Web hosting is a totally different ball game though and GoDaddy’s field is one that I wouldn’t want to play ball in! They have one of the worst web hosting platforms I have ever worked with. It is setup with a Fisher Price interface, obviously for novices to get in and poke around with. I find it restrictive and nowhere near is powerful as cPanel which is provided with traditional Linux web hosting.

Setting up a PHP e-mail script for a simple contact form is a nightmare. No, you cannot simply upload an existing formmail script. GoDaddy is paranoid about third party scripts running on their servers so you they want you to use their scripts (which users have complained that they do not prefer them) or find some type of hack or workaround to make yours work…if you can!

Submitting a trouble ticket has its problems too. It takes a long time for them to get back to you and often times, it is just some generic and idiotic response, as if they didn’t even bother to read and understand your issue. Sometimes their support ticket form does not even submit (probably due to using their own crappy form processor mentioned above) which is very frustrating.

Remember AOL? Many of us referred to them as AO-HELL due to the restrictive and proprietary nature of the Internet experience they provided. Personally, I find GoDaddy’s web hosting to be just as frustrating as AOL ever was. Our company used to work on client’s websites when they which were hosted with GoDaddy. Unfortunately, the time to workaround GoDaddy’s web hosting often costs more than the annual cheap web hosting that GoDaddy provides.

GoDaddy provides cheap web hosting. You get exactly what you paid for. Headaches are free!

The days of loading up a website with juicy keywords is over. Recent search algorithm changes by Google, weeded out some of the “keyword stuffers” in favor of content rich, authentic websites. This also means that websites that are heavy on images and videos, rather than text will also have a tough time competing.

If your website is a bit thin on good, meaningful text then now is the time to get the job done. If you cannot write your own copy, contact us and we’ll do the web copywriting for you. If you want the search engines to take notice and keep you in the ball game, this is what you must do.

Content Marketing

People go to websites to solve problems. If a website offers compelling advanced content for download it will capture many more leads than if it just had a contact form. Relying on contact forms to generate leads is no different than someone crossing their fingers and hoping a prospect found their brochure they call a website interesting enough to give them a call.

via Web Design Companies That Endure Will Be Inbound Marketing Agencies.

To do this successfully, brands must develop a content strategy that inspires, builds credibility, and helps customers solve holiday-specific pain points. Marketers who go beyond Black Friday sales, Cyber Monday deals and free shipping offers, will not only maximize the season’s revenue, but also round up a new army of long-term customers.

via Beyond Cyber Monday: Effective Content Marketing All Season Long | Social Media Today.

Here are the most important things that visitors want to see when they come to a restaurant website:

• Visitors want to quickly and easily browse through the menu.
• They want to know the restaurant’s location and it’s operating hours.
• They want to see a few photos to get a feel for the interior dining experience.
• Many Visitors want to access all of this using their mobile phones or tablets.

What is “responsive design” and why is it important for a restaurant website?

Trends indicate that more people are viewing the web via their mobile phones and tablets rather than destop computers and laptops. Websites optimized for mobile devices, utilizing responsive design, can actually re-arrange a website layout to accomodate most computers and mobile devices. That means that your website will look great on anything from a large flat screen to an iPhone. If someone finds you via a Google or Yelp search, they will be pleasantly surprised to click on your link and land at an easy to use, mobile website.

Show me the pictures!

It’s not very exciting to arrive at a restaurant website with a logo, a couple of photos and a text menu. Spice things up with a variety of photos that portray the restaurant decor and ambience, seating and outside views. Don’t forget the food! The number one reason that people come to your restaurant is the food, so don’t skimp on showing off your culinary talents. While it is not necessary to feature every menu item, a brief selection of photos or perhaps a short slideshow will make a huge difference. Many responsive design websites feature home page sliding images. Use this space to add a couple of your most enticing culinary delights.

Get social

Adding a Facebook “Like” box to your website sidebar is essential. People will share their experiences with others and will be curious to see who else “Liked” your Facebook page. Add photos and updates to your Facebook page too and actively post replies and comments. This is a great way to make your customers feel like part of the family. Add a plug-in that will also “auto Tweet” your posts to Twitter too. Make sure to add social media sharing buttons to your website, which will allow visitors to share posts, etc. on your website with their friends.

Add reviews and testimonials to your webiste as well. People like to see what others have said about your restaurant and testimonials are a valuble marketing tool.

It’s the web…use it!

Many restaurants fall short of their full potential by failing to take advantage of the Web. Online reservations and online ordering can make a HUGE difference. One of my customers has a Thai catering website that allows customers to place online orders. They select from a menu of items and options, place their order and pay by credit card. They get a call back to arrange a pick up time. When they arrive, their order is ready, they have an email receipt and time is saved. This customer also uses a blog and email newsletter to notify her customers of upcoming specials and new additions to her menus.

