I've been discussing payment options with a few customers recently. A lot agre with me that PayPal is useful for those who are just setting up - it's very cost effective and a well known brand name. But others have been told by other people not to use it and would prefer to take credit cards themselves.
Now this worries me. I can safely capture credit card details and store them on a secure database, away from the customer's address and other details. My side is not a concern, but when you are a small shop setting out, is this really the way forward?
Consider that for a few months at least, your site is not going to have a page rank. Google took 6 months to update last year and there's no guarantee that even then you get a respectable page rank. If I was a customer considering buying and had to give a shop my credit card details then I'd want that shop to look respectable. If the entire site is grey barred, I'd be worried straight away.
The problem is with handing over the credit card number and the 3 digit number on the back that once you have done that you are trusting the person the other end not to mis-use this information and to correctly destroy all records as soon as the transaction goes through.
Say the assistant prints out the details then jsut throws them into the recycling. ANyone could come along and take them out of the bin and they then know everything about you to be able to start using your credit cards.
OK, maybe this is a subject more suited to my anti phishing blog then web design, but a few years ago it was something like this that resulted in an unknown person spending thousands on my credit cards, so I'm very wary.
I think that without a well known brand name, and that doesn't have to be internationally known, just known within your customer base, it's safest to stick to the more popular payment providers. They might cost a few pence more per transaction, but this extra cost could easily be recouped if more people are shopping with you.
Think carefully before you go your own way, it might come back to bite you.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Websites Make Shopping Harder???
Why when people invest in an e-commerce website do they then make things more complicated? I'm talking here about the average high street shop that ventures out into the internet.
I was recently in a hardware store and the person being served wasn't sure what size lock he needed - he'd forgotten to measure it. The owner simply said "If it doesn't fit, bring it back and we'll swap it."
Sounds fair enough? Looking at the shop's website, the terms and conditions for that shop run to 2,000 words, without postage etc details. Lots of complicated terms about rights to cancel an order, how to return, when to return etc.
Why?
They aren't the only ones. I saw a restaurant website that had a huge page of T&C, including that you must be over 18 to visit the website and that if you do anything that damages the website you are liable for costs? I'm guessing they had copied the T&C from an adult website.
Then there's the shops that go into great detail about how secure their shopping services are; that you see the padlock during the whole order process and that your order details are encrypted. When you actually order there's no encryption - just your order passed to PayPal. Another case of someone copying irrelevant T&Cs.
It happens loads of times. There's tons of websites out there with endless T&Cs, and I know for a fact that a lot of their T&Cs are actually against UK trading laws - for example not allowing enough time to return unwanted goods (as stated under the distance selling regulations).
If you are creating a shop website think before you create your T&C. You don't need to add lot's of conditions. Protect yourself & the customer, but don't over do it!
I was recently in a hardware store and the person being served wasn't sure what size lock he needed - he'd forgotten to measure it. The owner simply said "If it doesn't fit, bring it back and we'll swap it."
Sounds fair enough? Looking at the shop's website, the terms and conditions for that shop run to 2,000 words, without postage etc details. Lots of complicated terms about rights to cancel an order, how to return, when to return etc.
Why?
They aren't the only ones. I saw a restaurant website that had a huge page of T&C, including that you must be over 18 to visit the website and that if you do anything that damages the website you are liable for costs? I'm guessing they had copied the T&C from an adult website.
Then there's the shops that go into great detail about how secure their shopping services are; that you see the padlock during the whole order process and that your order details are encrypted. When you actually order there's no encryption - just your order passed to PayPal. Another case of someone copying irrelevant T&Cs.
It happens loads of times. There's tons of websites out there with endless T&Cs, and I know for a fact that a lot of their T&Cs are actually against UK trading laws - for example not allowing enough time to return unwanted goods (as stated under the distance selling regulations).
If you are creating a shop website think before you create your T&C. You don't need to add lot's of conditions. Protect yourself & the customer, but don't over do it!
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
And never is this more true than in Web Design!
How many times have I produced what I thought is a beautiful site. I then show it to the customer and they ask for their tweaks and changes and by the time it's finished they are delighted, but I'm left wondering if I should admit to the site in my portfolio.
Sites have been known to go through extreme colour changes. One started off as nice pastel shades, with gentle sweeping graphics. By the end of the build it had doubled the curves and gone to mustard colours. The customer was absolutely delighted!
Then you get the customers that ask that you take inspiration from certain sites and what is produced you see as a combination of these examples. But when the customer gets back they have seen something totally different in the sites and can't understand why you have given them the sample you have done.
Even time can make a site look different. Frequently, I think that looking too hard at a site to decide if you like it makes you dislike it. But also websites do age. When I first put in my mortgage site I really liked it. Now, I think it could do with a lot of work.
