Archive for February, 2009

Microsoft Great Plains & CRM in Transportation & Logistics – Overview

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains and MS CRM (client relation management system) are very popular in various industries and market niches. In previous article we described Microsoft Great Plains implementation for transportation & logistics company. Having more material, we would like to share with you how you can leverage Microsoft Business Solutions products to automate your business. We’ll try to be both technical and business processes specific and be laconic to comply the rules of tiny article.

• Cargo/Shipment Tracking System. Transportation & Logistics industry is pretty mature and you more likely have industry standard (like Efreight) or custom system. So, if you plan to implement new ERP – it should be tightly integrated with your cargo tracking system.

• Customer Base. This is the question of the core application. If you have to sell to a large number of prospects and track their relatively small shipments – you should first consider Microsoft CRM, which has Sales and Service modules. In this case – you should enable shipment status lookup from MS CRM screens. In the case when you ship to limited number of large customers – you are focusing on the profitability of the shipments and looking at Great Plains as the core system.

• Agent Settlement. This seems to be logistics industry feature. You use agents and settle their AR/AP invoices on the monthly or weekly basis. In Great Plains you should use customer/vendor consolidation, available for Great Plains Professional version. Plus you will need Great Plains Dexterity or .Net customization to link SOP and POP invoices in the settlement process.

• eConnect. Each logistics business has unique business processes and this is why we see software developers in staff plus strong IT department. This makes eConnect (Microsoft Great Plains SDK) very popular among logistics companies. You can create Great Plains objects: Customers, Invoices, Purchase Orders, etc. Plus it allows you to eliminate GP licenses cost – you can have users work with Great Plains through web forms

• Integration Technology. In the case of both Great Plains and Microsoft CRM you use MS SQL Server linked server technology. Then you deploy MS CRM SDK, Dexterity, Heterogeneous Stored Procedures.

• Programming Tools. You use Visual Studio.Net to program MS CRM lookups, in some cases you can use WebMatrix, but we do not recommend tools, which do not have rich debugging features.

• Reporting. Crystal Reports is the tool of choice. You should create heterogeneous SQL view and base you Crystal Report on this view. Microsoft CRM security suggests you to use MS CRM SDK or built-in Crystal Reports Enterprise to comply.

• MS CRM Messaging. Microsoft CRM Exchange connector has relatively straightforward mechanism – GUID in the message header. If you need advanced messaging – capturing emails, based on contact email or domain – you main consider advanced connector, developed and supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies. In some cases you would like to use Lotus Notes Domino as email server – this is also possible.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) – Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, Asia, Russia. He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer.

Wooden Garden Sheds Don’t Have to Be Too Overpriced when You Buy on the Net and Take Advantage of the Gigantic Selection

Friday, February 27th, 2009

There are lots of reasons why you would require a shed and fortunately there are sheds to match just about every need. Cheap Garden Sheds can be bought just about everyplace but what you will encounter is the price will change tremendously. You should not have to abandon the garden shed you want because it is too high-priced though. A shed is something you purchase once and utilize for years and if you have a look online you can discover wooden garden sheds at some silly prices. I do not mean cheap and silly as in quality but as in price. You’ll find you can have the shed you want for the price of the one you were about to settle for a lot less and if you possess a garden that you tend to each day you will almost likely need to look into Cheap sheds as a space to put the tools, fertilizer, water hose etc..

Protecting your tools and making them easily available is a real good idea. You can find cheap sheds online that are the very same sheds you’d buy in the shop. As A Matter Of Fact, you can go to the store and shop even spot them to see if it’s what you need and then you can go online and purchase it for a whole lot less. The difference in price is remarkable!

Low Budget Wedding Reception

Friday, February 27th, 2009

The reception alone will bust your wedding budget if you’re not
careful. Of course, the most obvious way to save money on the
reception is to keep it small. Where you host this grand
occasion could make or break you.

