Speed Test

I’ve been asked by several clients about internet speeds, specifically what’s “fast” and how can one know if one’s getting the speed one’s paid for. It’s easy to test your system and find out.

1. Conduct a speed test. It just takes a minute and it’s pretty cool. Write down your results when done.

2. Find out what you’re supposed to be getting by looking up the speed promised by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Here are links to a few wired (ie, not wireless) plans in the San Diego area:
Cox - Economy/Value/Preferred/Premier
RoadRunner - Basic/Standard/Turbo
AT&T - Basic/Express/Pro/Elite

3. Compare your results from Step 1 to the promised speeds in Step 2. If your numbers are in a mixture of Mbps (Megabytes per second, aka Mb/s) and Kbps (Kilobytes per second, aka Kb/s) you’ll need to translate them to compare. 1 Mbps = 1024 Kbps. Here’s a handy calculator to translate them for you.

Voila! If your speed is not what’s promised, give your ISP a call. If you’ve been suffering with slow speeds you may notice that upgrading is only a few more dollars a month. Personally I’ve had great customer service with Cox and the Preferred plan, while not the fastest they offer, works fine for me.

Likewise, if your speeds have slowed to a crawl, you might need some tech assistance. Your internet speed is influenced by a number of factors in addition to your ISP speeds and most companies offer decent troubleshooting assistance. Either way, a little check up is the first step in making sure you are getting what you’re paying for!

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 10. Disaster Recovery

Creating a website represents an investment of time & money. But how do you safguard that? It’s not a tangible item…or is it? The data that makes up your site is indeed tangible - or it should be anyways. Once you have paid your developer for their work, you should receive a written document with your usernames, passwords, and a back up CD with all of your website files AND source files. With this information you can restore your site or work with a new developer if needed.

I have frequently been hired by people who built a site but do not have any of the access information to maintain it. They don’t have any of the artwork they bought, they don’t know where the site is hosted or when it’s due to expire and, in most cases, they are calling me because their previous developer has disappeared. At the conclusion of a project I provide my clients with a Website Data Sheet that documents all of their site access information as well as notates any special functionality we might have used in their project. Whenever a new account is added to their site (say we set up a Constant Contact Newsletter) I add this info and send an updated Data Sheet. I also provide a CD back up of all site & artwork files, and do so periodically and upon request throughout the year.

Your site should be designed based upon industry standard software & technologies. When meeting with a developer, ask what they use. Some common languages are html, css, action script, php, asp.net, and javascript. Common development software programs are Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Ideally, your website files should be in these formats, which enable any developer to work with them. If your developer is not available for any reason, you should be able to hire someone new and provide everything they need to carry on.

This does it for my “10 Thoughts on Creating a Website”. I hope you’ve found it useful. Look for more entries on Email Troubleshooting, SEO, Website Add-Ons, and more coming soon!

<<What Do I Do If My Site Goes Down?

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 9. What Do I Do If My Site Goes Down?

If your website or email stops working, you need to know who to contact. Here at Pixel Lava, I serve as the front line of support for my clients. If you have a problem, I want to know about it because it might pertain to other clients. However, if I am not available, my clients know who hosts their website and how to contact that company directly. If you are meeting with a new developer, ask them about this.

For Pixel Lava clients on Blue Host, if your site goes down, call me. If I am not available, call Blue Host toll free at (88 401-4678. I recommend calling later in the day if possible to avoid being on hold. You can also log in to your website hosting account and view your server status yourself. While Blue Host maintains an impressive record of up time, server problems do occur. In my three years with them I’ve had sites go offline six times and in each case, the site was back up within an hour. I think they’ve been great.

If your email goes down, you will first need to determine where the problem originates. If you are sure that the problem is not your computer or internet connection then do contact me or Blue Host (or whoever your hosting company is). Email has a lot of different parts, I’ll provide some email troubleshooting tips in an upcoming post.

<<How Do I Maintain My Site? -  Disaster Recovery>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 8. How Do I Maintain My Site?

Websites that never change are boring but, more importantly, they are ineffective. The web is a place of constant, dynamic change and as information develops, search engines adapt their listings. If your site is never updated, it slides further down in the list of what’s out there. So, maintenance is part of your site, even if you are just starting a new project. When choosing a developer, ask how they handle maintenance. Is it available on an as-needed basis by the hour (that’s how we do it here) or through a monthly contract? What are the turn around times on requests? Who will be doing the maintenance? What if that person is not available?

