tech+info+resources underground

Many people are looking for a bargain, when it comes to finding themselves a person or company to build and design them a website. In this article I write about where to go to find this website design bargain.

The market place for website design is very competitive, for this reason there are plenty of bargains to be found. There is no longer any reason why people should pay huge amounts of money to obtain a website.

The next question is trying to find the bargain of course. This would be my advice:

The search engines

The search engines is the first place I would try, searching under the search term of bargain web design service. The results on the right hand side of the search engine Google are the paid advertisements and are called Google adwords. These companies are actively seeking business and are therefore likely to offer you a bargain. The results on the left hand side are normally the more established companies who will probably try to charge a lot of money for their services. It still could be worth sending them an email however, if you do not ask, you will not get.

Internet auction websites

I know of many people who have found themselves a bargain on auction websites, like ebay. People or companies at times offer their services for a very cheap rate, normally to drum up some very much needed business. This is especially true around Christmas time.

Other areas to look are in places like the yellow pages, bargain pages, newspapers or by asking family or friends.

In my opinion for a basic website you should not be spending over £100. There are many great deals to be had out there for people who are willing to make lots of phone calls or send lots of e-mails and who are patient.

When finding a company or person to build the website always take a look at their portfolio as this will give you an insight into the work they do. Obviously if you are not impressed, there is no point in carrying on, even if it is very cheap.

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:

http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk

http://www.std-symptom.co.uk

http://www.coach-life-london.co.uk

People now a days love their computer as if they are not going to live with out it. This no.1 technology had brought a lot to our life. It brings a lot of information for our own benefits and for our own self destruction. Why? Have you ever noticed certain changes in the performance of your PC? If you ever noticed some slow down the performance of your PC there are lots of possibility that you are being watch. There are a lot of theft online, ready to rob you and destroy you. How to prevent this from happening? Do you really have to use evidence eraser? Or can you just erase the important file that you stored and carry on with your life? If you ever see unexpected pop-ups on desktop (when no browser is launched) or suspicious Windows messages rest assured your PC is heavily infected by spyware.

There are quite a lot of keyloggers currently available on the market. Quality depends and so does the price. Keyloggers are usually very simple to install, setup and use and require no special skills from the user. Most of them cost around $30, though there are more sophisticated species that may cost a little bit more. Keylogger software usually operates in the invisible mode and children don’t know their parents have an eye on them. Data loggers, key loggers are just a few programs which harvest info from your computer. Winclear is the only program created specially to auto remove such spywares. AccSent monitors account access attempts and issues a one-time PIN challenge to those coming from IP address ranges or browsers that differ from the last authorized account access. That is why every computer owner needs winclear.

Protect With Winclear :Internet Gambling Act Legislative History
However, just like a coin, the Internet has two sides. This cyber world can also be used by sexual predators, cheating spouses and unscrupulous employees to promulgate their illegal or malevolent activities. Thus, we ought to do something to help ensure that our children, employees and spouses only make use of the Internet positively. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. They make it possible to visit most websites and can actually speed up and make your browsing experience safer. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers for the last 8 years.

Winclear:
These are loyal customers and we can’t really blame them for some short-sightedness. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer. Yes preventing intrusions from the web keeping files safe and ensuring the secure transactions of online banking can be done using free applications. Protect your computer security by using Winclear! More about Winclear here: Winclear.

Additionally, browsers use cookies to store login information that you may not want to enter repeatedly. If you ever click the “save password” button below a login form, you are installing a cookie on your computer that will automatically insert your password into the fields. For those with multiple logins, this can be convenient and time saving. If you ever see unexpected pop-ups on desktop (when no browser is launched) or suspicious Windows messages rest assured your PC is heavily infected by spyware.

Keyloggers, as it is clear from the name of the program, log keystrokes –but that’s not all. They capture everything the user is doing — keystrokes, mouse clicks, files opened and closed, sites visited. A little more sophisticated programs of this kind also capture text from windows and make screenshots (record everything displayed on the screen) - so the information is captured even if the user doesn’t type anything, just opens the views the file. When unsuspecting users visit malicious sites, various nasty applications are downloaded and executed on their computers. Unfortunately, more and more often these applications contain keyloggers–software programs for intercepting data. Data loggers, key loggers are just a few programs which harvest info from your computer. Winclear is the only program created specially to auto remove such spywares. Thus the spyware operators get lump sum amount from that legitimate ad websites. That is why every computer owner needs winclear.