Your low budget wedding remedy? Find a reception location
that’s free or low cost.

A free location may include, your home, or a friend or family
member’s home. A low cost option might include the Church
reception hall, the local fire department’s reception room, and
club hall rentals. Most will have a kitchen area for preparing
and serving food.

Sometimes you will even find a local restaurant that
specializes in low budget wedding receptions. These will likely
offer a package for the reception which may include dinner and
limited beverage with the rental of restaurant space or banquet
rooms. Check hotels in your area for banquet rooms as well. Some
may rent the banquet room alone and/or offer reception packages
as an option.

Leave no stone unturned in your search! You may happen upon a
gem of a deal that will save you alot of money. Ask around. Get
recommendations from friends and family. Do a local search on
the internet. We have several plantations in our area who offer
wedding reception packages. These are elegant locations and are
usually competatively priced; Including options for the low
budget wedding.

Make a list or chart to record all your findings. Record not
only price but services available, and packages available. Then
you can compare where you will get the most for your money.

For instance, you may be able to rent a space for a really
cheap rate and hire outside catering for the dinner. But, if
you find a location that costs more but will offer you a
package that includes the catering, it may be the better deal
in the long run.

The one big exception to this scenario is if you opt for a
potluck reception. Many guests may be pleased, if not relieved,
to be given the choice to bring a reception dish in place of a
wedding gift. You will find that low budget reception packages
usually come with a low budget menu as well. If you choose this
option, you will save greatly on catering expenses. I am certain
your guests will be more pleased with the menu selections. This
would be your best low budget wedding option and will save the
most money.

The Potluck Reception

Don’t be shy to pursue this potluck reception idea. It is truly
the traditional way to celebrate. And, it is truly the number
one low budget wedding option.

Today’s weddings are so commercialized. You will learn that
caterers offer very limited menus to very limited budgets!
Guests will likely be very pleased and welcome the idea of a
potluck reception.

The potluck reception goes well with any wedding theme. If you
are shy about approaching this option you can simply call it an
“Old Time Traditional Wedding Celebration” The potluck dinner
will suit this theme quite naturally and no-one will even
question it!

You may even want to pick an “Old Time” theme for your
decorating and favors. This will further incorporate the idea
of an old time tradition theme. Perhaps a 50’s theme or a 20’s
theme. These are both popular old time themes.

Simply slip an added note with the invite, or on the invite, to
give guests this option. For example the note might read…

~Our reception will be an “Old Time Traditional Celebration”
with a potluck dinner. ____ Please check here if you would like
to bring a dish for the reception in place of a wedding gift.
Call with dish suggestions please.

Have them call to get or offer suggestions on a dish so you
have control over the menu. No one is obligated to
particitpate, but I’m sure you will be surprised at how many
guests will opt for this.

You and your guest will be equally surprised at the great
variety and quality of the dishes provided. Guests will want to
bring only their best recipes to a grand occasion such as a
wedding reception!

EzineArticles Expert Author Cheryl Johnson

Cheryl Johnson is a mother of four helping
herself and others become and remain debt free. Publisher of
Simple Debt Free Living at http://www.simpledebtfreeliving.com – A self-help plan, ideas, and resources for household
budget planning, debt elimination, and frugal living tips. Money saving tips for groceries, clothing, monthly bills, medical expenses, home and car buying, weddings, gifts, and much more.

9 TIPS: Don’t Sell Me – Persuade Me

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

We all have something in our past we believe someone
“sold” us. It might have been a lemon yellow car, a skimpy
skirt or a purple tie. We bought it because -despite our gut
feeling – we thought we were doing the right thing. We
wanted to please the salesman – and we believed that
person knew more than we did. Until we got home.

One of the two major complaints from trade show attendees
is about the booth staff that has a heavy sales pitch. You
know that pushy salesman stereotype.. (FYI – the second
complaint is staff that doesn’t know its stuff – i.e. is not
knowledgeable about the company products and services..)

