Everyone know the answer to that question, right? Surprisingly, no. In fact, the majority of people I ask this question to don’t know. At best the answer is something like;

“Ummm. .. I have Outlook Express?”

Those who do know nine out of ten times say that a browser is Internet Explorer, rather than Internet Explorer is the browser I use. Terrific branding Microsoft!

For those who don’t know what an internet browser is, it is a piece of software that enables you to “browse” the internet and all the sites and pages it offers. Internet Explorer is a browser, but it is not your only choice, and many would argue that it is not your best option, myself included.

The main browsers available to you (for free) are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari (Apple’s browser), Chrome (Google’s browser) and Opera. While there are heaps more, these are the main ones. If you are interested in seeing which browsers are the most widely used you go to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp.

If you followed the above link you will see that there are three versions of IE, or Internet Explorer, listed and soon there will probably be a fourth, Internet Explorer 9. The three versions are listed firstly because nearly 40% of internet users are on IE, so it is an important browser. But the reason the three latest releases are listed for IE, and not the three latest versions of the others, is because IE’s browsers differ so wildly and are often the bain of the web designer’s life.

I won’t take this opportunity to vent about Internet Explorer and their terrible record of being compliant with the rest of the internet, but I will explain why you, as the user and owner of a website, should know and care about the difference between browsers.

Every browser is slightly different in the way it interprets a website and in turn displays the content. I’m sure many of you have called your web design company wanting to know why an image is suddenly a lot higher or why something funky is going on with the text. As a website designer, the first question I ask the client is what browser they are using and what version of the browser is it.

Note: To find out what browser you are using and the version of that browser, in most cases you can go to the “Help” menu, when browsing the internet, and there will be an option entitled “About Internet Explorer” or “About Firefox” etc, depending on the browser you are using.

Browsers are gradually falling in line with one another in terms of how they display content, Internet Explorer included; however there are still often significant differences in display.  You as the client have to then make the decision on whether this is a big problem or not.  If the display error only occurs in Safari or Opera you may choose to let it go because only 6% of internet users may see the glitch. However, if the error occurs in Firefox which serves nearly 50% of internet users then you may want to do something about it.

If you do want to do something what are your options? Well the first and cheapest is to fix the problem in the browser which is displaying the error, but this doesn’t always mean that the error is fixed in the other browsers. So then your option is to get you web design company to produce a style sheet for each browser. A style sheet is a set of rules which determines how your website will look. Having multiple style sheets is your best option here, but will add to the development costs. So again it comes down to a decision at your end. Is the display error a big enough problem to warrant the extra spend?

Browsers can be a right royal pain if you fall fowl of their inconsistencies, but it all comes with the territory of having a website. Hopefully now you will be a little better armed when it comes to knowing your website and the way people view it. Send us an email if you have any questions about your website or the way browsers are displaying it.

“I really need a website”.

“I must get that shopping cart so I can sell my products online”.

“I’ll update my website in the New Year”.

Resolutions and thoughts like this are common ones, especially amongst business owners. However, as the New Year starts and all that comes with it means that your current website, or ambitions of finally getting a website, get swept under the carpet.

We’ll make the assumption that you and your business is good at what you do and you have good customer service, after those two things your company’s website is the most important aspect of your business.

A website:

• Is your primary source of advertising.
• Can become the number one pathway that your clients take to reach you.
• Tells potential clients about your services and why they should use you.
• Can save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours by automating mundane repetitive administration tasks (if you have a good content management system).
• Can take your client’s payments online and can also create a terrific flow of passive income.
• Can communicate with you current clients, either by bulk HTML emails, sms text message, blog / news articles or general updates on your site.
• Can easily manage vast databases of information once again saving you time and money.
• Showcase your products and services through photo or video galleries.

When you look at these points, as well as extrapolate these ideas based on your business’ specific needs, it would be negligent not make your website your number one New Year’s resolution.

“I can’t afford a new website”.

“Why do websites cost so much?”

Both of these comments are common and nine times out of ten not well thought out. A basic website might take 5 to 15 hours of work to develop. However, most website companies also have their own software or code which they have developed in their own time which they can plug in to new websites, meaning more than just the 5 to 15 hours go into a website.  More complicated database driven websites can often be anywhere from 10 hours work to upwards of 100 hours worth of work.

So if you are a business owner and want a new website and you get a range of quotes, a good thing to do would be to divide the quoted amount by your hourly rate, just to get a perspective on the price you’ve been given. Sure, everybody has different hourly rates, but this at least will start to help you make an informed decision.

The other point to consider is the monetary outlay for your website versus potential revenue generated by your website. If someone were to tell you that if you invested $5,000 and would get $100,000 in return over the next few years I don’t think anyone would turn that offer down. However, you would be surprised how many people baulk at a website quote which is only a fraction of what they would be making if their business becomes successful.

Sounds stupid, right?

“I want to make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but I’m only willing to spend a few hundred dollars to achieve it”. For people with attitudes like this I have one piece of advice, buy a Tattslotto ticket. If you want to get the most out of the internet and your website, you have to be willing to invest time, resources and money. Otherwise you are dreaming and will be making the same resolutions next year.

