In preparation of our new website www.rescueyourwebsite.co.uk I thought I'd point out a real simple way of checking whether the basics of your website are up to scratch.
We always point our clients towards http://validator.w3.org/ to check whether the fundamentals of their website are correct. It's dead simple to use, simply pop your website address in the W3C address bar and click on the check button. If the coding for the page is spot on you'll get a lovely green return telling you everything is hunky dorey, if it returns a red page however, this shows what coding errors exist on that particular page. This can then be printed off and given to your website designer with the message 'sort that lot out or I'm off'.
At www.sitechooser.co.uk we're proud that every site we produce carries the W3C code validation button at the foot of the page, this is our clear statement that we respect the code of the page and have spent our time in making it correct.
It's simple for you to check whether your site has been written as it should be, why not check yours now? If there are issues with your code and your existing designer either can't be bothered to put them right or god forbid doesn't have the knowledge to correct them, give SiteChooser a call and we'll advise you how we can help you out.
Once again, give your code the love it deserves.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Don't feel tied in
We've had two new clients this week who've called us for advice on their existing sites, in short their existing website company wasn't doing what they'd been asking for on the site and their relationship had become strained - they felt caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
We simply advised them to transfer their domain out to another provider so they can gain ownership of it and get another designer to do the work they're after, namely us. It works for the client as he feels he's moving forward and more often than not it works for the previous web designer as they've probably been avoiding the clients calls for weeks.
Hey, who said it was a perfect world, people fall out some times.
The prospect of transferring out a domain name tends to fill some people with a little dread as they feel they may lose control of it and some lurking despot on the web will snap it up. It's dead simple, most reputable domain name providers will offer the option of tranferring a domain name in, obviously they want the work going forward. The existing registrant has to unlock it with the current provider, once again something that is relatively straight forward to do, he then has to put in what's called an IPS tag, this is simply a name for the company that the domain name is being transferred to. You then ask the new domain name company to transfer it in and they'll do the rest. Some people worry that their site will be down for ages during the process, it doesn't have to be. Keep an eye out for when your site goes down and then you know the new provider has control of the domain, the site can then be re-uploaded. What's a little downtime on a site you're not happy with and if you're honest, visitors probably aren't finding it too often anyway, hence you wanting to change it. It's far better to get the site into your own name and make the changes you want than just leaving it there to rot.
Alternatively do what our two new clients have done this week and visit www.sitechooser.co.uk and ask us to do the transfer process and the website changes for you.
We simply advised them to transfer their domain out to another provider so they can gain ownership of it and get another designer to do the work they're after, namely us. It works for the client as he feels he's moving forward and more often than not it works for the previous web designer as they've probably been avoiding the clients calls for weeks.
Hey, who said it was a perfect world, people fall out some times.
The prospect of transferring out a domain name tends to fill some people with a little dread as they feel they may lose control of it and some lurking despot on the web will snap it up. It's dead simple, most reputable domain name providers will offer the option of tranferring a domain name in, obviously they want the work going forward. The existing registrant has to unlock it with the current provider, once again something that is relatively straight forward to do, he then has to put in what's called an IPS tag, this is simply a name for the company that the domain name is being transferred to. You then ask the new domain name company to transfer it in and they'll do the rest. Some people worry that their site will be down for ages during the process, it doesn't have to be. Keep an eye out for when your site goes down and then you know the new provider has control of the domain, the site can then be re-uploaded. What's a little downtime on a site you're not happy with and if you're honest, visitors probably aren't finding it too often anyway, hence you wanting to change it. It's far better to get the site into your own name and make the changes you want than just leaving it there to rot.
Alternatively do what our two new clients have done this week and visit www.sitechooser.co.uk and ask us to do the transfer process and the website changes for you.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Pulling the wool over their eyes.
We've been a bit infuriated this week.
We spend ages trying to get our clients websites just right and ready for the big bad world of the Internet, then we check what some members of the competition are doing and it drives us mad.
Are we the only people who think that the code behind a site should be valid and correct, the amount of sites we're coming across that look real nice cosmetically, the owners of the sites are happy with them because they look pretty, but, look behind the scenes and the web code is as messy as an upturned plate of spaghetti.
They come to www.sitechooser.co.uk and ask us why they aren't getting business through their website or even any enquiries, we then have to break the news that despite them having spent hundreds or sometimes thousands of pounds the chances are that the major search engines won't list their sites as they can't read the web code it's made up of and therefore just skips past them - they're not very happy when they hear this.
We then get the job of either trying to back engineer the site to repair it or re-writing the whole thing, don't get me wrong we're happy with the work but it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for the customer having to pay out twice for the same thing.
In the near future we've decided to launch a new site called www.rescueyourwebsite.co.uk where people can come and get a free evaluation of their site, the state of the code, link verification, readability etc. We'll keep the blog updated of it's progress.
In the meantime, give your code the love it deserves.
We spend ages trying to get our clients websites just right and ready for the big bad world of the Internet, then we check what some members of the competition are doing and it drives us mad.
Are we the only people who think that the code behind a site should be valid and correct, the amount of sites we're coming across that look real nice cosmetically, the owners of the sites are happy with them because they look pretty, but, look behind the scenes and the web code is as messy as an upturned plate of spaghetti.
They come to www.sitechooser.co.uk and ask us why they aren't getting business through their website or even any enquiries, we then have to break the news that despite them having spent hundreds or sometimes thousands of pounds the chances are that the major search engines won't list their sites as they can't read the web code it's made up of and therefore just skips past them - they're not very happy when they hear this.
We then get the job of either trying to back engineer the site to repair it or re-writing the whole thing, don't get me wrong we're happy with the work but it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for the customer having to pay out twice for the same thing.
In the near future we've decided to launch a new site called www.rescueyourwebsite.co.uk where people can come and get a free evaluation of their site, the state of the code, link verification, readability etc. We'll keep the blog updated of it's progress.
In the meantime, give your code the love it deserves.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
New SiteChooser Website
The brand new SiteChooser website is being met with some big thumbs up from previous clients and business contacts. We're now working on the tweaks to make it really stand out from the crowd. First job will be a javascript revolving portfolio to display our previous project work with the aim of attracting new offers. The real work is still coming in too, another two requests this morning - we're going to need more bods at this rate! If anyone out there is interested please forward a CV and a portfolio of your best work to us. Our contact details can be found on our site at www.sitechooser.co.uk. The SEO is coming along as well, article writing and directory submission seems to be half my day right now. All in a good cause. Onwards and upwards.
Monday, June 29, 2009
SiteChooser Relaunched
At last! SiteChooser is relaunched. We have a brand new website up and running, a few tweaks to be made but fully functional. Now comes the grind, SEO. We're going to get eloquent and wordy for a few weeks and push the site to the top of Google, get inundated with requests to work on high profile projects, expand the business and take over the world.
Please check out the new site at www.sitechooser.co.uk and if you need a website or you need us to work on a graphic design project with you, just give us a call on 0121 707 9998.
Please check out the new site at www.sitechooser.co.uk and if you need a website or you need us to work on a graphic design project with you, just give us a call on 0121 707 9998.
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