It’s a good idea to make your website maintenance a regularly scheduled item and not an after thought. If you are a software company, how about posting at least one new Press Release every quarter? Including the website in your real world marketing efforts seems obvious, but is often overlooked. Think about how you might include a new product announcement on the site as an animated banner or some other attention-getting item that will freshen up the look of your home page. If you attend trade shows, provide a list on your site and include a promotion that rewards anyone who visits your booth (Visit us at TradeShow Max and get a free compass keychain!). Keeping the site fresh should be fun and easy. If you are meeting with a new developer, ask what ideas they have for assisting you in keeping the home page interesting.

<<How Do I Get First on Google? - What Do I Do If My Site Goes Down?>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 7. How Do I Get First on Google

Unless you have:

1. An incredibly unique name

2. A ton of money

… it’s unlikely that you’ll be “first on Google”. Where your site shows up in Google and other search engine rankings depends on many factors including how your site is coded & built, what & how many links you have, if you are part of any pay-per-click advertising programs, and many more. This area is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it is a multi million dollar industry. Search Engine Optimization Specialists use a wide variety of techniques to boost your site’s rankings but their services can be pricey. A good approach is to start with the basics in your site’s coding, submitting your site to Google and some of the other big directories, and make sure that you are doing real world marketing.

Unless you are selling ads or have a shop on your site, paying for SEO work is unlikely to be cost effective. For some people, it’s irrelevant. If you are a yoga instructor who teaches five classes a week of 20 students, getting 5,000 hits a day on Google is really not going to matter (although I would suggest you start selling advertising!) However, if you have the staffing and capacity to add a lot of clients, then conducting an SEO blitz might be money well spent.

Also keep in mind that your results will, inevitably, decline over time. Why? Because your competitors are also hiring SEO Specialists to get their sites to rank above you! The bottom line is to take Google and other services in perspective. Your site should be easily found using your unique information (searching on your name or business name for example) and then you can work on gathering results for more vague entries over time (searching on “San Diego Yoga Instructor” for example).

<<Email Options - How Do I Maintain My Site?>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 6. Email Options

Email consists of three parts:

1. Your email address (info@mycoolsite.com)

2. Your email client (Yahoo or Outlook)

3. Your email configuration

An email account that is associated with your website (info@mycoolsite.com) can be anything you like (screaming_monkey@mycoolsite.com). It is created and configured using your website’s hosting control panel. You may also have a free account that came with your internet service (me@cablecompanyname.com) or a free account online (me@hotmail.com) or an account through work or school (me@workorschoolname.com).

Your email client is the software you use to read, write, and manage your email messages. There are desktop email programs such as Microsoft’s Outlook of Apple ’s Mail and there are web-based services such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. AOL has both a desktop program and a web-based service (both of which are horrid … but I digress).

Your email configuration is the instructions for what the name of your account is, where it lives, and how you access it. For my clients, I recommend Gmail. Gmail is a free, web-based service offered by Google. Google has many of the smartest people on earth working for them, they run huge data centers, and they are a billion dollar company. I’d say they are reliable! Unlike Hotmail, Yahoo, and others, Gmail allows you to access a wide variety of accounts from within their system and when you respond, the response stamp comes from the account to which the email was sent. Wait, what’s that mean?! It means that I have ame@thisthingy.com and ame@whatchamacallit.com and ame@whosit.com but I only ever log in to one account, my Gmail one. When someone emails me at ame@whosit.com, they get a response from ame@whosit.com. Cool!

<<What If I Don’t Like Something? - How Do I Get First on Google?>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 5. What If I Don’t Like Something?

Building a website requires extensive communication. You should see a mock up of your site’s design, and be given the chance to approve or revise it, prior to the creation of your site. Additionally, for any specialty items, you should be able to view samples beforehand to get an idea of what your item will look like or how it will function.

An example of this that I often see is video. Web video comes in a wide array of sizes and types of players. If you want video on your site, find a site that displays it in the manner you like and send the link to your developer. Or make a sketch of what you are envisioning and find out if it can be accommodated. That way your developer knows exactly what you’re expecting.

Like most developers, my contract states that two rounds of revisions are allowed to create the look & feel of a project or component. If at any point in the process you see something you don’t like, speak up! The farther along it gets, the more time consuming and expensive it is to change. If you are not sure what you want and would like to see a wider variety of choices, make sure to tell your developer so they can allow the time to accommodate an extended development process.

<<Finding a Good Developer  - Email Options>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 4. Finding a Good Developer

I believe the best way to find website help is to ask for recommendations. If you see a website you like, look for a credit at the bottom which tells you who built it or call the website owner and ask who they used. Better yet, talk to friends and family who have websites. Once you have some leads, request a meeting by phone or in person.

Creating a site can take time and certainly requires a lot of communication. You need to feel comfortable with your developer and able to communicate openly. They should listen attentively, take notes, and ask questions related specifically to your stated needs and your industry. Who is your audience? Has the developer created sites for that demographic? What is their experience level? How do the sites in their portfolio look? Are they open to hearing your design ideas? Do they have good references? Is the work being done by the developer, in-house by other staff, or is it being outsourced? Does that matter to you?