So in short, don’t put off to tomorrow what you could otherwise do today. The sooner you initiate the process of a new website or upgrades to your current site, the sooner you will be reaping the rewards.

Happy New Year!

We have written previously about question you should be asking yourself before you approach a website designer, but they were more focused on the general stuff. We often receive quote requests from potential clients saying something like this:

“We want a website exactly like the one at www.websitename.com. How much?”

Now to you that might sound like a reasonable question, however, I would bet a lot that there has been a series of assumptions you have made, or an understanding or your requirements which are not automatically clear to someone outside of your business.

Let’s take a look at an example, an online store which sells wheels, tyres and parts for cars. To the owner of this store it would seem simple; “I just want to sell my products online!” However, questions that we would ask which would impact our quote are such things has:

• What are the break downs of your products?
• Are there different categories within products?
• Can only certain products be purchased with another item?
• Do you require packages?
• What are your postage costs?
• How do you postage costs changed if a bulk order is made?
• Do you want to use your bank as a payment gateway or would you prefer an online gateway such as PayPal?
• How would you like your products to be searched/found by visitors to you site
• Etc

As you can see already there are a lot of variables which are very important when programming an online store which is functionally capable of handling a businesses demands.

This business owner may not have thought any of this through and thus expects are certain price based on his concept of the store being ‘simple’. He would then no doubt be shocked and somewhat annoyed when he receives a quote which is significantly more than he had imagined.

Now while we have listed all of the above questions, the business owner’s responses may have led us to the realisation that the store is in fact simple, however, many web design companies may not have asked these questions and just assumed that it would be complex. They are within their rights to do this.

What many people don’t realise is that when a website is quoted upon, nine out of ten times a fairly involved requirements gathering phase will need place. The less thought a business owner has given their website, the longer the requirements gathering phase will take. Some companies will not bother starting a requirements gathering phase unless they are commissioned to do so, which again is fair enough.

When wanting a new website, an update from an old website or a component like an online store, treat it like a new business and write out a business plan. How would you see it working? What are your goals for it? How could it be best structured for your clients?

The more thoughtful you are about your requirements, the more accurate a quote you will receive.

There are so many Content Management Systems out there, many of them really good. Some of the better known CMS’ are Joomla and Mambo, both of which are built using the same programming language as The Admin Site, PHP.

It was these very Content Management Systems which fuelled our desire to build our own CMS. Many average punters are given content management systems, like Joomla or Mambo, to manage their websites, however, these systems are not user friendly for your average business owner who knows little or nothing about websites and the internet. We wanted to create a content management system which would revolve around ease of use and would not confuse it’s users by bombarding them with dozens of links or with using terminology which would only serve to confuse them.

Our second bug bear about the content management systems out there was that a website had to be designed around the limitations of the CMS. We wanted a CMS which could be customised to any requirement, thus a freer creative process which resulted in what the client wanted, rather than what the content management system dictated.

So after 12 months of research, testing and development we came up with The Admin Site. The initial feedback we received from the first of our clients to use The Admin Site was terrific! Over the following months we sought continual feedback and made efforts to refine and add various elements.

The Admin Site is now approaching is second birthday and like all two year olds, The Admin Site has made tremendous leaps and bounds since its birth, however, what really excites us are all the new plug-ins and functionality we are developing.

The Admin Site now handles a huge range of elements from your basic content entry, to flash or jQuery photo galleries, from search engine optimisation to online store management or email marketing. Basically, The Admin Site can handle anything that you need to do in order to make the day to day operation of your business and website easier and more efficient.

We are extremely excited with what we hope to achieve in the future with The Admin Site and are continually looking for bigger and more complex challenges to which we can apply The Admin Site.

If you have any questions about how The Admin Site can help your business and website or would like to arrange a demonstration, please drop us an email at info@spikewebdesign.com.au.

They say that they have done their research and found that you are the holder of the trademark, which they are currently protecting on your behalf. At first this seems legit and a number of my clients have been concerned. One particular case we had just purchased a .ASIA domain for a client, then they receive an email telling them that they do not own this and it is being blocked. Then the company kindly offered to secure the domain on our client’s behalf.

Now what would have happened if our client had not asked us to sort it out and had instead consented? First, the Asian company would have contacted us ordering that we transfer the domain to them based on OUR client’s request. Then they would charge our client roughly ten times the going rate for domains, and they would sell it to them on a ten year contract, when the minimum or usual term is one year.

Now, since our client asked us to investigate these emails for them, we replied to the emails kindly declining the offer. We also noted that our client already has the domain and that there is no need for them to ‘buy it again’. This didn’t phase the Asian company. Instead they kept emailing our client, and now us too, notifying that we would lose the address unless we bought it through them.

As you can imagine our client was getting rather worried. We finally managed to make this company ‘go away’ by telling them if they sent one more email the next person they would be hearing from would be our lawyers. Of course, we heard nothing more.

Our client’s domain remained in our possession, their website kept running and we heard nothing more from this specific company.

There are many companies doing this and the best way to handle this situation is to delete the email immediately. If you are at all concerned, forward the email to you webmaster and ask for their opinion.

But remember, if someone is emailing you saying that they have possession of something which you have bought, they are almost definitely dodgy and should be ignored.