When we look at a website, we don't all look at it in the same way. And that makes pleasing people very difficult!
How many times have I produced what I thought is a beautiful site. I then show it to the customer and they ask for their tweaks and changes and by the time it's finished they are delighted, but I'm left wondering if I should admit to the site in my portfolio.
Sites have been known to go through extreme colour changes. One started off as nice pastel shades, with gentle sweeping graphics. By the end of the build it had doubled the curves and gone to mustard colours. The customer was absolutely delighted!
Then you get the customers that ask that you take inspiration from certain sites and what is produced you see as a combination of these examples. But when the customer gets back they have seen something totally different in the sites and can't understand why you have given them the sample you have done.
Even time can make a site look different. Frequently, I think that looking too hard at a site to decide if you like it makes you dislike it. But also websites do age. When I first put in my mortgage site I really liked it. Now, I think it could do with a lot of work.
When we look at a website, we don't all look at it in the same way. And that makes pleasing people very difficult!
Sunday, 27 January 2008
SEO Experiment - Page Rank Update
Here's the current page ranks for all pages listed in Google for the SEO experiment sites, a bit late updating today because of access problems, so only a quick post:
Site 1
PR 0 pages:
November Archive
November - hogmanay-in-highlands-new-year-in.html
October - how-to-plan-leaf-viewing-asheville.html
Site 2
PR 3 pages:
Home page
PR 2 pages:
November Archive
December - eating-in-paris-gastronomical-guide.html
PR 0 pages:
December Archive
December - self-catering-cottages-for-families.html
November - multi-leg-flights-explained.html
October - advanced-diver-in-lanzarote.html
October - diving-in-playa-blanca.html
October - hello-from-austria-going-back-to-my.html
October - things-to-do-in-boulder-colorado.html
October - costa-rica-beaches-most-beautiful.html
Site 3
PR 2 pages:
October - family-vacation-ideas-in-washington-dc.html
October - traveling-with-children-in-ireland.html
October - playa-blanca-beach-diving.html
October - hello-from-austria-hiking-through.html
PR 0 pages:
Home
December - ways-to-mark-your-luggage-for-easy.html
October - car-hire-malaga-tips-to-hire-car-in.html
Of note, is that there are more pages with page rank on the site not using target="_blank" than the site with it, but even though site 1 should not have any links, three pages do have page rank 0. It's a little confusing that sub posts have a higher page rank than the home page on site 3 - as I've said before, this is mos likely due to RSS sindication and maybe these posts have been syndicated and link back to the test sites. That's probably how two of the posts on site 1 are page rank 0.
The big difference is the home Page Ranks and the archive Page Ranks. Would much rather be site 2 than either of the other two.
Maybe it's time to drop target="_blank" when we are link exchanging.
Site 1
PR 0 pages:
November Archive
November - hogmanay-in-highlands-new-year-in.html
October - how-to-plan-leaf-viewing-asheville.html
Site 2
PR 3 pages:
Home page
PR 2 pages:
November Archive
December - eating-in-paris-gastronomical-guide.html
PR 0 pages:
December Archive
December - self-catering-cottages-for-families.html
November - multi-leg-flights-explained.html
October - advanced-diver-in-lanzarote.html
October - diving-in-playa-blanca.html
October - hello-from-austria-going-back-to-my.html
October - things-to-do-in-boulder-colorado.html
October - costa-rica-beaches-most-beautiful.html
Site 3
PR 2 pages:
October - family-vacation-ideas-in-washington-dc.html
October - traveling-with-children-in-ireland.html
October - playa-blanca-beach-diving.html
October - hello-from-austria-hiking-through.html
PR 0 pages:
Home
December - ways-to-mark-your-luggage-for-easy.html
October - car-hire-malaga-tips-to-hire-car-in.html
Of note, is that there are more pages with page rank on the site not using target="_blank" than the site with it, but even though site 1 should not have any links, three pages do have page rank 0. It's a little confusing that sub posts have a higher page rank than the home page on site 3 - as I've said before, this is mos likely due to RSS sindication and maybe these posts have been syndicated and link back to the test sites. That's probably how two of the posts on site 1 are page rank 0.
The big difference is the home Page Ranks and the archive Page Ranks. Would much rather be site 2 than either of the other two.
Maybe it's time to drop target="_blank" when we are link exchanging.
Saturday, 26 January 2008
SEO Experiment - January Update
Aside from a mention or two around the time of the last page rank update, I've not looked at the SEO Experiment results since December, as part of my quest to see if target="_blank" could damage / hinder link building efforts.
Site 1 - (no links in, 16 posts). 17 pages cached in Google, although the home page and 1 archive don't actually return any cached results. The other archives were cached 17 & 32 days ago, the posts 7 X 12 days, 1 X 13 days, 1 X 17 days, 1 X 34 and 3 X 37 days ago.
