When Choosing Your Domain Name
Choosing the correct name for your domain is not only critical but that is a great business sense, this should be the first step before the design even, this is so as your website is your digital business card. It is worth every bit of effort that you put in choosing a domain name the is memorable unforgettable and represents you and what you stand for in every form.
With over 350 million registered domain names across all Top-Level Domains (TLD), choosing the best one for your business tells you apart from your competitors and also says if you are only being visited or those visits are converted to leads and profitable leads. For businesses of all sizes, this can be a tedious process and may require hours but if you are thinking days to have that which reflects who you are or your products and services go right ahead.
Here are a few tips that we invite you to consider when choosing your domain name:
- Make .com Your Preferred Choice
- Make It Memorable
- Domain Name Generators Assist
- Owned Legally
- Buying Existing Domains
- Domain Registrar
- Locking Your Domain
Make .com Your Preferred Choice
We do advise our customers/clients to go for domain name extension .com once available. There are definitely others such as .org, .info, .uk, .ru just name a few.
So using the trusty .com domain extension versus the other TLDs makes it almost always the correct thing to do. Reasons for this may be; there is an ongoing familiarity with the wider internet user population with domain extension .com. Not sure why this is so but, once a website name is given without a domain extension it is assumed most times that the extension is .com.
The .com TLD on average is used by 40.90% of registered domain users seen in data received on Domain Name Stat.
Though highly recommended there are times when the extension .com is either not available or not applicable, for example on the German Market recommends .de if .com is not available.
Make It Memorable
Branding is one of the most vital aspects of your marketing as we need to ensure your website is able to provide your long-term success. In having a brandable or marketable domain name some of the factors we should take a look at include but not limited to; it’s uniqueness, the ability to be easily memorized, having a name that sounds trustworthy and easily pronounced.
Remember shorter is better, try eliminating underscores and symbols in general, if possible keep the characters list than sixteen (16) characters that are not inclusive of the TLDs or domain extension.
In all possible cases avoid using numbers or symbols if it is not apart of the name of the brand. An example of a brand with numbers is rue21 domain name rue21.com.
Domain Generators Assist
Honestly, we exhaust our options and still do not have a solid name sometimes, in this case, we suggest auto-generating your domain name.
There are various tools that may help in easing the burden of creating your domain name. These tools require the keyword of your business name, in doing this it provides you with that which is available a not avail. Some of the tools that may help are:
Business Name Generator by Shopify
Owned Legally
We advise that adequate research is done into finalizing the name as infringement can be bad for business. Though this may not be intentional infringing on a trademarked name can happen.
Researching the name does not have to be an extensive process it can be simply typing the name in the URL of your browser.
Buying Existing Domain
There are various factors that will lead one to purchase an existing (expired) domain name over creating a new domain portfolio. From experience, I was looking for a particular name and that was already taken, however, it was expired and up for grabs and a bit more costly but it was worth it.
So you don’t make any mistakes I did, the most important thing to do is to check on the history of the domain name before purchasing. We must face the fact that the expired domain name you are about to be the new owner of has a history and you can never be sure of the history.
The advantage of reclaiming an expired domain name is that history can boost ratings on Google seeing that you do not have to start from scratch.
The disadvantage is that you are also unsure of the history as it may feature non-kosher events (gambling, porn,...) this can have you banned from Google entirely.
The best part is that there are tools to help us along the way, two such tools are bannedcheck.com and ismywebsitepenalized.com, these are to be considered helpers.
Domain Registrar
Domain Registrars are companies that help you to register your domain and gives you full access to it. Going with a trustworthy and respectable company is a key factor.
Here are a few of registrar companies that we recommend:
Locking Domain
I know this may be a bit alarming for having such a topic, but there are numerous cases of domain hijacking happening.
There are several ways in which your domain can be stolen or hijacked, but, the most common ones are persuasion of giving up your password through phishing or hacking your password.
If someone gets ahold of your domain account through either of these processes they are able to do whatever they wish with your account.
Some registrars offer a feature that allows you to keep your account in lock status this prevents the transfer of domain through any unauthorized step. What this means is that the DNS or registration information cannot be configured unless the owner unlocks the domain name.
Make Node.Js A Choice For Your Next Project
In this article, we are going to ensure that before you make that tough decision you are first educated on the history and some advantages of this language. Ensuring that the choice is right from development to testing to launch.
Node.js was written in 2009 initially by Ryan Dahl. The initial release was known to support Linux and Mac OS. While the development was done by Ryan and maintenance led by him the later sponsor was done by Joyent.