Trade shows have the disadvantage of compressed time.
You might have 30 seconds or 30 minutes but it’s not a
regular sales call. You can’t talk faster. Just listen closely to
the attendees and try to persuade people that your firm can
solve their problems.

Here are nine conversation points, and examples, to
consider when speaking with people at trade shows.

1. Authority – Why are you important? What gives you the
authority to ask for clients? Perhaps it’s your firm’s expertise
in a certain area, or a partner’s experience. It’s no longer
because your company has a long history or is the newest
dot.com.

TIP – It has to be a proactive, not a reactive, reason. “We’ve
taken the position that e-learning is critical. We developed a
great program in-house that improved our sales productivity
45%, and now we’re sharing it with others in our industry.”

2. Conformity – Are you certified? In every industry, some
form of certification carries importance and gives you and
your firm authority. Knowing that as a consulting firm, half
your staff are CPAs, lets me know that you conform to
accounting standards.

TIP – Don’t just tell me why you are ISO9000 certified, tell me
why it’s important to your company. “We were the first HVAC
company in this area to be certified and it really helps us
focus our goals to service clients like you.”

3. Commitment – Is your firm committed to your industry?
Are you a leader or just in the middle of the pack?

TIP – Don’t say you’re committed to customer service, tell
me how. “We found that 85% of our customer service calls
come during regular business hours, but we never want you
to have to wait for an answer, so our 800 number and online
help desk are staffed 24/7.”

4. Consistency – Clients want to know you have a track
record and that you’ll maintain it when they remain with you.

TIP – Explain how you maintain the consistency. “We’re
spending $5million in R&D this year for product
improvement, but we’ll always stock the MX49 that your firm
uses, because we own that mold. “

5. Contrast – How are you different from your competitors?
Avoid giving your competitor a plug and don’t refer to them
by name.

TIP – Answer questions with a comment that shows your
company’s leadership. “We’re aware other firms are taking
the low road, but we’ve always preferred the high road
because the vision is better.”

6. Like #1 – This is personal – we all like to do business
with people for whom we have a good personal feeling, so if
there’s a twinge of personality clash in your conversation,
pass the visitor over to another staff member.

TIP – You don’t want to blow a deal because he or she didn’t
“like” you. “You know, I think Sam has a better handle on
your concerns, so let me introduce you to him now.”

7. Like #2 – This is business – In today’s fast, competitive
world, not everyone is aware of the relationships on the
business side, if there is a history your firm has with the
visitor’s firm.

TIP – Be up to date on your company’s status, ask about
relationship problems before the show. “Yes, I understand
we didn’t get the bid for the job in Chile, but since we added
enterprise software our costs have reduced considerably. I
know we’ll be more aggressive on your next bid.”

8. Reciprocate – Is this a potential partnership? Every client
should be viewed as a partner. Sometimes, you have to give
more in a partnership than you get.

TIP – Don’t view the reciprocity as a guaranteed 50-50
relationship. “We’ll be happy to include co-op advertising in
our agreement with you. All we ask is, when the advertising
works for you, that you refer other wholesalers like your firm
to us.”

9. Scarcity – How unique are your firm’s talents, products
and services? What makes me have to choose you?

TIP – Be certain of your facts before you boast – “Are you
aware we are the only firm to provide secure internet access
for coffee grinder repair shops?”

Knowledgable conversation leads to persuasion which
leads to sales.

Julia O’Connor – Speaker, Author, Consultant – writes
about practical aspects of trade shows. As president of
Trade Show Training, Inc, now celebrating its 10th
year, she works with companies in a variety of
industries to improve their bottom line and marketing
opportunities at trade shows.

Julia is an expert in the psychology of the trade show
environment and uses this expertise in sales training
and management seminars.