Have fun…

Create videos of events at your restaurant, a cooking class, etc. and add them to your own YouTube Channel. YouTube is owned by Google (and yes it will come up in a Google search!) so leverage this and add a YouTube icon to your social media icons on your website.

Pending reason returned by PayPal:
The payment is pending because it was made to an email address that is not yet registered or confirmed.

Well, the customer got his order and my client never got her payment. Thanks for nothing PayPal! The customer’s payment went through as confirmed so he thought he had paid. My client received a notice from her shopping cart that the order was completed and paid. Pending??? Either the payment should have been approved or NOT. This is a huge failure of PayPal and I now recommend to all my clients that they avoid it like the plague.

Worse yet is “Bill Me Later” which I later found out is affiliated with PayPal. This “service” looks good at first because it allows you to make a purchase now and pay months later, with no interest (if paid in full at that time). Sounds good? Well, yes at first glance. However, you soon get bombarded by tons of spam from “Bill Me Later” including its PayPal offerings. You get invoices, reminders, ad nauseum until you finally just pay the bill to keep them from nagging you almost every day.

So this is a bit of warning, part two about PayPal and Bill Me Later. Just say “NO” and if you need credit card processing go with a real payment gateway like Authorize.Net.

First, you need to understand what screen resolution is and how it works. Basically, computer screens do not work like TV screens at all. When you watch a show on a big screen and then a smaller screen, it looks the same because the TV adjusts the picture accordingly. Unfortunately, computers do not work that way. Different resolutions on different screens will display an image one way on a large desktop computer than on a laptop. For instance, what looks large on a desktop will look small on a laptop. See this article for more info on screen resolution.

The latest trend in web technology is “responsive design” which should alleviate some of these issues with website and image sizes. However, it’s still a progressive technology and there are still obstacles to overcome. We should get there eventually but in the meantime we’re still subject to some of the limitations of screen resolution.

At the South by Southwest conference this week, a PR firm is working with local homeless advocates to help homeless people in Austin make some money by carrying around their own personal mi-fi boxes that they use to sell a few minutes of wireless access to people on the street.  Mi-fi is a kind of portable wi-fi emitter that creates a small bubble of wi-fi that you can use on the go (basically the same way that people can use their cell phones to create a small bubble of wifi for their ipads or their laptops).  It’s a small electronic box, maybe the size of a cigarette box but thinner, and it can pick up an Internet signal via the air and emit it as wi-fi for up to 20 or 30 feet or something.  A number of the homeless are walking around Austin with these emitters, and charging people to get the password for 15 minutes or whatever. Read more here.

A proprietary CMS is a database driven, content management system website that the website owner can login to and make changes. Yahoo Store, many automotive dealer and real estate websites are a good example of this. A good CMS is easy for the novice to use and offers all the flexibility they need. The problem with a proprietary CMS is that development costs and monthly fees are much higher than an open source solution. Features may be outdated or a company may be slow to add the latest, greatest functionality (ie. “bells & whistles”). Even small changes to a proprietary CMS can be quite costly or require you to sign up for a “maintenance contract” or require a minimum hours of project work before the company will even begin to assist you. Many people who often find this out later feel locked into something that is costly and inflexible. Unfortunately, they have invested thousands of dollars and if they are not satisfied with their proprietary CMS, they lose everything when they discontinue services and must start again from scratch.

On the other hand, open source content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal (and many others) are free to download and upgrade costing you only the development costs. Because they are open source code, you have the advantage of backing up and saving your website database and files. If you’re not happy with your web design company or they should go out of business, etc. you can simply take your database and files to another company. You cannot do this with a proprietary CMS so if you don’t use it…you lose it. Another advantage to the open source CMS is constant development and new widgets or features that are often free, very low cost and take only minutes to install. A fraction of the cost that a company offering a proprietary CMS would charge. These are the reasons that Alpine Web Media works with the open source CMS model.

To be fair, the companies who offer proprietary CMS’ will say that open source solutions are more vulnerable to viruses and hackers. Like any other popular software, that is true. However, nothing on the web is 100% safe from hackers, not even a proprietary CMS. There are a number of debates on the web about “open source vs. proprietary CMS” and it’s easy to see that the “proprietary” crowd are fighting to retain their high profits and 100% control over their customer’s websites. Their primary argument is that their systems are safer from hackers. If your open source CMS is developed properly with the correct file permission, strong passwords, file backups and vigilant updates, you really don’t have much to worry about, proprietary or not.

A number of large corporations and government organizations utilize open source content management systems. For instance, the White House website is based on Drupal. I think open source is a pretty safe bet and certainly far more flexible and cost efficient. Ultimately, the decision is up to you and your budget.