Node.Js is an open-source, cross-platform built on Chrome’s Javascript runtime environment. This is enabling the usage of JavaScript for building server-side applications having access to operating systems running scripts to produce dynamic web page contents before being sent to users.
Node.Js is being used by multiple companies and in his paragraph, I will be discussing a few that uses:
Netflix
This is the leading internet movie network with over 140 million users, this is one such company that trust their server Node.Js capable hands. With the leverage of lightweight and fast performing platform, Node. Js allows the company and their user to be flexible in selecting the package of their choice.
Uber
Reliability, urgency, efficiency and excellent user experience. Node. Js allows an environment where drivers and customers are able to work in a fairly easy environment as Uber is a massive system to take on and work this effectively.
PayPal
Being one of the largest fintech leaders PayPal as trust such an asset to Node.Js. Being originally built on Java for the to JavaScript you can say for the experimental phase investors settled for the Node.Js platform.
eBay
Node.Js made e-commerce great, eBay being a multinational website they are always open to making the user experience better. Being able to provide updates to over 180 million users in real-time was a target that they have achieved as the platform was able to display their multi-pages and Node.Js proves to be a perfect fit.
The Pros Of Node.Js
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- Easy to Learn: Most front-end developers would have a full handle on JavaScript as it is the most popular language for that area. This makes it easier for the transition into Node.Js at the backend also, taking away way less time.
- Easy Scalability: One advantageous feature is that this application is scalable both horizontally and vertically. This allows developers to add nodes to the existing system for horizontal scalability as for vertical scalability developers are able to add resources to the existing system.
- High Performance: Interpreting the JavaScript code by the V8 engine compiling the code in machine code makes it easier and faster to implement.
- Single Programming Language: Through Google’s V8 JavaScript engine Node.Js offers the luxury of writing server-side applications in JavaScript. Also, allows developers the grand opportunity to write both front-end and back-end applications in JavaScript runtime environment.
- Large Community: Node.Js after development maintains a large active community of developers who constantly contributes to the development of the technology.
- Caching: The Node.Js runtime environment continues to facilitate the caching of single modules. Getting a request for the first module it caches in the application memory, this allows a module to load quickly hence responding to the user within a short period.
- Development Speed: Allowing developers to increase their speed the technology supports various tools and is indeed a lightweight. Investing way less effort the technology management registry provides several libraries to build applications.
- Mobile-Friendly: This technology provides the competitive edge we speak about in previous articles by improving response and development time. This technology has proven to be adaptable, able to manage a vast server load and efficient.
What Does Mobile Website Development Do For You and Your Brand?
Few articles ago I post about having a Responsive Website in that you were informed of the increase in mobile usage and keeping up with your clientele in that light. Now, I will be informing you of what a mobile website does for you and your brand.
Having your website does not mean it is automatically mobile device friendly. Ensuring that this is so may take a little time and more effort does help your brand in the end. It is suitable to have a mobile-friendly website so as to intrigue your user/clientele. Here are some additional benefits:
- Customers’ Trust
- Visitors increase
- Boosts Image Brand
- Mobile Customers Appreciate
- Business Relevance
Customers’ Trust
A customer is more trusting of a client that is reachable and a website that is not only responsive or functional on a PC as they y rather explore and encourage trust professionalism and great appearance. Have this grave advantage gives you the opportunity to update your company’s changes in trends. In this update, you keep the requirements of the customers in mind.
Visitors’ Increase
Having an intuitive design for your mobile website definitely helps to boost the number of visitors to your webpage. This increase in numbers helps with leads which then positively impacts business expansion.
Boost Image Brand
Having a professional mobile website helps to boost your brand among your customers. The top advantage of this is that your customers are able to access your website and information where-ever they are. This offers a great chance for your business to grow rather than having to wait to view updates on a system or laptop.
Mobile Customers Appreciation
A mobile website shows many things, this greatly targets people who are traveling and then we have customers who are just comfortable using tablets and phones. A mobile-friendly website will allow all your traveling customers the opportunity to keep abreast of updates and be able to reach your company.
Business Relevance
Look at it this way, you may be offering your customers/clients the best deals or a product that is modern, the customer service may also be excellent but in most cases, if your website is not accessible on mobile or the experience is not great this may damage your user-base. As said earlier a website that is mobile accessible can increase your visitors, leads, and profit.
PHP vs ASP.NET: What To Consider When Selecting?