Ways to Get Affordable Automobile Insurance

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

As insurance premiums keep going up, cost concious car owners are looking for discounts on car insurance. There are many different types of discounts available and if you can save a few dollars, then why not? Below is a list of general deductions that may be available to you. Check with your insurance agent to see if you’re eligible.

Individual Insurance Deductions

Person-related deductions are ones that depend on the driver’s own personal situation, status and driving history.

  • Going to Traffic School If by any chance you have recently been given a ticket, you may attend traffic school either online or through a traditional setting to have your ticket expunged from your driving history. Indirectly, this will have an effect of lowering your car insurance premiums
  • Good Student deductions. Insurers know that students with higher grades have a lower risk of being involved in an accident. Therefore, they will usually offer discounts on your insurance policy.
  • Belong to a Professional Organization. Many times, if you belong to a trade or professional organization, you’ll be able to receive additional discounts on your auto insurance. This can include professions such as registered nurses, pharmacists, scientists, etc.
  • deductions for senior citizens. People over 55 can usually receive deductions on their auto insurance. Sometimes, you may also need to take a defensive driving course to qualify for the rate cut. Check with your local Department of Motor Vehicles to find out what classes are available.
  • Loyalty Programs. Staying with the same insurance company for several years and maintaining a clean driving record will give you a good history with them. Many times, the insurance underwriter will reward you with your loyalty with special insurance rates.
  • Keep a Clean Driving Record. If you’ve not been involved in any car accidents or have had any tickets for traffic violations, you should be able to get your insurance rates reduced.
  • Homeowners + Car Packages. Your insurance company may give you multi-line price reductions if you insure your home and other automobiles with them as well.
  • Vehicle Based Insurance Discounts

    The type of car you drive can be a huge factor in influencing the amount you pay each month for auto insurance. There are also extra features that you can add to your car to make it easier to insure.

    1. Air Bags. They present increased safety to you and your car and insurance firms love these.
    2. Anti-Lock Brakes System (ABS). Many automobiles on the road today are equipped with ABS. Many auto insurance agents offer discounts if your car is outfitted with this type of braking system and many states even require the insurance firm to do so.
    3. Having Anti-Theft Devices Installed. Any type of add-on to discourage somebody from breaking into or stealing your car can also provide you with cheaper auto insurance costs.

    Is a laptop better then a desktop computer ?

    Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

    This is the question a lot of people are asking.Well i think the answer to this question is just like the story about black and white.You have to see the gray in order to fully understand the advantages and disadvantages that come with having a laptop.Of course the best solution is to have both of them but in case you don’t afford it let’s take a moment to analize the situation.

    The laptop is very mobile.Yes ,you can take it with you everywhere you go.They are easy to carry and if you have a laptop case then you can even look more presentable in some cases.The wireless network adapter will enable you to connect to the world with ease and no more wires to take care of.The battery will not always be to your satisfaction but you can buy two of them and you’re all set : you can enjoy a movie or listen to a few hours of your favorite songs.You have to take the all the cables in case you’re planning a long trip.

    The display of a laptop is great , the view angles are becoming bigger and the clarity and contrast are not a problem anymore.You can even get more work because people tend to get impressed and know you can do your job wherever you are.The Combo Dvd is a must because you hard may not be to large.From my four years experience I can tell you a mice is essential to get your job done fast.You can use the touchpad in case you just want to browse through your folders.

    But let’s see : are the old PC absolete? Well not really.For the same money you get double power.Yes this is true at some many levels.You can get a bigger display,a huge hard drive and a faster processor.But they are big and inconvenient to move.The new LCD can help you when you have to movearound.They are better then the LCD screens of most laptops and they are easy to carry.The motherbord and the towercase didn’t get smaller.The need for performance makes them really big but powerfull.

    The conclusion is simple : You need to move around ? Show presentations to people? Work on the run? The notebook is the only solution for you . If you’re a passionate gammer or just like to work with complex applications even at home , then the desktop solution is your choice.

