| LED Digest 2581: Professionalism |
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The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom http://www.WillMaster.com/Master : the LED's Key Sponsor Master Series Software - Get Connected with Your WebSite http://www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. February 1, 2008 Issue no. 2581 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== SSL Certificates, etc ==-- ~ Carrie MacKenzie "I am bumping up against the wall with a problem..." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Clients Providing Crap Content ==-- ~ Jim Gatton "I'm not sure [this] can be left unchallenged." ~ Shel Horowitz "...you take your portfolio archive *before* you add the 'enhancements'." --== Are Content Management Systems Worth It? ==-- ~ Sarah Hayes "I'm a little bias about CMS, in particular Joomla.." ~ Mark Vozzo "I posted a similar question on the SEM 2.0 Forum..." ~ Viggie Bala "[Drupal] has the necessary flexibility to morph itself completely for most situations." ========= NEW ===================================== From: Carrie MacKenzie Subject: SSL Certificates Hi, I am bumping up against the wall with a problem, and thought I would break down and ask for help. Being VERY small, home based business, I have to do pretty much everything to the best of my ability on my own. I did have to hire someone to set up the few shopping cart pages that I have, as it was beyond my reach with the time I have available to learn new things. Nobody has been putting through orders, in fact some have been emailing that they've been getting messages that the SSL is expired, or it's timing out. When I went to www.netfirms.com, and searched out SSL Certificates, it mentioned that a dedicated IP address could be had for a few dollars extra a month.. so I did that.. Then it said that I"d need a SSL Certificate, which I have since purchased from GoDaddy.com, but when I look at the certificate I downloaded.. I can't find the .crt file that I need to copy/paste back into Netfirms to make the two sides talk to each other. Right now, the free shopping cart on with Netfirms, is going through sslpowered.com and it's very slow. I'm hoping that having my own SSL certicate will speed that up because it won't have to wait for data from an overloaded website, but I could be wrong, and maybe there will be no benefits at all. My website is www.candybarwrapper.ca and I'd like to know about the benefits of having ones own SSL Certificate, and how to access the .CRT file... or if I should hire a professional to do this for me, how much might it cost me? Thanks, Carrie MacKenzie ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Jim Gatton Subject: Professionalism I would like the opportunity here to respond to some of the views revealed in the thread “Professionalism” http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1995/190/. Maybe it’s not so much any specific comments but rather the sentiments of some of the postings. It really would not be fair of me to single out one specific poster and his or her comments but it was through the comments in today's edition of the LED digest that I suddenly became a little bit uncomfortable with some of the things being said as well as the implications of what was being said. The one thing that grated on me just a little bit was the idea, although no one explicitly said this, that web designers always know best when there is a difference of opinion between the designer and the site owner. I'm not sure that can be left unchallenged. We are in the process of having a site designed for us that is yet to be completed. The work is two weeks past the deadline already and one of the big sticking points was the design itself. We gave the designer four different websites to view, websites that we know are financially successful, and told him that we wanted a site that would fit in this mold. Now with four different site models to motivate him I'm not sure that there could be very much room for mistaking what it is we are looking for in our website design. In response, the designer had come up with a website that has absolutely nothing in common with the four sites that we told him to model yet he is convinced that it is very pretty. And indeed it is an attractive design. However, we are not looking for a piece of art, but rather a site that has every opportunity to be a financial success. The four sites that we told him to use as his inspiration do have several components in common that we told him to emulate without copying. I had to push him several times in the direction of what we are clearly looking for and finally are receiving. He thinks the design is ugly. In his mind I’m sure that I’m a crude nincompoop totally lacking in taste and he’s winding up with a god-ugly web site that he won’t tell anyone about in spite of the fact that he is now designing the site that we originally told him we wanted. Sometimes the designer is just plain wrong. Worse than that is the fact that, at least in this case, he won’t get a second chance to do another project for us and get that one right the first time. And, no, LOL, I’m not giving you the url to view because he might be part of the readership and our site will NEVER get finished! He only knows me by my screen name and we're going to leave it at that. Jim Gatton http://www.dentalinsurancefor.com ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= WebSite's Secret Members Area You pay one fee and have unlimited access for 6 months to a collection of Will Bontrager's handy web tools. (Since this is a new service, the fee is still low.) The latest addition - Spam Resistant PHP Form: The form, the form handling script, and instructions are included in the download file. http://www.willmaster.com/SecretArea ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Shel Horowitz Subject: Professionalism > Sometimes I find myself thinking, "Are you > serious?". Most of the time I speak up > (successfully and unsuccessfully), but > sometimes it just isn't worth the effort. - Brett Atkin I generally open my big mouth. About 2/3 of the time, the client is glad I did (I'm very polite about it, usually). In one case, I talked an