It is critical that you see an example of their work and this extends to any specialized components planned for the site. If you want a search box, ask to see a site that they have done with a working search box. Keep in mind that listing services such as BBB and Angie’s List feature paid advertisers. While these are often great providers, your decision should be based on the developer’s portfolio, references and demonstrated ability.

<<What Will I Need? - What If I Don’t Like Something?>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 3. What Will I Need?

A website is comprised of:

• A domain name: If you think of your website as an office your domain name is your phone number. While you CAN change it, chose it carefully because you will be disseminating it widely on business cards, ads, etc. and changing it is expensive. Domain names cost $1.50 - $10 and can be purchased many places online. However, maintaining domain name accounts can be costly and time consuming. I recommend using Blue Host for website hosting where your domain name is free with your account.
• A website hosting account: This is your rent or property tax. A hosting company owns or manages servers (computers) which run 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. You upload your files to their servers to be available online. Hosting companies spend their time fighting hackers and spammers, maintaining their system software & network, and fulfilling customer requests and support. In the same way that a landlord makes sure your building is run properly, a hosting company makes sure your space online is run properly.
• Your website files: In our office metaphor, this would be your building, furniture, collateral, displays, etc.
• An email configuration: Email is your communication system online. In the same way that you would hire someone to wire an office for phone service, you must set up an email configuration for your site. There are a myriad of options when it comes to setting up your email system.
• Documentation: Often overlooked but of critical importance is your website documentation! You MUST have, IN WRITING AND VERIFIED, the access information to manage your domain name account and hosting account (they may be combined). If your developer has provided this, try out your usernames and passwords and make sure they work. If you don’t have this you’ll want to get it. You should also have a CD back up of all of your files - especially source files- and instructions for working with any specialty components on your site. I make a lot of money tracking this information down for folks … get it yourself and save time/money/hassle.

Optional goodies:

• An e-commerce system (typically consisting of store software, a database, a merchant account, a payment gateway, and an SSL certificate): In our real world metaphor, this would be your shop. There are many, many options for e-commerce from do-it-yourself monthly fee-based accounts to fully customizable software packages. I don’t currently offer e-commerce solutions but I recommend Dr. Internet.
• Multimedia such as animation, video, audio, etc.: This would be YouTube, podcasts, animated intros or product demos, interactive slideshows, etc. You can think of it as the eye-catching graphics and displays that greet your clients when they walk in.
• Newsletter sign up boxes: While it’s easy to write an email and address it to all 300 people in your Contacts list, this is neither cool nor legal. The Can-Spam Act of 2003 made it illegal to send Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE). In addition to being annoying and a turn off, it’s also ineffective as your message is likely to go into Spam/Junk filters. A much better option is to use services like Constant Contact. This is a web-based service which is easy to use, produces beautiful communications, and complies to regulations, offers full reporting …all for a low monthly fee. I use it, love it, and offer an inexpensive starter package.
• Forms, site search boxes, mp3 players, and other interactive components: These can either be integral parts of your site or fun extras. Forms provide easy email communication and also to enable you to remove email addresses from your site (thereby decreasing the likelihood of having them harvested by spammers).

<<What’s The Going Rate? - Finding a Good Developer>>

Ten Thoughts on Creating a Website: 2. What’s The Going Rate?

Some developers operate on an hourly rate and estimate project totals based on the number of hours involved. Others provide an overall bid. Either way, make sure you understand what you are paying for. When you say that you want a photo slideshow of your facility, how many photos do you want to show? What size? How do you want the slideshow to play, straight through like a movie or with buttons the user clicks to proceed? Getting these details in writing is important to winding up with what you want at the agreed upon price.

From what I’ve seen, the hourly rate for web design varies widely based on experience. With 10 years in the industry my hourly rate is $60. I have spoken to folks who charge $30 but outsource their coding to India. I have also talked with studios who charge $175/hr but offer services including php or asp.net programming and other specialties. Expect to pay more for an experienced developer but keep in mind that this should save time in the long run as these providers should offer support, reliability, and high quality work. Understand that you may need a few different technologies. A site can be built in html or css and then have some Flash animation, a database, some forms, etc. Be aware that while web design costs one rate, specialty animation, video, and database integration can cost a different rate. Again, an itemized estimate is key to understanding what you are getting and at what price.

If you are willing to be patient and understanding to save some money, hire a student! I am grateful to my friends and first clients who hired me while I was learning. Students are often willing to work at a discount to gain experience. If you can weather a bumpy or slow development process, it’s a way to save money.

<<Do I Need a Developer?  -  What Will I Need?>>