Protect With Winclear :How Do I Get Rid Of History Search On Dogpile
However, because of Spector’s ease of use, it enables almost anyone to become a cyber criminal. According to Robert Graham, security executive at Atlanta based Errata Security, 99% of the people who download programs like Spector do not use it for legitimate reasons. Winclear is the only software which is capable of removing keylogger programs. You can not just delete the most important file that you have so that no one could ever stole it. Winclear has been the industry leader in fighting keyloggers for the last 8 years.

Winclear:
Identity thieves have developed yet another scam to trap unsuspecting victims into revealing their passwords login names account numbers and other personal information without realizing they are doing so just by opening an electronic greeting card. That is the reason why you need Winclear installed onto your computer. This is how spyware gathers details on a user’s behavior. Protect your computer security by using Winclear! More about Winclear here: Computer Security.

When it comes to website design many people confuse usability with accessibility. Contrary to what some people think, they are in fact very different. Many people also view one to be more important than the other. It is true that they should both be viewed genuinely but a lot of the time, the ideas around them are similar.

Getting the most out of the usability of your site makes it more accessible, or at the very least provides a better framework to build on. If your site is difficult to use for the general population, then those with disabilities or learning difficulties will certainly find it problematic. Likewise, the thought that goes into accessibility is just as important as what goes into usability. With web 2.0 technology becoming more prevalent, accessibility is a key focus of many web design courses and schools.

Making the User the Priority: Ultimately, behind all of the bells and whistles of Web design, the pages are being built for people to use. Don’t try to show off with annoying Flash gimmicks or over-sized images; focusing on content and service is really what’s going to impress your users. You shouldn’t even consider using Dreamweaver until you truly realize the importance of usability, which is always to put the user’s necessities above all else. The fact that the final products performance judges the designing of anything from shoes to sites should always be remembered.

Usability is different that accessibility, however it is mistakenly seen as the same on occasion. They differ greatly from each and most people think that one is more important than the other. Though both must be taken into serious consideration, it is true that several of the ideals of accessibility are applicable to usability and vice versa.

A site can be made more accessible, or at least given a good frame to build from, if the usability is optimized. If the general public has trouble using your site, just think about how difficult it will be for those with disabilities. Along the same vein, the amount of consideration that is put into addressing accessibility needs is equally as valid for usability concerns.

Becoming even truer today than before, web design courses and schools find accessibility to the Internet to be vital since the Internet is a tool for web 2.0 technology.

Putting The User First: In web design, the basics rule is that the site should be well designed for people to use; all else is fluff. When you do away with Flash tricks from a toolbox aimed at sending people gigantic, bandwidth consuming images, what you have left is the task of providing the highest quality content service you are able to. It is important to remember that ease of use is about putting the needs of the user first before you start brainstorming or begin thinking about firing up Dreamweaver. How well the final product performs is the basis of judging any design project, whether it is shoes or web sites.

There is one hard and fast rule in generating income for your
website: A steady flow of website traffic. If no one goes to
your site, it hardly bares a chance of generating an income.
Many sites have tried and failed in doing so, and these results
to the sites demise. It takes money to maintain an income
generating site; it also takes money to make money.

BUT, it doesn’t take a whole caboodle of cash to generate
website traffic for your site.

Ever wonder how does big hit sites drive traffic top their site?
Most of them are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to
their sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and
different forms of marketing schemes and gimmickries. This is
all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are now, high
earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have their
resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website
traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t
afford. Many people have banked on high cost methods and have
ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here I present to you the Top five ways to generate low cost
website traffic that could help your site a whole lot. Even if
you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to
client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number
of website traffic.

Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site
where there is no link to another site. Many webmasters are
willing to exchange links with one another so that they could
produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see
and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your
site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is
having the same niche or content as the other site. They should
share a common subject so that there is continuity in the
providing of service and information to what interests your
target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high
ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that
search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound
theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search
engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without
the high costs.

Traffic Exchange

This is like exchanging links but on a different higher level.
This may cost a bit more than exchanging or trading links but
could be made cheaper because you get to earn credits. You can
use those credits when viewing others traffic, while you earn
credits when someone views yours.