ASP.NET is an open-source server-side web application framework this was designed specifically for web development to produce dynamic web pages. As for PHP it’s acronym means Hypertext Preprocessor, this is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development this can as be embedded into HTML.
So, it has been an on-going debate of whether PHP or ASP.NET is better for web application development for any business. These do have their pros and cons like any other code-based platform. This article does not aim to lower the relevance of one over the other but, to simply highlight some areas of possible advantages of both ensure our clients/customer knows what is best for you.
Both ASP.NET and PHP have a wide base and used by many developers. In saying that my main reason for looking into this is that a few years ago this was a debate in college between a few of our classmates, this has not been a settle case years later. Hence, I am writing to state based on usage and observation of here is my result:
Performance & Speed
There is some mighty misconception that the framework of coding affects the speed and performance. This is not true as the performance of a web application is dependent on the developer and how his or her code is writing. As we know coding languages are done to communicate with a database or server to produce an outcome that outcome is totally dependent on the developer, YOGOWYPI (You Only Get Out What You Put In).
Saying that to say both frameworks are equipped to access data and display pages on web servers, now the speed and performance would have relied vastly on the database server, bandwidth and also the end-users’ computers.
Market Share
Based on various articles and research PHP shows to own a chunk of the market over ASP.NET. The tabular report below shows the comparison in various countries of both web applications. This taken from datanyze.com:
| Country | Technologies | Current Websites | Market Share |
| United States | ASP.NET | 487,669 | 22.88% |
| PHP | 774,186 | 36.31% | |
| China | ASP.NET | 44,985 | 44.80% |
| PHP | 34,756 | 34.63% | |
| Jamaica | ASP.NET | 163 | 16.12% |
| PHP | 536 | 53.02% | |
| Japan | ASP.NET | 969 | 7.75% |
| PHP | 6,636 | 53.06% | |
| Guyana | ASP.NET | 23 | 20.00% |
| PHP | 63 | 54.78% |
Based on the average of this tabular analysis it shows that PHP would have had more than 20% market share that ASP.NET. Majority of the sites and analysis done shows this marginal difference.
Scalability
Looking at the scalability of both PHP and ASP.NET we can say it is totally dependable on the team of developers you are working with. Also, note that in selecting your team do not force meal the programming language especially if it is a lead developer allow them the option to select their strong points. If, however, you are thinking of DIY(Do It Yourself) PHP Drupal would be a better option over ASP.NET for our entrepreneurs.
For most ASP.NET developers that I have conversed with, they regard PHP as chunky and will show as a prominent weak point in the framework of your website. On the other hand, PHP developers think of ASP.NET as being rather demanding and a few will say ASP.NET can be restricting as well.
Cost
In this area, there is a distinct advantage on PHP over ASP.NET. PHP is an open-source and this makes it completely free whereas, ASP.NET being owned by Microsoft comes with a fee for website hosting.
PHP Pros
- This is an open-source hence, it is free.
- It got large projects including White House websites, Facebook,...
- Easy to learn code.
- Wide online-based learning programs
- THE expert PHP developers market is very large.
PHP Cons
- Compared to other languages can be a bit slow if features aren’t properly used.
- Customization can cause poor code than ASP.NET
- Not especially suited for desktop applications
ASP.NET Pros
- Microsoft owned
- Excellent user-interface (UI) for developers
- This is an excellent platform for enterprise application
- Educates developers of errors if any in coding before compiling
- Windows developers will have no problem as it works well
- It is highly scalable as it poses great competition for rival PHP
ASP.NET Cons
- In comparison to PHP, tends to be a tab bit more difficult to learn and understand.
- It has a small market hence a smaller community that does not afford much active help.
- Rests on a closed source technology
In closing, though PHP as in this and most articles will show to have its edge over ASP.NET, both languages are beautiful in its own rights. Also, YOGOWYPI (You Only Get Out What You Put In) hence, the speed/performance is totally dependent on the developer, the user end and your bandwidth just to name a few.
Reasons Business Needs A Responsive Website
It is not new, and, should not be surprising that this is a topic to have. With the modernization of technology, your website should be responsive on all devices, tablets, mobile phones, and with all operating systems (OS). This responsiveness aids in captivating users and increases the speed at which your web-page moves, which should be aligned to new-age technologies.
This blog will outline the effectiveness of a modernized website and how much of a critical element this is to your business.
Increase In Mobile Device Usage
With the increase in mobile usage, this is no surprise that the majority of browsing is now done on mobile devices. This is so as, in my opinion, and others would agree your mobile device is always with you, and with the multiple wifi spots or cellular data, it makes “life easier.” The statics report below will better explain mobile browsing increases:
- According to official Google statements, over fifty percent (50%) of searches are done on mobile devices, and this increases by approximately ten percent (10%) each year.
