streams, comments, and networks into one, such as importing all of your blog posts, Jaiku postings, photos, videos, music, and friends onto one consolidated site such Virb, Zude, or PageFlakes. (we’ll cover these later in the week…)
Feel free to add to the conversation with your comments or questions. And if you have a favorite social or aggregate site we don’t mention, please share it with us!
The newest site developed by westXdesign is a very very simple, one-page version of the flyer produced by the coordinators of the Shining Star Motorcycle Rally.
Sometimes, all that is needed is another venue for people to find information about you, your organization, or an event. This site in particular will add more information about who is performing, and when, as well as vendors. This type of information can’t be updated in their print advertising, but new and updated information can be found at the site. So, even though they aren’t going with a big, interactive web site, the ability to provide updates is crucial.
If you have been thinking that you don’t have a need for a web site because of various reasons, consider what the Shining Star Rally is doing, and how it is helping them promote their event more easily.
For individuals and businesses just beginning to work online, the process of building a web site can be daunting. Here is a quick and dirty tutorial to help you better understand what it is you are doing, or what you are hiring someone to do for you.
- First you will need a Domain Name. Example: www.your_business.com. Your domain name must be unique. It is registered with companies such as register.com or Network Solutions and the cost varies, anywhere from $9.95 to $25 per year. You may register your domain name for any number of years in advance. Sometimes your domain registration is included in your hosting costs (see #2). There are different extensions available. Some of the most popular are: com or biz for commercial type sites such as most businesses (com is more popular), org for organizations, and net for networks. When you register a domain name, the server you are hosting the pages on is registered with it. this enables other computers on the internet to know where your web site is located.
- Hosting. Your web site must reside on a web server. There are many companies that offer hosting, including your local internet service providers. Costs on hosting can range from $9.95 to $50 or more per month.
- Design. If you are not creating your own pages, you must employ a web site programmer/designer. Design and set up costs vary greatly, from $20 per page, $50 per hour, or even $1,000 or more per site.
- Promotion. Once your web site is available, it is not automatically found through search engines. This is a 4th process to getting your site up and running. Your web site address and information must be provided to each of the major search engines. The quality of the design and the meta information provided by the designer will greatly determine your success here. In the beginning, the most effective way to get visitors to your web site is to include your web site address in all advertising, business cards, etc. Having your site return in online searches may take many months. Other methods that are very often employed to help promote the site and it’s ranking include having other sites link to you, participating in other forums related to the site to help establish you as a leader in your field, and ensuring that your content is always fresh and relevant.
You could be dealing with 3 different entities when setting up your web site: domain registrar, hosting company, and designer. To make the process easier, select companies that will take care of your domain registration, hosting services, and design for you in one place. Designers all have their own styles and personalities, and the ability to work closely with the designer to get what you want is very important.
Do you need a designer or a code-monkey?
It’s an important question. Consider the following:
- Do you need a professional to help you design a great web presence?
- Do you expect the person or company you hire to make the decisions regarding the best layout and presentation for your site?
- Are you willing to pay for their expertise regarding standards and accessibility?
or
- Do you have a specific design planned?
- Do you have your content exactly the way you want it, including all text?
- Are you wanting your plan implemented exactly with no deviation?
If you answer ‘yes’ to more of the first set of questions, you’re looking for a designer. If you answered ‘yes’ to more of the second set, you’re looking for a code-monkey. The difference? You hire a designer for their professional expertise regarding design, layout, and standards, you hire a code-monkey to make your idea work on the web in any way possible.
Before you start firing off a 3 page missive about my use of the term “code-monkey”, please let me explain: I have no problem being hired as a code-monkey. I’m in a small business, in a small community, and if that’s what my customer wants, that’s what I’ll deliver. I also make sure they know my opinion concerning their chosen design/content. Usually, they listen and I can work with them to deliver a better site.
Every now and then, I can spend hours straight with a client, and they will still insist on me implementing a site with bad layout, bad color, and even worse…bad grammar. I had this happen very recently. I couldn’t even convince the client to use correct grammar in their text. I tried for hours begging for simple changes to their content alone. In the end, nothing changed, and I wasted 4 hours that I can’t bill for because all this client wanted was a code-monkey to deliver their idea in an online format. In a perfect world, I would have walked away in the first 30 minutes after having told them that perhaps I was not the best company to work with them. But I feel more strongly about helping my clients, and my community, than I do about wasting non-billable hours, and fought for as long as the client would allow.
What can you learn from this? When you are working with your designer, please value their expertise and opinion. You hire your accountant and trust their knowledge in making decisions about your finances. You go to a physician and trust their knowledge concerning your health. You hire a plumber and trust he/she knows which pipe to replace and how to do it to make everything work right.
Trust your designer to help you deliver a great web site. And if you know right off that you want a code-monkey to implement your plan exactly as presented, then please, please tell your chosen design company this FIRST.
While a business web site can be a very modest investment in advertising and customer service, it packs a powerful punch. The availability of your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to an unlimited audience is a valuable marketing opportunity. BUT…it’s not an overnight success. Building credibility, and search engine rankings, and repeat visitors, takes time, patience, and quality content on the site. You can’t just put up a one-page virtual business card and expect to have thousands of visitors the moment you go live. BUT, if you incorporate your site into your existing marketing plan, and are patient, you, too, may be telling a story similar to the Marathon Motel, in Marathon, Texas. This article illustrates how a web site can impact your business…. (more…)
A web site is a very cost-effective way to offer up-to-date information about your company to a very wide audience, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. No matter what kind of company you own, retail or service, you will benefit from the information people can find out about you online. For example:
- Business hours
- Menus
- Contact information
- Specials and sales
Imagine being able to answer frequently asked questions for your customers at any time:
- Product specifications
- Information about how to initiate returns and refunds
- Instructions for using products or services
Your web site is also a great place to help your customers compare your business to your competitors. The more information you provide about your competition, the easier you are making it for your clients to choose the best company for their needs (which should be YOUR business if you stack up to your competitors well enough!)
- Press releases
- Price comparisons
- Client testimonials
- Awards, degrees, specialized recognition in your field
Your web site can open your business to a whole new market
- Travelers researching available services and stores in the places they will be going through or staying at
- Customers from around the world to purchase your products
- Targeting specialized markets such as hobby enthusiasts
You can scale your web site to offer services based on your company profile.
- Sell your products online
- Offer product information to entice customers into your store
- Offer more information about your service so customers will know what you offer
- Schedule service calls
- Initiate quotes
- Answer frequently asked questions
- Receive feedback and suggestions from customers
These are just a few of the benefits you’ll receive from a business web site. It’s great tool to provide better service to your existing customers, and a wonderful way to win new customers.
Later, we’ll look at how web sites can help social and civic groups and even individuals.
I apologize that this post is a couple of days later than I promised. But, here it is none the less. Before you, or your chosen designer, can begin designing and building your web site, you should answer the following questions and gather related information. This will help determine not only how the site should look, but what should be included.
