Utah - Arizona Website Design & Web Development Resources

"While" and "Do-While" Loops

2011-02-15T09:47:00.001-07:00

I have started into a book that I picked up from the library entitled
Beautiful Code published by O'Rielly Press. It's a compilation of top programmers thoughts on some of the most beautiful code that they have written and the logic and theory behind it. I was slightly apprehensive that it would be way over my head, having no formal training in the field. I'm understanding about 75 - 85% of the discussion so far. What is really insightful, however, are the explanations as to why and what makes their code samples so effective. Hopefully by the end I'll be thinking just a bit more like a programmer.

Today's reading has me thinking about "Do-While" loops, as there was one implemented in the code that I was studying. I'm studying them out in PHP as that is the language that I work in. The online PHP manual has been very helpful in providing some effective examples.

There is one key difference between "Do-While" loops and "While" that I have observed. Both loops have a true/false statement to determine whether the loop is to be processed. The distinction between the two is that in a normal "While" loop that check is performed at the beginning of the loop. This makes is so that the first time the statement is checked the return value must be true or else the while loop will not be executed.

On the contrary, with a "Do-While" loop, all scripts inside the loop are executed at least once before the statement is checked. I hope to experiment with this a little more and then report back on how I've found this variation to be helpful.

This example illustrates a quick way of executing a "Do-While" loop without curly brackets.

Encapsulation in OOP

2011-02-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

(If you are finding this via a search results, be forewarned: I'm just learning this concept.)

Encapsulation: The practice in Object Oriented Programming of taking functionality and hiding it behind the scenes, so that it works seamlessly without the class user knowing how it is being accomplished.

As I'm thinking about this principle, it occurs to me that there is are abundant examples of encapsulation in use around me every day in my front-end programming work. For example, these days I rely heavily on Jquery to execute Javascript functionality. Jquery seems to me to be the perfect example of making Javascript work "behind the scenes" so that I haven't had to learn to detailed intricacies of Javascript and it's quirky browser specific behaviors.

And yet even more so, with Jquery itself there are more examples of encapsulation. For example, the .show() method, which is actually doing some other more advanced jquery execution, all behind the scenes without me knowing (yet) how it is being accomplished.

Notes on Object Oriented Programming in PHP - Classes and Class Attributes

2011-02-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Classes, which are the abstracted form of objects, have methods and attributes which in regular programming would be very similar to functions and variables.

-How Attributes vary from Variables:
They have visibility and must be constants. Yet it is not required that an attribute possess a value to begin with. The key is that attributes can be declared with a variable as the value, it must be either empty (which would be its assigned value) or a pre-defined constant.

Notes on Abstraction and Encapsulation

2011-02-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I'm doing a little bit of study on OOP, Object Oriented Programming:

Abstraction - in object oriented programming this is the practice of creating classes that are "abstract" or broad enough to be able to be used in more than one scenario. My challenge then is to understand that there could be multiple scenarios requiring abstraction in the first place.
-Terms related to abstraction are: inheritance and overriding

Encapsulation - The practice of taking certain functionality and making it work behind the scenes, its execution being invisible or seamless to the functions that are using it.
-Terms related to encapsulation are: access control and visibility

Abbreviated If-Else Statements in PHP: Use the Ternary Operator

2010-09-03T18:59:00.000-06:00

I have seen this type of coding in several places before. It seems to be quite common place in some of the more advanced PHP programming code that I've worked with before. Yet, being a self-taught programmer, this is one of those little tricks that I've never had explained to me before. So after doing a little bit of online searching for "Abbreviated If Else Statements php," I found some good explanations of how this works.

Traditionally, an if-else statement is written like so:

if(condition){
  true;
}else{
  false;
}

The ternary operator turns this into a single line of code. No "if" or "else" operators are needed. And curly brackets {} are replaced with a question mark(?) following the if statement, and a colon (:) in place of the else statement.

(condition)? true : false ;

The above states that if the condition is true, do the first statement after the question mark. If the condition is not true, do the false statement after the colon.