organization out of using a poorly chosen domain name, and a year later, the CEO of the largest company within the organization came to me saying, "I was impressed with what you did at that meeting, can you rewrite all of our brochures?" But not everyone...about two months ago, an existing client asked me to write a press release for a new website aimed at graphic artists, but it was a really cheesy site. Given the nature of the site, I didn't want to attract visitors to a site that would chase them away. So before starting work, I gave him a longish home page critique that started like this: -------------- "Second, a gut reaction to your home page is that you may want to hold off the press release until you've done more on the site. The first thing I saw was the photo of the gal with the laptop--it just screamed "clip-art" to me." -------------- And got back an answer, thanks for your critique, I disagree, I'm canceling the order. Sigh! I still think I did the right thing and would do it again, but it felt yucky. However, it's already maybe 8 years ago that I took on a project I felt wasn't good enough--and the client didn't like my work because my heart wasn't in it, because I really don't want to promote crap. Since then, I include something in my response to prospect inquiries giving me the right to reject the project if I have issues with the quality (or the values). I believe it has helped, rather than hurt, my business. > ... you create a great site template and > then the client wants you to add something > that "compromises" the design and thus a > "portfolio" piece for your potential > clients to review. Any thoughts on what to > do here? Oh, that's easy. Assuming you have provided for this in your contact, you take your portfolio archive *before* you add the "enhancements." <g> Shel Horowitz Marketing Strategic Planning, Consulting, and Copywriting http://www.frugalmarketing.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Sarah Hayes Subject: CMS > So, what experience do any of you have > implementing and using a CMS system > (Joomla, EE, DotNetNuke, Drupal, etc...)? > Have you found it to be huge savings in > up-front development? From the SEO side of > things, have you found the system's you've > used to be SEO friendly? - Brett Atkin, LED 2578 Hi Brett, I'm a little bias about CMS, in particular Joomla as I work full-time developing custom Joomla websites. Over the years I've tried several content management systems but I've found Joomla (and Mambo) to be not only easy to use but can easily be expanded to provide e-commerce solutions, forums, directories, hotel booking systems etc. There are already modules and components to do most things you are likely to need. If you're on a budget there are plenty of free or cheap commercial templates available or you can have a custom template designed, which is what I do. I've developed many Joomla websites that look nothing like a Joomla website. Even if a client's requirements appear to require a custom built website you can still use Joomla as a fantastic CMS base on to which you can develop custom components to do exactly what you want (budget allowing). I use to use osCommerce and CreLoaded for e-commerce sites but more recently I have been using Joomla with VirtueMart or SupaCart because you have so much more control over the design, the output code is much cleaner and the admin easier for clients to use. Yes, I customise them a fair amount because that's what I do, but even out of the box they provide great online shops that do everything most online shop owners require. I usually give clients an hour or two training and most have no problem updating and adding to their websites. If they can use Word then they should be able to update a Joomla website. I think the important thing is to find out what the client wants/needs to do and then start by just showing them how to do that. For example, if a client only wants to change text on existing pages the easiest thing for them to do is to login at the front-end which will allow them to edit any content page without the confusion of all the backend admin features. Joomla is pretty SEF out of the box and there are some great open source add-on components to improve SEO. A default Joomla install -- well it takes longer to upload than install. Installing a pre-built template, module or component take seconds. Without any customisation I can have a default install of Joomla and Virtuemart/SupaCart (online shop) uploaded and installed in less than half an hour. Best regards Sarah Hayes www.sarahhayes.co.uk -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Mark Vozzo Subject: CMS You've raised a great questions and I posted a similar question on the SEM 2.0 Forum about a week ago and have got some great answers. You can see this thread at: http://tinyurl.com/33ggra [groups.google.com] Regards, Mark Vozzo http://www.linkedin.com/in/markvozzo ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= One Way Links to your Site, by the Hundreds? Yes! Get Traffic and Link Popularity to Your Site from Legitimate, General Interest Web Directories. DomainDrivers Makes It Hassle-Free. Details Here: http://www.domaindrivers.com/directory-submissions.html ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Viggie Bala Subject: CMS It would be overkill for brochure sites. For others who need frequent revamping and content addition, a CMS is definitely a good base to have. I'm using Drupal more often as a starting point. It has the necessary flexibility to morph itself completely for most situations. It helps to focus only on 'specific' features of the site, leaving the basic necessities taken care of by a tried-n-tested core. Client 'coaching' is necessary as the edit screens vary widely due to different modules used for different sites. It can be minimal for someone who already have experience in running blogs. These days, it is not a big hassle as it used to be. Hope that helps. (coming back after a long hiatus!) Cheers, Viggie Bala Helping websites to work http://www.viggie.com (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I call everybody faggy. Why would anyone find that offensive?" - Michael Scott (The Office) |
