Forms

Website forms are a very common feature of modern websites. They allow information to be typed or selected and files to be uploaded to websites. This can then be stored in a database, sent as an email or displayed on a website. Uses of forms include:

1. Gather Customer Information - for example for newsletter signups or website enquiries.
2. Send Emails - allow visitors to quickly send emails to you.
3. Visitor Discussion and Feedback - Let visitors submit testimonials or comment on articles.
4. Upload Files and Images - This can range from having photo galleries to submitting documents and proposals
5. Filter website information - Most commonly seen as a search box, forms can allow website searching and filtering of results.

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HTML

HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language, is a tool that is at the root of all websites. It fundamentally allows websites to be pretty and not just line after line of text. There are many other tools that are used in conjunction, here are a few more explained:

• XHTML - a newer version of HTML.
• CSS - Cascading Sheet Style, this is used to complement HTML to add colour, text styles and layout more simply.
• Javascript - this allows animation of websites and more complex effects, for example image zoom or an animated website guide.
• ajax - this allows website forms to submit without changing page, our quick message box is an example of this
• Flash - This used to be the only way to have animations before the use of javascript however is becoming less popular. It is still used significantly for playing videos.
• PHP/ASP/SQL - These technologies allow websites to change dynamically, whether it is allowing user registration, profile pages or online shopping

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Blog

Blogging has become a very popular phenomenon however the term is often misunderstood.

A Blog is simply a series of articles that can relate to anything that a person is interested in. Company Blogs often focus on the company's interest and are updated in an effort to provide information to customers about the company's practices, new ventures or current stances on issues. They can be a great way of quickly communicating information to customers, especially in times of crisis.

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Google Maps

Internet maps have almost become synonymous with Google Maps as their technology is one of the most advanced and mainstream.

Maps on your website can have a variety of uses. Some of the simplest being are to quickly provide customers with directions to your business. Markers can be added to show premises locations and more complicated overlays can be added to represent paths or areas.

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Web Publishing

Through a CMS, regular website publishing is a very good way of keeping customers interested by providing them with new information. It also requires that you keep all old information up-to-date and relevant to customers. Through regular web-publishing you can release new special offers provide product information and more. This can be a highly effective way of increasing sales and is especially effective when used in conjunction with Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing.

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CMS

Content Management Systems (CMS) are essential for modern websites as they allow websites to be updated by simply logging in. Their complexity can vary and can often be overcomplicated but a good CMS should allow the following:

• Text Editing
• Image Uploading
• Publishing / Unpublishing
• Web based interface (access it from the internet)

We primarily use symphony-cms for our content management due to its extreme simplicity for the end user. This doesn't mean that it lacks features though! We've built many sites of varying complexity, from single pages to complex, interactive websites such as employher.com

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Paypal

A lot of people have heard of Paypal through the rise of Ebay but it is also one of the main entry level ways of selling online. Paypal can be used to take payments online for products and services and can then feed information back to the website. For example, notifying you of a new sale or renewing a subscription. Paypal integration into a website can be a highly cost-effective way of launching an online business. However, Paypal does charge for these features and takes a cut of all transactions, one benefit though is that there is no minimum monthly fee.

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E-Commerce

E-Commerce basically means online shopping and can happen in many forms - from full product catalogues to single item ordering, to subscription services. It is extremely popular as it involves making money! This is so much true now that your business can be extremely disadvantaged by bbot having an online E-Commerce presence.

A potential pitfall with E-Commerce is that E-Commerce done badly can negatively impact your business. If your website is poor then not only will people not trust your website to give their credit card details to, they may avoid your business in the future.

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User Registering

Providing users with reasons to come back to your website is a great way to, well, keep them coming back to your website!

User registration features allow users to create a website login to access personalised areas. This can be an order history, favourite products and pages or a social media profile page. Through these features, users can interact not only with your website but with each other, allowing true user involvement in your business.

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Social Media

Social Media and Social Media Marketing is one of the biggest areas of development over the past few years. The area could warrant many articles and the topic is far bigger than one small tip... so what is Social Media Marketing.

It is essentially online Personal Relationship (PR), most commonly seen through websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. However each site is different, with pros and cons to different approaches.

• Facebook - Predominently a younger generation site that can be user to get news/offers rapidly shared through communities
• Twitter - While split between personal and commercial uses, the focus here is to spark discussion and interest in your product or service through single line tweets

While there are many different approaches to Social Media Marketing, time put in can produce some exceptional results. The only catch, everyone is trying it!

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Google Analytics

Any marketing effort should be monitored and Google Analytics is one of the most popular, free solutions.

By integrating Google Analytics into your website, you can have access to in depth statistics of where visitors have come from, which links they clicked and how long they stayed on your site. All this information, and more, is presented in easy-to-understand graphs and charts.

More advanced features include setting goals and observing their progress for customers reaching the checkout or subscription pages. These allow you to alter website layouts and content and instantly know what effect this has had on sales success. Learn more

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SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving your websites ranking on Google and other search engines, aiming to get to that illustrius number one position!

This is done through many means, which are beyond this tip! The essential message though is that good, well written content that people would like to read will usually do well on Google!

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