Traffic exchange services are the viewing of another’s site or
page. This is done vice versa where a site can use your sites
contents and so can you to his or her site. You both benefit
from each others efforts to generate traffic. The other sites
visitors can go to your pages and know more about your site as
well as theirs. Once again the public awareness of your sites
existence is boosted.

Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the internet
which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you
want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are
many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a
small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles
yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your
site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when
they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and
will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce
tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link
them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site.
If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting
article, they will go to your site for more.

Make a Newsletter.

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you
may need to use to build a newsletter but on the contrary, this
is not so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to
provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on
your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for
them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your public
awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your
site.

Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share
your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as
well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go
to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are
with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build
the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest
business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

So you’ve decided to take the plunge. You know that stock photography is an effective tool for your web business, but where do you start and how do you choose the stock photo that’s right for you. Here are some tips to get you started so that you are happy with your choice.

1. Decide where you want to purchase your stock photography. There are large agencies and small independent photographers. While the agencies will have more to chose from and sometimes lower prices an independent photographer will offer more personalized service and opportunities for you to have custom work done, if that is what you need.

2. Don’t go in expecting to find an exact image that is in your head, a large agency or an independent photographer will not have the man in a blue suit, holding a cell phone, next to the white blinds nor will they have the beach landscape with the green and white striped chair. You need to have a clear idea in your head of the message that you want to convey and search for an image that creates the message that you want. (If you want something specific you’ll have to pay for a photographer to shoot to your specifications.)

3. Make use of a free comp image to try out the image and make sure that it fits with your project or web design. Most stock agencies offer some sort of free comp image for position only so that you can make sure that you like what you’re going to buy. Please use this option, if available, and make sure that the image is going to convey the message that you want it to.

4. Pay for what you need. Don’t pay for a 300 dpi image for a web design, and don’t buy a 72 dpi image for something you intend to print. Make sure that the agency or independent photographer offers at least a printable and a web version of every photo. Buy only the size image that you need for your job.

5. How much do you want to pay and for how long to you want to use the image? This comes down to royalty free or rights managed. If you don’t want the chance of your competitor using the same image or you plan to use the image on or for a product you may want to look at rights managed. This will cost you more but it will lessen the chance of your competitor using the same image. Keep in mind that if you’re using the image for an extended period of time you will have to pay for the use of the image every year or so. If you don’t feel that your competitor using the same image is a threat or you dont have the money for rights managed photos look into royalty free photography. This product is also great if you’re planning to use the images for an extended period of time.

I hope these tips help to get you started in choosing stock photography for your web site, business, or product. Remember to shop around and look for what you need. Also if an agency or photographer doesn’t have what you need ask, you may be surprised how helpful they can be even for specific requests. If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Google has implemented a cutting edge method of crawling web
site for its search engine index. This unprecedented method of
indexing web pages is known as Google Sitemaps, and it is
quickly growing in popularity among webmasters and SEO agents
and managers due to its ability to get entire web site indexed
quickly and to pick up errors in the links coming into and out
of these web site.

Google Sitemaps consists of placing the URLs of your pages along
with important information regarding how Google should index
them into an XML document. This information is then read by the
Google Spider and the pages are normally indexed quite quickly
assuming that they are coherent to Google’s standards for
indexing pages (and also assuming that the sitemaps conform to
Googles Sitemap Criteria which will be explained a little later).

There are two primary types of Google Sitemaps. The first is a
list of pages in a website and the second is a list of sitemaps
in the website. Google has limited the number of URLs in its
sitemaps to fifty thousand URLs. This may sound like a lot, but
for some of the more intricate web site, fifty thousand URLs may
not even make a dent in what they want indexed.

This led to the advent of the Google Sitemap index file which
can index up to one thousand sitemaps. If you do the math, this
means that you could have one thousand sitemaps with up to fifty
thousand URLs in each sitemap which allows for fifty million
URLs to be placed in your Google Sitemap scheme. But wait,
there’s more. Who ever said that you can’t have an index of
indexes? You could actually make an index of a thousand index
files which are all indexes of a thousand index files.
Basically, there is no limit to the number of URLs that you can
hold in your Google sitemaps.

