The new Intertec card features a minimal front that is focused on the brand and what we do. My favourite part of the cards is the spot gloss finish that is on the logo, giving it a satiny texture that makes you want to touch it.

If you’re reading this, you probably develop websites. We don’t make websites to let them sit on our own computers: we set them free on the web. While it’s often more fun to create the website than to worry about hosting it, web hosting isn’t a decision you should make lightly. In this roundup, I’ll point out 19 things you should look for when choosing your web host.

1. Amount of Storage

When choosing your web hosting, one of your primary concerns will obviously be “How much data can I store?” For most small and medium web sites, you’ll find that several gigabytes should be plenty of storage. Some hosts may offer “unlimited storage”: caveat emptor! If you read the fine print (usually, the Terms and Services) you’ll find that it’s unlimited until you go over the “normal site usage.” If you think you might be close to or over whatever “normal” is, make sure you know what you can use before buying … or go with a host that sets clear limits.

2. Amount of Bandwidth

When looking for a web host, you’ll often see storage and bandwidth hand in hand. What is bandwidth? It’s the amount of data that your host will let you and your visitors upload and download (cumulatively) in a given month. Say your website is 1 megabyte of data and your monthly bandwidth is 10 MB. At the beginning of the month, you upload the entire site; now you’ve used up one MB of bandwidth. If a visitor to your site views every page, they will have downloaded 1MB of data. That means you can have up to 9 visitors in that month (assuming each views your whole site). After that, your web host will either not allow any more visitors, or (more likely) charge you extra per MB. Of course, your bandwidth is something you’ll want to keep an eye on, especially if you run a fairly popular site or do something media intensive (like host your own video, or high-res photos). Just like storage, some hosts offer “unlimited” bandwidth; again, if you think you’ll be in a grey area, find out the limits or choose a host that sets the bar where all can see it.

3. Number of Domains and Subdomains

Once you’re running one site, there’s a good chance it won’t be long until you’ve got a second one up … and then a third. It would be a pain to have to manage a hosting account for each site you own, so make sure your web host will let you host multiple domains. Often, there will be a limit on how many domains you can have on one account; make sure it will accomodate you! Usually, there will be a section in the admin panel for adding your domains and choosing which sub-folders each one will point to. The same is true for sub-domains.

4. Email Accounts and Features

Many web hosts also offer email account for your domains. You’ll want to know how many email accounts they’ll let you set up; also, don’t forget to check out their selections for receiving that mail. Do they have a webmail interface? Multiple ones that you can select from? How about integration with Google Apps (for the Gmail interface)? Can you get your mail in your client of choice via IMAP, or do they only offer POP?

5. Database Support

Now-a-days, even small websites seem to have a database on the back end. You’ll want to make sure you can use the type of database you’re comfortable with. Most hosts today offer MySQL; that’s probably enough for most people, but if you’d prefer PostsgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or another flavour, don’t settle for anything less. Remember, if they aren’t advertising it, they probably don’t offer it!

6. Framework Support and Easy-Install

A lot of web hosts offer support for popular frameworks, blogging systems, or CMSes. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of Nettuts’ readers are WordPress fans: it’s always nice when your web host offers a one-click install (or at least a super easy set-up) for WordPress or your CMS of choice.

7. Mobile App or Website

For most people, this will probably be a nice extra; however, I’m sure there’s something who will find having a mobile app to access your site administration / statistics on the go indespensible. While I only know of two hosts (MediaTemple and SliceHost) that currently offer iPhone and Android apps (MediaTemple’s Android app is forthcoming ), I’m sure most hosts will follow their lead. Both offer mobile websites as well, and I’m sure other hosts have the same.

8. Tech Support

This one is very important: find out exactly what your prospective host offers for tech support: can you phone them? At what times? Do they have a support email address? A ticket system? What’s their promised response time? How about a live chat? Do they have a wiki or library of help articles / tutorials? Don’t choose a host until you know exactly what support they offer; you’ll be happy for it later, trust me!