- As for internet usage on mobile devices in the United States of America, some Europian countries and India over thirty-six percent (36%) of users make use of the internet on their mobile devices.
- Over sixty-five percent (65%) of customers provide better reviews on brands or products that offer an excellent mobile experience.
- Research also shows that ninety-five 95% of users access emails on smartphones while over fifteen percent (15%) of users use tablets.
None Responsive Websites Equates Bad Reputation
It is indeed a fact that the monitors do get more substantial with time, and the devices for responsiveness testing varies. This variation includes but not limited to the size of the screens or the operating systems. As mobile users’ increase, so should your business grow. Just as the rise in mobile users with the modernizing of generation, so will the frustration increase with that frustration, usually your company survey and then the reputation. The majority of those unsatisfied customers will indeed inform you that they were not catered for, you are not with the time, or the time spent on your website was time wasted.
Excellent User Experience Is A Must
Have you ever been on a website that does not suit your mobile needs, and you immediately exist and find another more like that of the competitors? According to Google Think Insights on smartphones and tablets, if a user does not see or feels comfortable with what they are looking for, they will most likely go to the competitors’ website. This is approximately seventy-one percent (71%). It is also proven that it has a great experience using your website there is a fifty-nine (59%) percent chance they will be interested in the product you have to offer.
Responsive Websites Loads Faster
In this, your SEO advantage is way high, and a responsive design typically loads faster than a mobile site. With this, you must know that internet users, especially those on smart devices, enjoy the information on their research at the quickest time.
Responsive Sites Adjust To All Devices
In recent times website designs were done for a particular sized monitor, fast forward to the Millenium we are designing for several screen sizes and operating system. This is the main advantage of responsive sites the ability to create for all screen sizes.
Responsive Sites Converts Visitors Into Customers
It is a fact that once visitors enjoy service, they will return the frequency may become a family. For example, I went on vacation to a particular hotel in Jamaica, and for hotel picks, I return there quite often; the service was excellent. The same goes for a website. You meet the visitors’ needs in that timely manner. They will return with a possible referral.
Before Closing The Deal On Your Design
What is your final decision? That ought to be your number one question before closing on a design. What is my decision? Why did I choose this?
Though tedious may be the craziest part of getting ready for the project you and your team will need to go through this. Research the graphics, the media and the overall content knowing where to put what and why. This will also determine the competency and the direction your project will flow to. Now here are a few questions to take into consideration in closing the curtains on your design:
- What is the design or theme?
- Is the design easily understood?
- Is the design suitable for the intended purpose?
- Are the images supporting the theme or purpose?
- What is the relevance of the content to the design?
- How is your design compares to that of the competitor?
- Are you happy with the design?
What Is The Design or Theme?
This, in my opinion, should be the first question for any creative for a project as this will help you determine if this theme/design is suitable for your business as the design then becomes the face of your business.
In making a decision on this worthiness will clear multiple paths as in selecting a theme and finalizing the design these must be remembered; your catered demographic and for the designer, you think of the client, (it is best to narrow things down so as not to overwhelm yourself as a designer and your client).
Is The Design easily understood?
Usually, all graphic personnel design to grab the attention of onlookers which then push clients to ask for a redo(make it simple). As the designer, it is best to understand your client before taking the valuable time to design and redo. You are to understand so much so you can be the storyteller to the client’s best design. It helps if you also come to the table with templates or clients can do this as well.
NB: Remember to limit these so as not to be overwhelmed.
Is The Design Suitable For The Intended Purpose?
This question is son vital and can never be asked too many times in the conversation between the designer and client. It is okay to have a well-designed project but in all that it must serve the intended purpose or this is a loss of time and money. Your design should not only match the functionality of the website but the meaning of your business and easy to use by users/customers.
Are the images supporting the theme or purpose?
The images that age used in a project should at all times complement the project’s design and theme, and this should always be at the forefront of the designers’ minds. The final design should be able to stand with its layout.
Using inapplicable/unconnected /irrelevant images in design will totally annihilate the message behind your theme. This is however avoidable by using images that will tell the story the client and the business wish to have told their audience.
What is the relevance of the content to the design?
In this, your content is the overall information on your design. Now, this can be stressed enough all this should be relevant to the story being told.
Typography is a great deal in this as the font style the words used, the highlights, and all others that tell the tone in which you are bringing across the information. Best believe the font size and words used do affect the theme and its overall story you are telling in that design.
