At Digitalldoo we aim to make the digital world easier for the people who digital don’t, so we thought we would explain the difference between static and dynamic websites as you have probable heard these terms before.
Static Websites
You will find many static websites on the internet as they usually belong to small companies who just want a web presence but nothing too fancy. These sites are usually no frills information sites which just give basic information about a company, for example “what they do”, ”contact details”.
Static websites are usually quick and cheap to develop and to host which is extremely appealing to smaller companies who don’t want to spend much on advertising.
A disadvantage of having a static website is that you will need web development skills to amend the content without being charged for updates.
Dynamic Websites
Dynamic websites are becoming more and more popular on the internet these days as they offer more features than a static website. A dynamic website is basically a website driven by a database sitting in the background.
Dynamic websites vary from a small company website with a CMS (Content Management System) to a large ecommerce (shopping) website. A CMS is a system which is put into place to make it easy for anyone to amend content on the website by using a Microsoft Word like interface.
One of the main advantages of dynamic websites is the ability to keep content up to date and fresh. This not keeps clients visiting your site but also maintains or improves your search engine ranking (SEO).
Even though dynamic websites will cost more than static websites to develop, you will be getting your money’s worth believe me. Say you have 10 products, with a static website you would be required to develop 10 separate pages but with a dynamic website which is database driven you will only require 1 page as the content is dynamically fed in. That one page may cost more than one static page but it will be considerably cheaper than ten static pages.
Summary
In my opinion if you are looking for web presence with basic information about your company then I would recommend a very basic dynamic website with the ability to update your content, for example “News” or “Events” using a CMS (Content Management System). Like I said before this gives your website a fresh feel and the search engines love it and in time will rank higher.
You may get the impression dynamic websites will cost the earth but you may be pleasantly surprised. Why not contact us by clicking here and we will give you advice or a quote.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Email Marketing
In this day and age Email Marketing has become an extremely valuable tool for small companies who are trying to attract new business. Email Marketing is fast, cheap and if done correctly can bring in serious business.
This efficient method of direct marketing allows companies to send the right kind of product or promotion to the correct audience increasing the chance of new business. The beauty of email campaigns is the ability to link to your website from the email, making it easier for the potential client to find what you are marketing as you can link to the actual product/offer.
Measuring Success
Statistics are a bonus when it comes to email marketing as you can determine how many people opened the email, clicked through to your website and even which link on the email was clicked and how many times. If you are looking for instant results and to measure return on investment, e-marketing is the tool for you.
Don't cut corners
Email campaigns must be completed in the correct way as any material sent without the basics in mind can result in being labeled as spam and you could end up being blacklisted. One important way to avoid being classed as a spammer is to have permission to send the email to potential clients in the first place. This is known as "opting-in" and is where potential clients fill in their details in a small form on your website as they want to receive your email marketing material.
Email content
In order to stop people unsubscribing from your email campaigns it is essential the email content is relevant to the client. It will first take trial and error to see what gets people excited and prompts them to click on links or even make a purchase, so referring back to previous campaign statistics is important.
It is important to make your email attractive to the eye but don't overdo it and take the attention away from the message. Make sure the message is clear but don't use a mass amount of text as people will lose interest. I find it useful to just keep the message simple and then users can click through to the website to read more detail if they choose.
When it comes to the subject line, try to stay clear of spam words like "Offer" and "Deal" as these are a sure way to land your email message in the junk folder, the joys!
Buying Lists
When it comes to buying email address lists I would stay well away as this is a recipe for disaster. Basically you are buying a list that many other mailers will have purchased and the chances are it will be a spam list where people have not opted in to receive email content.
To be successful in email marketing it is key to home grow you email contacts using an opt-in system on your website. This way your audience want to receive your marketing material so are already interested and the chances of gaining new business becomes alot higher, and on the plus side the email contact list did not cost you a penny.
This efficient method of direct marketing allows companies to send the right kind of product or promotion to the correct audience increasing the chance of new business. The beauty of email campaigns is the ability to link to your website from the email, making it easier for the potential client to find what you are marketing as you can link to the actual product/offer.