I decided to play with this and create a simple little experiment:

<?php 

$test_array = array('blue','red','green','orange','purple','pink');

$array_length = count($test_array);

$rand_num = rand(0,($array_length-1));

echo $rand_num;

$results = ($test_array[$rand_num]=='blue')? 'This is the color of the SKY!': 'This is not 
the color of the sky...';

$bg_color = $test_array[$rand_num];
 
?>

<div style="background:<?php echo $bg_color;?> width: 400px; height: 400px; margin: 50px 
auto; padding: 40px; ">
  <h1><?php echo $results;?></h1>
</div>

View it in action: The sky is blue!
(Refresh the page to see it change colors...)

Credits:

Thanks be to my most influential PHP instructor (whom I have never actually met), Larry Ullman, for his explanation of the ternary operator and its use. I own several of Larry's books and attribute pretty much everything I know about PHP and MySQL to my study of his books.

Thanks also to the topic discussion for "shortened if-then statements" over at bytes.com that pointed me to Larry's article.

Blank Pages When Attempting to Transfer Word Press to a New Server

2010-07-30T17:06:00.000-06:00

So I've recently transferred over to RackSpace Cloud Sites hosting service for both my personal and client accounts. Today I was stuck on a Word Press transfer, having successfully transferred via FTP all my file and then mirrored databases between the old and the new. Yet when I went to open the site on the new server, I was pulling up blank pages- even on the /wp-login.php page.

After spending a good part of the day scouring Google results and Word Press forums, I contacted fanatical support at RackSpace. I was first pointed to my PHP error logs to see why nothing was happening. I learned that it was a memory allotment issue. (This particular installation of Word Press is a little heavy handed on the plugins.) The solution was simple however: in my root level .htaccess file, we added online line of code at the very top:

php_value memory_limit ?M

Where the question mark was replaced with the desired value.

Default on the server was 32M. I bumped it to 64M and voila! Problem solved.
Here was the Rack Space Article that was referenced: PHP Memory Limit Value.

United Way of Northern Utah's Drupal to Word Press Migration

2010-07-08T08:24:00.004-06:00

I wish I could claim design work on this one, but alas. The beauty of this recently completed project is almost invisible to the end user.

Back in February, I received a surprise phone call from the United Way of Northern Utah, based out of Odgen, asking for some help with their current content management system (CMS) setup. The site had been deployed using the Drupal CMS, which from what I've heard is one of the better higher-end open-source CMS projects out there. However, for what United Way needed it was too much. After listening to what their needs were, I made the suggestion of moving to Word Press. The suggestion was taken and the project initiated.

With only minor modification to the design that was already in place, the real beauty of this project was being able to transition from the old Drupal interface on the backend to a much more intuitive Word Press admin interface while keeping the same look and feel for the end user on the front end. What's more, thanks to the work of other programmers who had already documented this process, the migration between Drupal and Word Press was quite painless.

Additional features that we were able to implement with this new Word Press-based website included customizing the Facebook box with colors that match the rest of the site, and also the implementation of the hugely popular WP E-commerce solution.

The biggest challenges on this project had to deal with United Way of Northern Utah's intermediary hosted email solution. This was an upgrade from a standard hosting service, which allows UWNU increased security features and secure email services. On the development end, I was unaware of any of these additional parameters at the outset, which made it notably more challenging to setup certain processes.

United Way of Northern Utah

Word Press Rediscovered

2010-02-22T16:31:00.039-07:00

Work has been very busy lately-which is a good thing. One of my more recent projects consisted of building a set of custom template for a client on Word Press.

I had first experience Word Press some two and half years ago, when I was just barely getting my feet wet in the web development industry. Needless to say, that first experience was anything but pretty. Fortunately, or maybe not, that first attempt is no longer online.

Having since then worked with four major CMS's (Content Management Systems: Teamsite, Plone, Joomla, and Expression Engine), I came back to WordPress with a much broader vision of what a CMS can and cannot do. I've also tried creating website that allow their owners to have the power to manage their own web presence. This however has proven to be almost entirely useless. My clients, for whatever reason have for the most part just come back to me, the human face, whenever there is an update to be processed on there website.