    What Hosting Package is Right For You?

    Monday, February 23rd, 2009

    As an owner of an online store you are probably faced with a number of important decisions. One of the first choices you can make is your selection of a web hosting package.

    Since a hosting company is responsible for showing your web pages to the world, your selection can have an incredible impact on your business.

    The wrong choice could be disastrous!

    But, even if you do careful research, the options for web hosting can be overwhelming. Although the majority of these companies provide quality services, it is still hard to distinguish one from the other.

    Instead of looking for the hosting company that is “best” for you, it is important to understand your unique situation and select a company that fits your business.

    Below, I have listed 7 scenarios for an online business. Each one has different needs. As a result, I have recommended a separate hosting package to match their profile.

    In order to prevent confusion, I won’t go into the “specs” for each hosting company. Instead, I will briefly list the reasons that I think that this company will suit your purpose.

    Well, let’s get started…

    Top Web Hosting For Beginners:

    The first steps as a webmaster can very important. If you are faced with too many difficult challenges, it can be frustrating Because of this, it is important to find a hosting company that is easy to use and understand.

    One specific company, midPhase Hosting, provides a straightforward hosting package that is perfect for people with their first website. MidPhase’s best feature is their support- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, whenever you have a problem with your website, they are there to help you.

    If you are someone with little or no computer experience, then midPhase is the hosting package for you:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/midPhase.html

    Top Web Hosting For Penny Pinchers:

    One of the biggest concerns for an online business owner is the costs of various items. When starting out, it is very common for the average person to make an effort to save money. So, an expensive hosting package is NEVER an option.

    If you are a person who needs to save money while receiving a quality hosting package, Your-Site Hosting is right for you.

    At $5 a month, Your-Site provides probably the best price around for hosting a website. Surprisingly though, this company doesn’t scrimp on their services. Their customers enjoy a large disk space capacity and other extras that is perfect for a small to medium sized website.

    So, if you are looking to save some money in your web hosting package, then Your-Site is the hosting package for you:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/Your-Site.html

    Top Web Hosting For Online Store Owners:

    Since eCommerce sites have very specific needs, it is important to find a hosting package that will support them. The average online store has hundreds, even thousands of product photos. As a result, it is important to find hosting that will store these photos while loading fast.

    One company, StartLogic, makes an excellent option for an online store owner. In addition to their large storage space and fast loading servers, StartLogic provides additional services that are great for an online store. Their eCommerce enabled services are perfect for those who want an online store without many of the hassles involved with running one. Finally, the customers of StartLogic are given a top-notch program that aids in building a website.

    So, if you have a small to medium size online store, then StartLogic is the hosting package for you:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/StartLogic.html

    Top Web Hosting For Multiple Sites:

    Often, there are webmasters who run a number of “mini-sites”. Since each has its own domain name, they need hosting for every website. But, even the cheapest hosting might cost a lot of money over the course of a year.

    Jumpline Hosting provides a great option where you can host multiple sites on the same server. For a low price (under $15) you can host up to 6 websites on their server…that comes out to $2.50 per website! Also, if you need more disk space or hosting for more websites, you can increase the plan to suit your needs.

    So, if you have to host multiple websites, then Jumpline is the hosting package for you:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/jumpline.html

    Top Web Hosting For Large eCommerce Stores:

    As an eCommerce site grows, it receives an increasing number of visitors and customers. As a result, it must have options that are not available to other websites. Primarily, this type of site requires a dedicated server that ensures reliability and quality in the appearance of the website.

    1&1 Internet Web Hosting is a great selection for those websites who need a little more. This hosting package offers top of the line disk space and bandwidth capabilities. In addition, this company gives the option of a dedicated server. Finally, they provide an incredible eCommerce Solution called eShops. This is a simple design that enables you to sell your products with ease.