Measuring Success
Statistics are a bonus when it comes to email marketing as you can determine how many people opened the email, clicked through to your website and even which link on the email was clicked and how many times. If you are looking for instant results and to measure return on investment, e-marketing is the tool for you.
Don't cut corners
Email campaigns must be completed in the correct way as any material sent without the basics in mind can result in being labeled as spam and you could end up being blacklisted. One important way to avoid being classed as a spammer is to have permission to send the email to potential clients in the first place. This is known as "opting-in" and is where potential clients fill in their details in a small form on your website as they want to receive your email marketing material.
Email content
In order to stop people unsubscribing from your email campaigns it is essential the email content is relevant to the client. It will first take trial and error to see what gets people excited and prompts them to click on links or even make a purchase, so referring back to previous campaign statistics is important.
It is important to make your email attractive to the eye but don't overdo it and take the attention away from the message. Make sure the message is clear but don't use a mass amount of text as people will lose interest. I find it useful to just keep the message simple and then users can click through to the website to read more detail if they choose.
When it comes to the subject line, try to stay clear of spam words like "Offer" and "Deal" as these are a sure way to land your email message in the junk folder, the joys!
Buying Lists
When it comes to buying email address lists I would stay well away as this is a recipe for disaster. Basically you are buying a list that many other mailers will have purchased and the chances are it will be a spam list where people have not opted in to receive email content.
To be successful in email marketing it is key to home grow you email contacts using an opt-in system on your website. This way your audience want to receive your marketing material so are already interested and the chances of gaining new business becomes alot higher, and on the plus side the email contact list did not cost you a penny.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Apple reveals IPad-ready websites.
If you haven't been living in a cave for the last few weeeks you will know apple have released the Apple Ipad. The Ipad is a mix of the Apple iPhone, iTouch and laptop / notebook creating a very impressive touchscreen media pad allowing you to surf the web, listen to music, watch movies and download numerous Apple applications similar to the iPhone.
I came across an article the other day stating apple have announced a list of Ipad-ready websites for those who are lucky enough to have one. They quote;-
"The simple name serves a simple purpose: to catalogue all the companies currently serving up sites incorporating “HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript… to deliver content that looks and functions beautifully on the iPad.” In other words, no Flash."
If your interested in the list take a look at the link below:-
http://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/
I came across an article the other day stating apple have announced a list of Ipad-ready websites for those who are lucky enough to have one. They quote;-
"The simple name serves a simple purpose: to catalogue all the companies currently serving up sites incorporating “HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript… to deliver content that looks and functions beautifully on the iPad.” In other words, no Flash."
If your interested in the list take a look at the link below:-
http://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Twitter a new giant in the Search Engine Arena!
Bet you didn't even know Twitter offered a Search Engine facility but figures just released show they are now in second position behind the mighty Google for handling user searches on the internet.
Figures show Google are way ahead with a huge 88 billion searches per month, but as many probably didn't expect Twitter are running in second position with an impressive 19 billion searches per month putting them ahead of household names Yahoo and Bing who sit in third and fourth place.
Well that's something new you've learnt today!
Figures show Google are way ahead with a huge 88 billion searches per month, but as many probably didn't expect Twitter are running in second position with an impressive 19 billion searches per month putting them ahead of household names Yahoo and Bing who sit in third and fourth place.
Well that's something new you've learnt today!
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
CSS3 support for Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8
Finally Internet Explorer is catching up with web development standards using a small free script (IE-CSS3) implementing Vector Markup Language (VML) , a vector drawing language specific to Internet Explorer.
Good news for web developers tearing their hair out as this will enable CSS features like rounded corners and blur effects to work in the IE browser 6,7 and 8.
The script is available here http://fetchak.com/ie-css3/
Good news for web developers tearing their hair out as this will enable CSS features like rounded corners and blur effects to work in the IE browser 6,7 and 8.
The script is available here http://fetchak.com/ie-css3/
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