So now, coming back to WordPress, with it's strict adherence to out-of-the-box PHP coding standards (meaning that they've not created their own framework or code library), I'm quite enthralled by it all. I love that I can open up the backend of WordPress, meaning the PHP files and actually understand what they're doing, instead of having to relearn another library of custom functions and syntax. As a designer, I've really come to appreciate how easy it is to incorporate my custom themes into the WordPress engine. Again this is due to the use of native PHP code conventions like "include()" and "require()".

So what are the projects that I've been working on?All of these were deployed on the WordPress platform, and then handed off to the client for their customization. The project included a series of six websites, and two distinct designs. The first one follows a lighter theme, open air theme:
http://everenergydesign.com/

The others consisted of five variations on a theme. Below are a couple of samples of the final theme, ready to be customized by the client:
http://thesolarbistro.com/
http://buildingprojex.com/

Rustica Hardware Redesign: X-Cart Skinning

2010-01-19T17:05:00.001-07:00

A while back, we completed work on a redesign for Rustica Hardware.com, a retail destination for unique door hardware. The shopping cart was already in place and functioning, but was in need of a home page face lift. This was the final product:

Instinct's E-Commerce Word Press Plugin

2010-01-14T15:55:00.001-07:00

I have recently had the opportunity to setup a new e-commerce solution for a non-profit client. They have a handful of merchandise that they needed a simple shopping cart to handle the request.

The bulk of my recent experience with setting up e-commerce solutions has been in the Magento Commerce platform. However, the needs of this particular client did not merit the sophistication or detail provided by Magento's world class solution. What they needed was something simple and intuitive to setup and deploy. Their merchandise consisted of about 20 different items. The answer this time was Instinct's E-Commerce plugin for Word Press.

Built to easily integrate into the Word Press admin interface, WP E-Commerce is light weight and user friendly. For personal and non-profit use, there is a $40 upgrade which we will be purchasing soon, so as to integrate the client's Authorize.net account.

Solutions like this, make e-commerce even more practical and affordable for any small business looking to extend it's influence online. Below is a sample of the end user interface setup on the default Word Press theme: Kubrick.

I'll have more to report as I finalize this solution and customize the design to meet the client's needs.

Cheap, Affordable Magento installations for under $1000

2010-01-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of my fifth Magento installation, with a small break and so I thought I take a moment to write about all this. As an independent web developer, I've been enjoying a recent sprint of work relative to Magento.

I've been following Magento since it was still in beta, last year in the winter of 2008. When Magento Commerce 1.0 was launch in April of the same year, I became very eager to set up my first site using this software and was able to do so in July 2008. Since then, Magento has continued to add some very exciting features and improvements to the software and having positioned myself as a Magento developer/designer, I've gotten unique opportunities for work.

Most recently, I've turned live two new sites for the folks over at Demon International, just up the road from me in Orem, Utah. What I've realized working on sites for them is that I've gotten to a point where I can produce a new website install for a very reasonable price and turnaround. So much so, that I think anyone that has merchandise to sell should have an e-commerce website running Magento.

So Here's How It Works

As I explained in a recent post, using a pre-designed template from any number of template vendors (do a "Magento Templates"), I can take that template and set up the shopping cart on a hosting account of your choice with all the necessary parameters (SSL Security Certificates, Shipping Providers, Payment Gateway, etc). Keep in mind that some of these items will also cost you to set them up/initiate their service. Keeping the custom requests to a minimum, and putting your "wish" list to the side for the moment, it is very possible to deploy your business live online using Magento for under $1000.

Of course, every client is distinct, as is every bid that I prepare for new clients. For more information, please contact me directly. In the meantime, learn more about the Magento solution to e-commerce and see why it is quickly become the industry standard for e-commerce solutions, both big and small.

Demon Snow Launches New Store on Magento

2009-09-21T17:04:00.004-06:00

Loño Studios in conjunction with Demon Snow, a specialty line of next generation gear for snowboarders, contacted me to launch their online shopping presence on Magento Commerce. While still profitable on my end, the approach that Loño Studios and Demon Snow took was extremely practical.