Now that you understand the power of the Google Sitemap you’re
probably asking yourself how to create and implement a Google
Sitemap. The first step is to simply create your sitemaps. Here
are the templates which are also available at HREF=http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/ rel="nofollow">http://www.google
.com/webmasters/sitemaps/

For a sitemap file use the following format:

http://www.example.com/
2005-01-01 monthly 0.8

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=12&desc=vacation_hawaii rel="nofollow">
http://www.example.com/catalog?item=12&desc=vacation_hawaii
weekly

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=73&desc=vacation_new_zea
land rel="nofollow">http://www.example.com/catalog?item=73&desc=vacation_new_zea
land 2004-12-23 weekly

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=74&desc=vacation_newfoun
dland rel="nofollow">http://www.example.com/catalog?item=74&desc=vacation_newfou
ndland 2004-12-23T18:00:15+00:00

Those of you not familiar with the latest on SEO now have at
least a basic understanding. But there’s more to come.

0.3

HREF=http://www.example.com/catalog?item=83&desc=vacation_usa rel="nofollow">htt
p://www.example.com/catalog?item=83&desc=vacation_usa
2004-11-23

Everything here is pretty self-explanatory with the exception of
the changefreq and the priority aspects. The changefreq asks how
often you think the page will change on average. The possible
values for the changefreq option are: always, hourly, daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. The priority aspect
basically just asks how important the particular page is in your
website. The value can be anywhere between 0.0 and 1.0. If you
decide not to specify a priority it will default to 0.5.

To create a sitemap index file follow the following format:

HREF=http://www.example.com/sitemap1.xml.gz rel="nofollow">http://www.example.co
m/sitemap1.xml.gz 2004-10-01T18:23:17+00:00

HREF=http://www.example.com/sitemap2.xml.gz rel="nofollow">http://www.example.co
m/sitemap2.xml.gz 2005-01-01

This is all pretty straight forward but it leads me to my next
point. You notice that the file names all end in .gz. Google
allows you to compress your sitemaps so that they take up less
of your disk space when you place them on your site and less of
your band width when Google downloads them (which it seems to do
approximately once every 9 hours or so). You may only use .gz
compression. If you try .zip, it won’t work.

Now all that you really have to do is submit your sitemap to
google. In order to do this you must go to HREF=https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login rel="nofollow">https://www
.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login and log into your
Google account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can
create one. Once you log in you will be allowed to submit your
sitemap into the google index. At some point within about 24
hours of your submission, Google will give you the option to
place a small HTML file onto your website so that it can confirm
that you do, indeed, have access to editing the site. Once you
have done this it will begin to provide you with statistics
regarding your google sitemap. (Note that even without this
feature you can see when google downloaded the sitemap last and
what the status of the sitemap was at that time.)

How Google Sitemaps Fits Into Search Engine Optimization.

According to Google, the Sitemaps utility is free and will
continue to be - yet it’s almost as good as the paid inclusion
service offered by rival search engines. So how can you take
advantage of this great service?

First of all, you should create a Google Account. Although you
can still use Google Sitemaps without an account, you need one
before you can use Google’s tools to check your site
submissions. Once you do that and go to HREF=http://sitemaps.google.com rel="nofollow">http://sitemaps.google.com,
you’ll be guided through the process.

Google Sitemaps has a very helpful question and answer page that
will give you the help you need - the answers to most questions
people have can be found right there. Good luck!

Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it? And you’ve earned a wealth
of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’s
word on SEO.

1) They don’t have their own domain.

If you knew that you were going to the primo networking event of the year, would you bring business cards printed with your neighbors telephone number? Heck no!

So why would you waste your time and energy building a reputable web site design firm, under somebody else’s domain? Somewhere down the road you’ll eventually get your own URL, so start your business the way you want to finish it.

It costs just $8.95 to register your own domain with GoDaddy.com for a year. Reliable hosting service can be had for less than $20 a month.

I gleefully pay $18.95 a month for my service, and they include all sorts of neat perks. That’s just 5 bucks a week, less than a dollar a day. If your biz isn’t worth a $1 a day investment, then you should be looking for an alternative line of work.

2) They don’t offer any indication of their price range.

Even if you don’t want to give up the entire farm, always give your sites visitors some sort of indication of what your prices are like. This way if your design skills match what they’re looking for, they have an idea on whether they can afford your services or not.