Site 2 - (links without target, 17 posts). 19 pages cached - home page 7 days ago and the archives 5 days, 2 X 11 days and 12 days ago. The posts were cached 5 X 5 days, 7, 2 X 8 days, 10, 11, 3 X 12 and 13 days ago.
Site 13 - (links with target, 17 posts). Manages 20 pages cached - home page 4 days ago and for the archives, one was 9 days ago and the other 3 were 12 days ago. The posts were archived 5, 6, 9, 2 X 10, 2 X 11 and 8 X 12 days ago.
There is a very noticeable difference there - the average site 2 page was cached 8½ days ago, the average site 3 page 10½ days ago. For site 1, the average is 20½ days since last cached!
Next time I'll take a look how the sites have their page ranks distributed. But given that the sites are near enough being treated the same, there is a noticeable difference between the sites.
Site 1 - (no links in, 16 posts). 17 pages cached in Google, although the home page and 1 archive don't actually return any cached results. The other archives were cached 17 & 32 days ago, the posts 7 X 12 days, 1 X 13 days, 1 X 17 days, 1 X 34 and 3 X 37 days ago.
Site 2 - (links without target, 17 posts). 19 pages cached - home page 7 days ago and the archives 5 days, 2 X 11 days and 12 days ago. The posts were cached 5 X 5 days, 7, 2 X 8 days, 10, 11, 3 X 12 and 13 days ago.
Site 13 - (links with target, 17 posts). Manages 20 pages cached - home page 4 days ago and for the archives, one was 9 days ago and the other 3 were 12 days ago. The posts were archived 5, 6, 9, 2 X 10, 2 X 11 and 8 X 12 days ago.
There is a very noticeable difference there - the average site 2 page was cached 8½ days ago, the average site 3 page 10½ days ago. For site 1, the average is 20½ days since last cached!
Next time I'll take a look how the sites have their page ranks distributed. But given that the sites are near enough being treated the same, there is a noticeable difference between the sites.
Friday, 25 January 2008
Lycos Web Hosting
Lycos offers some great and easy to use packages, and as a lot is aimed at easy to use market, I'll put it after the DIY Web Builders.
There are a range of web hosting packages, starting from a great offer of one £1 to register & host a 'family' type website for a year, up to easy to use e-shops.
The Lycos web hosting packages include things you would expect from a full host - email facilities, web hosting, dns management, URL registration etc.
The Lycos web hosting selling points are their price and the simplicity of the ease of use of their service. Well worth taking a look at - especially if the £1 offer is still on when you read this!
There are a range of web hosting packages, starting from a great offer of one £1 to register & host a 'family' type website for a year, up to easy to use e-shops.
The Lycos web hosting packages include things you would expect from a full host - email facilities, web hosting, dns management, URL registration etc.
The Lycos web hosting selling points are their price and the simplicity of the ease of use of their service. Well worth taking a look at - especially if the £1 offer is still on when you read this!
Thursday, 24 January 2008
DIY Web Build Services
Before we look at where to host, you also must consider how you are going to build a website - the 2 go hand in hand. If you are wanting to build your own website, but not sure where to start, then why not try a DIY service that includes templates and hosting?
With the DIY web site builders you can usually choose from a range of templates, customise them to suit your needs and away you go. They can be a really easy and cheap way to get online at first, before you either invest time in a site or money in getting a web designer to build a site for you.
Most of them come with a free trial - "Do Your Own Site" does - have a look by clicking the link above. They might not give as much satisfaction as a website you built yourself from scratch, but if you are just starting to build your own website then these are a quick way of getting online and not too expensive. Once you have found your feet, then you can build a new site and fully optimise that one.
With the DIY web site builders you can usually choose from a range of templates, customise them to suit your needs and away you go. They can be a really easy and cheap way to get online at first, before you either invest time in a site or money in getting a web designer to build a site for you.
Most of them come with a free trial - "Do Your Own Site" does - have a look by clicking the link above. They might not give as much satisfaction as a website you built yourself from scratch, but if you are just starting to build your own website then these are a quick way of getting online and not too expensive. Once you have found your feet, then you can build a new site and fully optimise that one.
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Where To Host
Mad, mad, busy here at the moment but trying to get the time to continue posting daily. 20:00 is a little later than my usual 09:30 posting time - but being busy is good - isn't it? A touch less presure would be better.
I'll continue looking at building your own website over the next few days by looking at alternative types of webhosts. There's free hosts, paid hosts and those whereby you use their tools to quickly create your website.