They started with preselected template from TemplateMonster.com . Then from there, Loño Studios took the template and modified it to create a unique look and feel while avoiding the development time on a new site layout. Then Loño Studios contacted me to setup the Magento installation and prep it for deployment. Demon Snow then took it back in-house to complete the product catalog. The time frame for my involvement on the project was exactly five business days from start to finish. Essentially, they went from concept to completion in one week's time. Astoundingly fast!

Now obviously, there was a bit of prep work on their side to allow me to jump in and deploy a new site in only 5 days, but what I wanted to emphasized was the cost saved by going with a modified template, substantial savings which was realized in both design and coding, probably reducing their costs for deploying a live site by upwards of 50-60%.

To view the site in action, visit http://www.demonsnow.com and click on the store link from the menu at the top. As there is still a little polishing on their end, the site may not be live for a couple of days more.

Book Review: PHP for the World Wide Web by Larry Ullman

2009-05-15T11:31:00.004-06:00

I owe my livelihood presently to the recommendation of a friend and to Larry Ullman himself for writing such a simple yet comprehensive approach to web programming with PHP.

My background and formal education are in Media Arts. I've never spent a day in a classroom for anything related to the computer sciences. My past times growing up were in art and music. I offer this background as evidence of how well author Larry Ullman bridges the gap between a visual and artistically minded individual such as myself and converting into fairly lay terms, subjects that are the essence of computer science programs. Granted, there is no replacement for the experience and expertise of a formal education. However, that I have been able to make a living working with PHP in combination with HTML/CSS/Flash and more, leads me to hold this book in high esteem personally. Larry Ullman's PHP for the World Wide Web was my spring board into web development.

Why learn to develop in PHP? The simple answer is that it is the only major web language that doesn't require the support of a commercial software application for its development or deployment.

Since learning PHP, I've had the ability to build custom web applications that function dynamically. Where HTML pages are simple static presentations, PHP allows me to create templates for dynamically generated content drawing information from several sources, but that is only the beginning of PHP's capabilities.

Larry Ullman's approach to teaching web programming in these books is engaging. The format of this book, and other that I've read from Mr. Ullman in this series, is such that he lays out an explanation of the task and then offers practical demonstration of the principles being taught for almost every section of the book. Throughout the book are detailed explanations of each line of code along with the completely printed code page as it would looking in a text editor. Then at the end of each example there is a visual sample of the browser page.

As I mentioned, there are other books written by Larry Ullman as follow ups to this book. Others that I have read from Mr. Ullman include PHP 5 Advance and MYSQL (second edition).

So if you're looking to get into web development and already have a basic knowledge of HTML, my recommendation is to taking the next step by learning PHP.

How I Learned Confidence in Web Consulting

2009-05-08T09:50:00.005-06:00

We learn by experience.

I have a friend who contacted me requesting information about building an Internet presence for his personal catering and cooking classes business. His business plan was extremely well thought out and multifaceted. He was now ready to launch his business via the Internet. His objective in talking with me was to determine whether or not he should go with my company's services or to go with a company affiliated with a major brand name.

He spelled out very clearly to me what he was trying to accomplish. He needed a website that would allow him to post recipes, get feedback, announce upcoming classes, blog about his recipes and products. Additionally, he needed a shopping cart associated with the website to sell products related to his catering and cooking classes. It was a tall order for a sole proprietor. Going to a professional web house, such a request would run at least $5,000. My estimate was modest in comparison.

However, there is another breed of Internet development companies out there that seem to feed off of the ambitions of small business owners. These companies are staffed by individuals who know little more about the Internet than the customers they service. They almost always make the sale because of a persuasive sales pitch and cheapest price for requested service (and frankly, when someone gives us their word, we like to trust them).

Some of these companies require contracts for hosting services for as long as a year's time. In a competitive market place, these contracts are the only way in which these companies can stay afloat. Others will spell out in vague detail X amount of services, which in the client's mind is far greater than what the service company plans to deliver.

Such was my competition, which I only understand now with some hind-sight. The bottom line was that I would be charging my friend twice as much as the competitor. In the end, this persuaded my friend to go with the other company's solution for services.

I followed up with my friend two months later. He was stuck with a poorly-designed half-completed website and playing phone tag with a company that wouldn't give him straight answers. That's when we came on board and went to work, giving him exactly what he had requested.