The best way to do this, is to simply give a price range on your ‘Request a Quote’ page. Here’s a brief blurb that you can use:

“Each web site we design has unique elements specific for that particular company. Therefore we do not have set prices. However, just to give you some indication, our rates for complete site design basically range from $250-$10,000, depending on the complexity of the job.

If you’d like a precise quote for your Web site, please fill out the following form.”

3) They use cool techie terms to motivate the prospect.

Let’s say I’m relatively new to the Net, and I’m looking for a decent site designer. Somehow I stumble across your little home on the web. Your site looks good and it loads fast.

Then I and click on the link that describes your services and you have something like this:

“We use Java, Javascript, CGI-BIN and Perl programming, Cold Fusion, and DHTML to build your site.”

Duh! I can barely figure out how to configure my e-mail filtering program, and now you’re giving me a cold rundown of your technical capabilities. Assuming I’m not a technophobe, you’re still bombarding me with too much techno-babble!

A better way to handle this situation is to tell me ‘why’ I’ll need all this razmatazz that you’re offering. Give me benefits on why Java is a good thing for my site, and not in my coffee cup. Tell me ‘how’ DHTML is going to make my life easier. Make believe I’m a client who has more than enough money to spend, but needs a little hand holding to understand all the technical terms.

Copyright 2005 Jennifer McGroary

Article by Jennifer McGroary

The ideas in this article are based on the e-book, “The Web Hosts and Designer’s Marketing Guide.” If you’d like to gain IMMEDIATE access to 100+ strategies and tactics for promoting your web site design or hosting business, get your copy today.

http://www.WebBizInfo.com

REMEMBER, successful marketing is the main ingredient in most profitable web service businesses.

Why your business benefits from adhering to the web
standards

Web standards are created to give benefits to the developer and
the visitor. As a business, your website must be accessible,
usable, attractive and convey a message of trust and
professionalism. Getting this right can be both expensive and
difficult if done outside of the W3 standards.

Let’s look at the main benefits of web standards.

Accessibility

Valid XHTML and CSS will ensure that a site is constructed in a
way that seperates the content from presentation.

There are huge business gains to be had from this method such as
less maintenance, more control, lower costs etc., but
importantly, accessible content. Not everyone uses a common
browser to access the web and a valid site will mean your
information will have the widest potential audience.

Usability

Semantic markup creates a usable website. We have all seen
cluttered sites with no per-page focus, navigation that leads
you into the abyss and forces URL amendments as well as document
structure that makes a web page unreadable and hard to follow.
You have a point to make. Every page has a focus and the content
is clear. Web standards will ensure that people get to the point
of your site, quickly and effortlessly.

Compatibility

We are in the 21st century and there are now a wider range of
platforms, devices and browsers than ever before. More and more
people are accessing the internet and due to this diversity,
building a website by following guidelines is the only way to
ensure uniformity.

Substantially increased performance

By removing formatting from the markup, you can reduce the file
sizes of your website which means people with slower connections
or users from around the globe have a better browsing
experience. Using tables for layout can sometimes treble the
file sizes as positioning requires attributes to table cells and
occasionally invisble images forcing layouts to look “correct”.
CSS can acheive this and more from a light weight text file that
when cached, will not need reloading further increasing
performance.

Higher search engine rankings

Not only will a user struggle to navigate an unusable and
invalid site, so will a search engines spider. If your documents
are marked up correctly and fast to load then a search engine
will reward your web pages with better listings. Why serve a
user a scruffy and hard to read web page when a perfectly
readable and accessible page exists?

Powerful designs

CSS is an extremely flexible and powerful way of styling a
website. All the formatting is contained within one text file
meaning a new design overhaul is very cost effective and fast to
turn around from a designers point of view, meaning lower costs
to the business. If done correctly, CSS can degrade gracefully
in older browsers which lack support into a perfectly readable
document which is the beauty of following the web standards.

Lower business costs

A website following the web standards is a more efficient and
smaller website in terms of file sizes and bandwidth.

This translates into reduced hosting costs. Changing contractors
can be a problem if the code is written with proprietary
software that creates untidy or browser specific HTML. Following
a set of standards means contractors can hit the ground running
and give you far better value for money.