I'm sure there's more types than that and it's not going to be an extensive list - how much I do depends on time available to me (if today is anything to go by then not much - my to do list, which I had under control yesterday and was quite short, exploded late afternoon!).
I'll provide a few links to various web hosts - maybe in the future it will be a useful resource to refer back to!
I'll continue looking at building your own website over the next few days by looking at alternative types of webhosts. There's free hosts, paid hosts and those whereby you use their tools to quickly create your website.
I'm sure there's more types than that and it's not going to be an extensive list - how much I do depends on time available to me (if today is anything to go by then not much - my to do list, which I had under control yesterday and was quite short, exploded late afternoon!).
I'll provide a few links to various web hosts - maybe in the future it will be a useful resource to refer back to!
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
A final Web Hosting Consideration
So you have registered a URL and decided where you are going to host the website. Does this mean that you are ready to start building?
Not quite. There is one more consideration to look at and that is what platform are you building and testing your website on. There are slight subtle variations which need to be considered.
The first will not apply to everyone. That is, where do scripts run? With my hosts, if I am using a .pl script then it must run from a directory called /cgi-bin. I can place a sub directory within the website and create a /cgi-bin folder within that, but any perl scripts must run within this folder.
Also, and .asp files must also reside in the home directory, not within sub-folders. Not very handy on larger sites...
So what does this matter? Well if you start writing code using these then load you website and find the code is in the wrong place, not only do you have to redistribute the code, but you have to check every page for links to these scripts.
Also, and this affects more people, some platforms are case sensitive. This means that Logo.jpg and logo.jpg are totally different files. This is quite important when writing your site! For safety, whether you are on a platform that is case sensitive or not, it is worth while always having lower case file names. Just in case...
Not quite. There is one more consideration to look at and that is what platform are you building and testing your website on. There are slight subtle variations which need to be considered.
The first will not apply to everyone. That is, where do scripts run? With my hosts, if I am using a .pl script then it must run from a directory called /cgi-bin. I can place a sub directory within the website and create a /cgi-bin folder within that, but any perl scripts must run within this folder.
Also, and .asp files must also reside in the home directory, not within sub-folders. Not very handy on larger sites...
So what does this matter? Well if you start writing code using these then load you website and find the code is in the wrong place, not only do you have to redistribute the code, but you have to check every page for links to these scripts.
Also, and this affects more people, some platforms are case sensitive. This means that Logo.jpg and logo.jpg are totally different files. This is quite important when writing your site! For safety, whether you are on a platform that is case sensitive or not, it is worth while always having lower case file names. Just in case...
Monday, 21 January 2008
Why Do DNS Changes Take 72 Hours?
I mentioned yesterday that once you change DNS settings it can take up to 72 hours for the website to become available. But why?
Well, it's not just DNS settings that can have this affect. For example, if I move a website from Windowos to Linux, or Windows without ASP to Windows with ASP, then the same delay can occur.
It's not always 72 hours. I have seen it take place as quick as an hour, and over the last couple of years at most 24 hours. But what's happening?
Basically, the DNS settings are passed to the domain controller (the company with overall controll of the high level, e.g. .com, .co.uk etc). This tells them where to look for your website. The actuall address of the machine is also passed to them.
Now every time you type in a URL your ISP has to look up from this list where to go for that website. If every time a URL was entered they had to go to the master list, there would be a lot of unnecessary traffic to and fro quering this list. So instead each ISP takes a copy of this list at regular intervals. This might be once a day or whatever, but no less than once every 72 hours.
In my experience, most ISPs do collect it every day, so 24 hours is the worst you can expect to wait. I've noticed that .co.uk names do seem to become available quicker than .com, so maybe my ISP collects the .co.uk list even more often than that.
But that's why you have to wait 72 hours when you change your DNS records...
Well, it's not just DNS settings that can have this affect. For example, if I move a website from Windowos to Linux, or Windows without ASP to Windows with ASP, then the same delay can occur.
It's not always 72 hours. I have seen it take place as quick as an hour, and over the last couple of years at most 24 hours. But what's happening?
Basically, the DNS settings are passed to the domain controller (the company with overall controll of the high level, e.g. .com, .co.uk etc). This tells them where to look for your website. The actuall address of the machine is also passed to them.
Now every time you type in a URL your ISP has to look up from this list where to go for that website. If every time a URL was entered they had to go to the master list, there would be a lot of unnecessary traffic to and fro quering this list. So instead each ISP takes a copy of this list at regular intervals. This might be once a day or whatever, but no less than once every 72 hours.
In my experience, most ISPs do collect it every day, so 24 hours is the worst you can expect to wait. I've noticed that .co.uk names do seem to become available quicker than .com, so maybe my ISP collects the .co.uk list even more often than that.
But that's why you have to wait 72 hours when you change your DNS records...
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