The hard lesson learned by both him and I was that by going with the cheaper solution, my friend had lost both valuable time and money. It took him twice as long to deploy his website, and though I charged him twice as much for the services requested, in the end he could have saved substantially by going with my services upfront.

We learn by experience.

"What were the websites that you built for your freind?" you ask.
http://www.creativekitchenco.com/
http://www.creativekitchenshop.com/

Utah Solar Energy Association Website Complete

2009-04-21T13:38:00.007-06:00

Host Eagle recently finished work on the new website for the Utah Solar Energy Association (UtSEA).

After Host Eagle Web Shop

Before Host Eagle Web Shop

Project Details

Project Initiation Date: 19 February 2009
Project Completion Date: 17 April 2009
Length of Project: 2 months
Final Invoice: $50 less than original max bid
Software Used: Expression Engine CMS
Customization: Membership Sign-Up Page and Business Directory
Additional Notes: Steve Myrick of Myrick Printing, Provo, Utah is credited with final design work.

To View Website: http://www.utsolar.org/

Web Designer's Tool Kit: Notepad++

2009-04-02T12:27:00.006-06:00

In today's post I am going to outline one of the tools that we use for our work in web design. This particular program is an open source project.

Notepad++ (pronounced "Notepad Plus Pus") - This is my text editor of choice. It allows for coding in a host of web languages, including all the languages that I use: XHTML, CSS, PHP, Actionscript, and MySQL.

I've developed something of a love affair with this piece fo software to the point where I use it for everything that I possibly can. I use it in place of a word processor until I have to spell check something or format it. I'll use it for my address books. I use it for my daily tasks lists, prepping invoices, and more.

Perhaps this may seem excessive to you, but I'll explain why the adoption of this simplistic interface for as many tasks as possible. Notepad++ has some powerful features that make light work of otherwise very repetitive, time-consuming and mundane tasks.

The features that I use most are these:

Find and Replace [ctrl+H]
Find [ctrl+F]
Duplicate [ctrl+D]

Find and Replace [ctrl+H] - This robust tool allows me to find any bit of code (ususally limited to one line, but not always). For example, if I have multiple URL's throughout a document that need to be modified to something new, I simple hit ctrl+H, enter the old code in the "find" line and enter the new code in the "replace" line. Then I select my options and parameters for performing the find and replace command and execute it. The total process takes a matter of second, which without it could take hours to perform and would be subject to all manner of human errors.

If I have the line of code highlighted before I hit ctrl+H, it is automatically inserted into the "find" field. I can also specify a certain area of text to focus on by highlighting it after I've hit ctrl+H, this allows me to only modify code that is in the selected area, instead of the entire document. Additionally, the Find and Replace function has the option to replace the same bit of code in all open documents. Again, this makes mass modifications a very painless, efficient process.

Find [Ctrl+F] - this is a simplified version of the Find and Replace, with its own set of features. I use this to find a specific reference in files that are excessively large. For example, when working with XHTML/CSS, if I find a line of code that I need to locate the corresponding CSS property, I'll go into the CSS document and do a quick find by hitting ctrl+F and typing in the name of the property that I am looking for. This saves me from having to scroll up and down through the whole document which can become quite lengthy for more complex projects.

Duplicate [Ctrl+D] - When the cursor is placed at the end of a line of code, ctrl+D will duplicate the entire line to the next line down. When part of a line is highlighted, ctrl+D will duplicate that same section of code inline immediately following it. When multile lines of code are highlighted and ctrl+D is hit, the whole section is duplicated as they appear, immediately following the end of the selection.

This is a powerful feature for creating multiple lines of code that have only limited differences between them. Fore example, when working in an XHTML document and I have similar "div" sections that only differ in their "id" names, with a little planning, ctrl+D makes it so I only have to do the work once and then modify the lines that need it without having to rebuild the whole section two times.

There are many other time saving features that are built into Notepad++ which I cannot begin to touch upon in this article. For more information visit the Notepadd++ website. The software is free to download. If you feeel that it is useful in your work, you may consider making a donation as a token of appreciation.