    So, if you own a large eCommerce store and require hosting, then 1&1 Internet Web hosting is the company for you:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/1and1WebHosting.html

    Top Web Hosting With All the Bells and Whistles:

    Sometimes a webmaster likes all the extra stuff that comes with a web hosting package. In most cases, extra services cost extra money.

    Lunarpages is one hosting business that DOES NOT charge additional fees for many of their extra services. Basically, they provide their basic service at a low price. But, if you love additional stuff, then Lunarpages provides an advanced plan that includes almost everything that you could want or need.

    So, if you like having all the bells and extras for your website, then Lunarpages is the hosting package for you:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/LunarPages.html

    Top Overall Web Hosting Package:

    Okay, I couldn’t resist giving a “best-of” award to one particular company.

    Although each of the above six hosting companies provide excellent services for their specific niche, it is my opinion that PowWeb Hosting is an excellent choice for the average website.

    Some of their features include: Zero Downtime (which is extremely rare), cheap prices, extra tools to build your site, and a large storage capacity.

    So, my favorite overall pick for a web hosting package is PowWeb:

    Click Here ——> http://www.buildingastore.com/PowWeb.html

    Well, there you have it.

    These are 7 different hosting packages that are perfect for any situation. If your website fits under one of these categories, then I encourage you to visit these websites and see if they fit your needs.

    Ten Steps to a More User Friendly Website

    Monday, February 23rd, 2009

    Building a website that is both function and user friendly is no easy task. Bigger companies sometimes hire both graphic designers and developers to build their website but most little guys cannot afford that. So let’s take a look at the things you should pay attention to when building and maintaining your website, especially if you cannot afford to have a team of graphic designers, developers and layout consultants working on your website.

    Flash
    A lot of times your designer will want to get fancy and offer to design your website in flash. Although it looks great as a portfolio, in reality there are numerous problems with flash websites. First of all, flash animations (in essence that’s what your website is going to be) are very large in size. Even though many people nowadays use broadband for browsing the Web, it would be unwise to dismiss a prospect who still uses dial-up and for whom it will take forever to load your website. Second of all, flash websites are not crawlable by search engine spiders, which means you loose any chance of getting free traffic from search engines.

    Page Loading Time
    Even if you decide not to use flash, your pages still can get very large once you add a lot of text and graphics to them. If your website takes more then 8-15 seconds to load most visitors will probably leave before accessing the actual content. Later in the article we will discuss how to improve loading time by compressing the images.

    Reduce the Size of Your Graphics
    As mentioned previously, keeping your website’s pages as small as possible is very important. Reducing the size of your graphics is one way of getting pages to load faster. Talk to your developer about the way he/she is optimizing the images to make them as small as possible.

    Broken Links
    Broken links can tremendously hurt your business image. Having broken links on your website makes you look unprofessional. Imagine your visitor looking for something on your website and once he/she finds it and clicks on the link, it doesn’t work. There are plenty of tools out there that help check for broken links. If you update your website often you should check for broken links on a regular basis.

    HTML Validation
    Validating your HTML is an important part of building a website. HTML validation services like W3C Markup Validation Service will check your pages for errors in the code and give you suggestions on how to fix them. This will eliminate any problems visitors might experience with your website.

    Browser Compatibility
    Browser compatibility was always an issue with many websites. There are a lot of alternative browsers besides Internet Explorer including Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox and Opera. Although majority of your visitors will be using Internet Explorer, you cannot afford to lose customers that are accessing your website with a different browser. Many website designs will look great in one browser but will look ridiculous in another. Talk to your developer about the ways he/she is working on making your website browser compatible.

    Customer Support
    Easy access to customer support options and ways of contacting you are especially crucial for ecommerce businesses. If you are running a web store of any kind there is no way for your visitors to verify whether there is a legitimate company behind your site. You will need to gain their trust in order to get their business. Placing any contact information including toll-free number, live support, etc. on every page of your website is a great way of building the trust between you and your visitors.