Before closing on your final design remember all elements play an important part in the story and your story needs to flow in sequential order. In doing this evaluation before the closing deal and rolling out you will be able to tell the importance and see if release that project is a final or even make some necessary changes.
How Is Your Design Compares To That Of The Competition?
Let’s be honest, one of the main reasons if not the only reason to have graphical design is to be in the market place or be the very best when we get there. Businesses usually do their graphic to indulge their part-takers of the market place hence, you need to know what is trending in design to be apart of the competition.
Making sure you are able to be apart of the intended market place your designs are to be simple easy to use and eye-catching to the potential user. Your intentions are to be recognizable and also able to stand out.
Are You Happy With The Design?
Finally, as the design, your question should be, is my client happy? Have I told the story correctly? Will the audience love it?
As the client, are you happy?
Ensure all revisions are done so as not to have any regrets on either side. In asking these questions ensure that the answers are honest so as to have an effective delivery and launch.
Website Security
Congratulations, you have successfully launched your website but, is it all done? how secure is your website? and is it ready for business? These questions are the best to ask at the end of the project and just before launch. At this point we are thinking of potential cyberattacks, encourage potential visitors and maintaining your reputation. In this article, you are going to be informed of your new best-friend website security.
Now, What is Website Security? You might ask. This is an action or application taken to ensure the protection of website data is not exposed to cybercriminals or prevent exploitation of websites of any form, this is an ongoing and essential part of your website management.
Why is it Important and What does it Protect?
Website security is important as it protects as hacks, simple. Having security is just as important if not more than all other aspects. Look at it this way, no security results in potentially being hacked, being hacked can result in data loss, data loss results in a damaged reputation, possibly blacklisted, lawsuits and this can result in some huge fines.
Some of what you will be protected against are as listed:
Defacing: replacing your website content/material with other malicious data.
Malware: This can be used to steal sensitive information.
Blacklisting: The possibility of your website being removed for search engines.
All of the above shows lost and now results in favor of your or your business.
As for your users some of what the will be protected against includes:
Phishing: In most cases, this is found happening emails, however, this is now seen in various web browsers and is designed to trick the user into giving up sensitive information.
Malicious Redirect: In this case, the attack redirects the user from the intended site to another.
Stolen Data: Cybercriminals oftentimes attempt to save users’ data which may vary from as simple as your name to SSN and also payment information done online.
How Do You Secure Your Website?
There are many steps to take in securing a website, here goes to name a few:
Web Application Firewall: A web application firewall (WAF), stops automated attacks usually carried out by malicious bots that seeks to attack from your more vulnerable points to exploits or even slows down and crashes site through a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
SSL Certificate: This certificate protects data collected by the website as it is being transferred to the server. Though considered a basic security measure a site on any browser labeled “insecure” is without an SSL certificate and is suggested to stay off.
The cost of an SSL certificate may vary depending on the site and their of at that moment. Some of the most popular sites to get your SSL certificate are:
- SSL.com
- Namecheap
- The SSL Store
- GoDaddy
- GlobalSign
- Digicert
Just to list a few and you will see that all sites offer to vary in prices.
Though we have only touched the surface of what website security is remember, “a breach in your website security cost more the longer it stays”.
Why Project Design Deadlines Are Important?
Every designer, client, or developer reacts differently to their projects. We must understand that deadlines keep us on point and gives adequate time for completion and revisit our clients and always happy for a spacious delivery ensuring that all is in place for the big launch.
The previous article would have defined web design as the layout, visual appearance, and usability of a system or a website. Having this vital area of the project on-point has your developers and designers with most of the tools they need to complete the projects. Now, will this eliminate communication such as email or time on the phone with client and developer/design? NO, as communication is of utmost importance and is critical in anything we do.
Deadlines help with workability, proper work distribution, and, most of all, up keeping with all your client’s needs for that big launch and also giving the developer the chance to have a task place in the correct order so the job can follow an orderly step.
Having an understanding in keeping with the project deadline is essential. One extended reason is, in most cases, the developer is working on multiple projects and has similar deadlines. This, I can assure you will change your smooth day real quick. Not meeting one can have you robbing time from one to feed the other, and we want to avoid that by all chance. It is essential for us also to take a look at having a realistic timeline. This allows us to ensure we are managing our time to have all done in the perfect time that best suits the clients; this allows maximum creativity and delivery.
A reminder; deadlines go both ways on-time feedback from the client with an on-time report from the developer and designer.
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