Brent's Five-Minute Newbie Guide to Web Hosting, part 1

2009-03-23T09:09:00.006-06:00

First off, if you come this far in your search for web hosting company, congratulations! Hopefully, we can bring your search to an end sooner than later.

This article is by no means intended to be exhaustive or comprehensive in all the factors that you should want to consider in selecting a web hosting service that is best for you. In this first installation, I'll provide a basic overview of some terminology.

What is web hosting? How is it different from a domain name? Simply put, web hosting is the service that you pay for having a computer "serve" or "host" your website.

Companies will have many of these computers, also called servers, which they will sell a small part of one such computer to you to store your website's information on. Because these computers are on and available all the time (or at least they should be), your website will be available to anyone wanting to visit it at any time of the day or night.

An web hosting company will typically charge a fixed monthly rate (or an equivalent annual rate) for their hosting services. A typical price range is about $6 - $8 a month for quality hosting services. There are even quality services available with some specific limitations for as low as $3/mo. I will offer more specific details in my next installation of where to look for quality web hosting companies.

Small Tagent:

You would not want to attempt to host your website from your own computer (though in theory you could) due to security risks of having your computer openly accessible from the Internet. Additionally, the speed at which your own computer could serve web pages would be significantly slower than a hosting computer designed to do so. Also, having to leave your own computer turned on all the time and the resources used to serve up web pages while your trying to do other applications are even more reasons to not use your home computer as an Internet server computer.

A domain name is the web address (i.e. www.hosteagle.us) that point to the specified computer where your website is being stored or hosted. Just as the street numbers posted on the front of your home do not constitute your actual home, a domain name is not the same as a web hosting account. It is the address that tells computers around the world, where to go to find your website.

Typically, both domain names and web hosting will be handled by the same company.

In the next installation, I'll offer some suggestions on where to go for quality web hosting.

DOCTYPE HTML Comparisons

2009-03-20T13:37:00.005-06:00

I thought I would take some time to study out just a little bit the difference between the different DOCTYPE HTML declarations.

Here are the pages that I've accessed as resources:
A good starting point, possibly -http://htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html
The quick reference - http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_DOCTYPE.asp
The thorough explaination - http://www.alistapart.com/articles/doctype/

Each is replete with additional links and information about DOCTYPE HTML declarations. Most appear to be a little dated, though not much has changed from the time in which they were writtten. W3Schools, however, is current and up-to-date.

For today's project, I'm going to be using XHTML 1.1, which is a combination of XML (eXtensible Mark-Up Language) and HTML (HyperText Markup Language).

It looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

Typically in the past, I've used XHTML 1.0 Transitional as it allows for a little more flexibility than XHTML 1.0 Strict.

XHTML 1.0 Traditional looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

XHTML 1.0 Strict looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

There's one other little bit of information that follows each of these declarations. It's the standard attribute in the opening html tag. It looks like this.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

All together, the code that I'll be using to start of my new html document looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" 
 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
< html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >

The links provided in this article offer a great deal more insight than I've offered here, but this will make for a quick reference for those that are looking to copy and run. Enjoy!

Web Services Marketing

2009-03-17T23:33:00.004-06:00

I read once over at Ben Hunt's website, Web Design from Scratch, that the best source of advertising that he had ever invested in was his own website. He further went on to state that this was his only source of new leads for his company.

While I can't say that I've experience the same degree of success with my own web presence, I monetary investment upfront. The greater resources in marketing are the time necessary to prepare for a good presentation.

About five months back, I decided it was time to expand my company and really work to grow the business by allocating a portion of my monthly finances towards advertising expenses. In considering several paid options, I did sign up for what appeared to be an impressive package through a reputable online phone book company. Indeed, the website is one of the most trusted names in phone books, and is also backed by an even bigger name in telecommunications. It seemed to be worth the monthly allowance even if it could bring in just one or two new clients a month.

Now, almost half way through the year contract that I agreed to, I've yet to receive that golden phone call as a direct result of this ad campaign.