    Navigation
    How you design your navigation will decide whether your customers will easily be able to access all parts of your website or be lost and leave your site without finding what he/she is looking for. Make it easy for prospective buyers to find what they are looking for. Provide plenty of links on your home page, giving visitors an overview of your website’s content and choices. Provide links to your home page and main sections such as order form, contact page, products, and articles on every page. Visitors may not visit your pages in the sequence you would like them to. Provide a site map (table of contents). Avoid using JavaScript drop downs or fancy flash navigation. Clearly label each section and if possible, use text links because they are small in size and are also crawlable by search engines.

    Easy to Read
    Make sure your website is readable. An easy-to-read, professionally-designed website can maximize your sales. Dark text on a light background is easy to read. Avoid text on dark and busy backgrounds. Break up your sales copy into short sections and use subheadings to highlight benefits. Split up long pages into several pages. Use key phrases and punch lines instead of long explanations on why your service/product is better then the rest.

    Spell Check
    Last but not least, check your spelling. No one likes to read a page filled with spelling errors. For the most part, your designer won’t double check your content, especially if he/she is from a different country, so it’s your responsibility.

    David Cooper has been developing web sites since early 1999. Currently he runs http://www.Spaiz.net – web design company and working on a new Content Management System at http://www.azureSites.com

    Why I Switched to A Tableless Design

    Thursday, February 19th, 2009

    Since I made the switch 6 months ago to a tableless design on my main site, I’ve noticed some interesting things:

    * My search engine rankings have dramatically improved * My bandwidth usage has dropped about 50-75% * I can now make changes to the look and feel of my site easily by just changing the one file, the stylesheet.

    Let’s look at why my search engine rankings improved. Now that I have less un-indexable code on my pages, the search engines can now spider my site quicker. Less code, more content, therefore a better ranking. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

    Bandwidth costs money, and unless you have a really good hosting plan with lots of bandwidth, then your larger files will take up more room on your server, and take a lot longer to load. Tableless designs use up considerably less bandwidth and are more accessible.

    Every once in a while I may want to alter the look of my site. I like to change font colors, link colors, menu items, etc…Before I started using tableless designs, these changes took me hours to do. Now I just open up my stylesheet, make the changes I want, and in a few minutes I have my site updated with the new look and feel. It’s so easy!

    For a client who wants to make their own changes, tableless designs could literally save them thousands on tech costs.

    Most of my clients still want sites with tables. I now give them the choice of either style. After all, the customer needs to be happy, right?

    Some people have the misconception that utilizing tableless designs means having a boring and less graphical site. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Take a look at one of my favorite websites: http://www.csszengarden.com/. At that site you can really appreciate what can be accomplished through css-based tableless designs. Beautiful!

    Make the switch to a more profitable, usable, and accessible website!

    How to keep your web designer happy

    Thursday, February 19th, 2009

    You have an idea for a website and you are now looking for somebody to build you the site. You want it to be a smooth ride, and want to have a good working relationship with your web designer. You are also looking for a low cost website, so how will you make all of this possible?

    I believe that if you make life as simple as possible for the website designer, you are likely to keep him happy and onside. This way you are also more likely to obtain a cheap quote.

    Before contacting the designer or designers, have a clear picture in your mind about how you want the website to look. You will need to decide colours, graphics and content.

    I would put all of the content into a word document, with all of the words checked for any spelling mistakes. It should be in a very readable state, with page breaks and titles for each page. The titles could be the key phrases in your subject matter which people are likely to search for. Try to think of the niche phrases as the more obvious ones will be harder to achieve top placements in the major search engines such as Google.

    If you are struggling to find sufficient content for your website, you could add articles from various article websites such as:

    http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.searcharp.com http://www.goarticles.com

    Once you have your word document completed you can then contact the web designer. You can forward the document and explain the type of graphics and colours you would like, but then give them a free reign to use their skills to produce what hopefully will be a low cost professional website.