What's more, in the meantime my old reliable sources of inquiry continue to prove the most productive. Since nearly the beginning of my time as a freelance developer, I've advertised via craigslist.org and ksl.com . Both offer free posting services, if you are able to comply with their posting guidelines.

Particularly effective is the blessed resources of ksl.com, a local online classifieds listing service here in Utah that allow for personal postings of services. After testing several different types of slants in my postings, I've discovered that the following approach to postings seem to work best:

Simple and straight forward descriptions of the services that we offer.
Highlight the specialty services that we offer.
Ample samples of portfolio photos.
Easy and multiple forms of contact information (email and phone number).

I understand that not everyone lives within a geographical area that has such a resourceful service as ksl.com, but with a little homework, you may discover that there are such resources available in your area too. I first learned about ksl.com from talking with a friend about my struggles and challenges to promote my services.

Another marketing tactic that has proven successful for me has been attending small business seminars and other such free local service functions. At one such venue, I met an individual who was looking to divest himself of his web clientele as he had moved on to real estate. Just being there was all I need to secure two new clients that we have provided recurring services for each.

Then of course there is the inestimable value of current clientele. Happy customers lead to word of mouth referrals and repeat business. With web services as our commodity, we strive to offer the best return on investment by giving each one of our clients the very best experience in the development process possible.

In short, my two bits on the subject of marketing for web services are that the free resources have yielded the best return on my investment, that being the time and energy to present a good face.

Company Integrity

2009-02-23T10:47:00.005-07:00

Over the weekend, I received a visit from a neighbor around the corner from me. I asked him how his job was going at a local e-commerce company that had recently laid off a large percentage of their work force. I learned that he had actually switch jobs to another local company after things appeared to be going the wrong way for him. I also spoke with my dad over the weekend, and learned that his former employer, which had let him go over five years ago after 23 years of employment, was now filing for bankruptcy.

While my dad didn't work for an Internet-based service company, my neighbor did and still does. Yet there are some common overall threads between good and bad business practices. Speaking specifically for Internet-base businesses, I've come across a handful now in my few years in the industry. There seems to be two types of companies out there: those that are in it for the money and those that are in it for the work.

For the sake of helping potential clients, let me offer a couple of insights and suggestions to keep you from getting burned as you look to launch a web-based project.

Be very wary of sales staff/account representatives. If you're not able to speak directly with the president of the company or the designers/developers that are directly responsible for your website, you may be in for trouble. If you're working with an account representative, or sales person who isn't directly able to make changes to your website, again, that may be a red flag warning that you are working with a company that is more interested in your money than in getting the work done. One of the best companies that I've worked with, the owners are as versed in their trade as were the individuals who work underneath them.
Go small and plan to pay more. Working with smaller companies is recommended. Not only is accountablity for your project within reach, you know that your project won't get lost in the masses. On the flip side though, this will probably cost you more because your website is not being mass produced. However, you will not have wasted $500 to a $1000 on a company claiming to give you a "custom website with a shopping cart included." In the long run, you'll discover that you've got a website that works and is fair return on your investment.
Portfolio, portfolio, portfolio - Ask to see a potential company's work. If they claim to be one of the "best in the nation," they should have functioning websites (and lots of them), to back such a claim.

Hopefully, this will save some diligent reader a few headaches, a few months, and few hundred dollars (or more) in their efforts to make their website project a reality. The reputation of a company lies in the integrity of its work. Be willing to pay for a company that you can trust.

Why We Love Magento's E-Commerce Solution

2009-02-09T12:30:00.004-07:00

I was introduced to Magento Commerce about a year ago when the open-source, e-commerce solution was still in its beta version. A good developer friend suggested it to me as the e-commerce solution to watch. In April of last year the software solution went live with its official launch of the the 1.0 version. It wasn't until July that the opportunity presented itself for me to develop our first Magento-based e-commerce solution.

Earlier in the year, an old friend consulted with me about developing an online presence for his kitchen and catering services business. Unfortunately, I wasn't persuasive enough to dissuade him from dropping a significant amount of cash into a cheaper solution sponsored by a major retailer. After several months, and a poor, half-designed website as all he could show for his investment, he contacted me again. At this point, my friend was fed up with the other product and was ready for the investment and to get a shopping cart solution that worked.

What makes Magento work is that it's open-source software backed by a vibrant, functional business consulting firm. Contrary to most open-source solutions on the market, Magento is not strapped to the time constraints of their volunteer developer community. What's even more important is that it is supported by the strongest and latest in online e-commerce trends research. I'm so convinced that Magento is the best, most-flexible, dynamic e-commerce solution out there, that I'm skeptical of any paid solution claiming that they can rival what Magento has done. Additionally, because it is an open-source solution, there are no restraints on code modifications for custom adaptations of the core code.

So why would a for-profit company make their primary product an open-source shopping cart? The answer should be obvious. Market penetration and acceptance are perhaps the most obvious answers. Magento, to-date boasts over 600,000 downloads, and has emerged as the open-source project to watch in less than a year's time. This strategic positioning has given their company a huge advantage in the world of online retail sales.

From a small business perspective, for price of a custom installation of the Magento software by an experience web development firm, you can have an enterprise class, e-commerce presence on the Internet, without the investment of tens of thousands of dollars upfront. For as little as two to three thousand (which is peanuts in comparison), small business now has the tools available to compete and succeed in the online marketplace. (That smaller fee is what you would pay a web development firm to set up a custom designed interface for your web presence.)

Well, my friend and I went at it with Magento. Six weeks later, when the project was finally complete, I called to tell him that it was ready to go live. On his end, he began clicking around the site and exploring its features and functionality. Then, as it sunk in that this was a legitimate and professional solution, he got choked up as he told me this is exactly what he was hoping for. He finally had a fully functional, searchable e-commerce presence that gave him the options and scalability that he needed for success in online sales.

Since then, we've built our second e-commerce solution on Magento and will probably never use another shopping cart solution again. We are now in the process of gearing up for what will hopefully be our third and best-designed installation of Magento yet. For more information about the Magento shopping cart, visit one of our two live sites running Magento, visit Magento's site, or contact us directly.

http://www.creativekitchenshop.com
http://www.omegasolarsystems.com

How Blogging Works

2009-01-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Looking to promote your business or extend your influence via the Internet? Consider blogging, but also consider this. Will you be willing to continue blogging about the same thing a year from now, how about five years from now? Blogging, while not relatively new, is a practice that is still a mystery to a substancial percentage of internet users. According to Pew Internet Project research (www.pewinternet.org), approximately 33% of all internet users read from blogs on a regular basis. On the flip side, only 12% of internet users have created blogs, with only 5% updating their blogs on a daily basis.

So is bloggging for everyone? Possibly. Here are some thoughts to help you make a decision about whether to engage in blogging or not. Personally speaking, I run blogs for daily studies that I want to keep record of, a joint family blog with my wife (she mostly contributes to that), and a company blog that is specifically focused on topics of interest to my business.

From a promotional perspective, the reason why blogging works is simple. When you write about a topic of interest, then you have substance for search engines to chew on. The more you build your blog (or any website for that matter), the more the search engines have to chew on and the more fresh content you have for your site's visitors. This can have the effect of establishing a reputation for yourself and your business. However, when abused, it can also have a negative effect on your business.

Practically speaking, the most important question to consider is this: who is your audience? Is there enough interest in your topic, that the creation of a blog about it will generate traffic to your site? If there are already blogs out there about your topic of interest, should you compete or collaborate. Becoming a contributor to larger discussions that are already taking place becomes another way of establishing yourself as a creditable source without the hassle of having to set up your own blogging presence. A website to reference, however, is still a plus when leaving comments elsewhere.

Once you've decided to blog, the next step is simple: set up that blog. There are some great free services available. Blogger.com from Google or wordpress.com are two viable starting points. If you want to retain even more control. Purchasing a domain name and hosting services for a nominal monthly or annual fee will allow you to establish an independent identity online. There are many excellent open-source(freely available without a license) options for blogging software. If you need help getting your software installed or really want to create a custom look and feel for your site, that's where a web design and development company would help you out.

For more information contact Host Eagle Web Shop today at 801-372-2610 and ask for Brent. To learn more online, visit http://www.hosteagle.us/.