9. Shell Access

If you’re a little more advanced, you might want to consider choosing a host that offers shell access: that’s logging into your server from the command line over SSH. You’ll be able to securely copy files up and down, change file permissions for whole groups of files quickly and easily, and perform a multitude of other tasks. If you want this feature, you’ll know all that you do with it!

10. .htaccess Files

Here’s another important one: you’ll want the ability to add your own .htaccess files to your directories. What’s a .htaccess file? It’s a configuration file used by Apache server. You can use them to password protect directories, re-write URLs, redirect pages, and more. Check out the many good tuts here on Nettuts+ to get familiar with them.

11. Cron Jobs

Cron jobs are another great feature to have on your web host (and there’s a good chance you’ll have them if you’ve got shell access). Cron is a “time-based job scheduler” (thanks, Wikipedia) that you can use to perform tasks on the server at given times. To learn more about how to use Cron and what you can do with it, check out the great Cron tutorial we ran back in January.

12. Language Support

This should go without saying, but make sure the host you plan to choose offers support for the server-side languages you want to use. If you plan to pick up Ruby on Rails in the next few months, you probably want to see it on the list of supported frameworks. If you want to use Django, make sure there’s Python support. Don’t lock yourself into having PHP as your only option (unless you’re sure that’s all you’ll ever want or need!).

13. Free AdWords

While not a necessarily something you need, it’s something you’ll probably want to take advantage of: many hosts offer some Google AdWords credit (usually ~$50, I’ve found) or some other form of advertising. Even if you’d rather use another advertising proxy, you can’t beat free: you might as well use it!

14. Site Backup

Don’t think that your web host is any less suseptible to data loss than your own computers; remember, servers are just big computers that everyone can read files from! What backup options, if any, does your host provide? You’ll want to back up both your site files and databases. If they don’t offer backup, figure out how you’ll be able to do it yourself: this might be one of the places that shell access and cron come in handy!

15. Choice of OS

For most people, this won’t be a big issue. Of course, if you’re developing in ASP.NET, you’ll need Windows hosting; that’s a little harder to find, and often a bit more expensive, but if you’re a Microsoft developer, the extra cost will be worth it. (If you’re interesting in learning about ASP.NET, check out our great tuts on the subject.) If you’re using an open source language, you probably won’t need to worry about which Linux/Unix distribution you’ll get; however, some hosts give you options, and some developers may have preferences, so it’s worth mentioning.

16. Extra Applications

We already talked about content management systems, but sometimes you’ll want a something more. Several hosts offer set-ups for social features like forums, bulletin boards, mailing lists. If you’ll be running an online store, some hosts offer setups for eCommerce solutions.

17. Up-to-Date-ness

If you can, find out what software versions the host you are considering offers. Some hosts aren’t quick to upgrade to the latest offering, while others will let you choose which version you want. There are few things worse than signing up for a year of hosting only to discover your host is running PHP 4.x (yes, I’ve made that mistake).

18. Up-Time

I’m sure I don’t have to convince you that it’s important to know that your visitors will be able to get to your site when they try! Find out how reliable your prospective host is; when you’re doing this, it’s important to read the fine print. Often, hosts will stretch the truth a bit (claiming 99.9% uptime, not counting almost everything that could go wrong), so make sure you understand exactly what “100% uptime” means. It would be a wise move to google around and see what other users and reviewers have said about the host.

19. Free Domain

While you may already have a domain name, there’s no such thing as too many of them. Most hosts offer this, but all else being equal, a shiny new domain name is a good enough reason to go with one host over the other.

Conclusion: What’s your tip?

I’m sure you’ve got some great tips for choosing a web hosting solution. If you do, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments! Also, let us know what hosts you’ve found reliable and which ones have come back to bite you.

For the full article go to: 19 Important Features to Look for in a Web Host

As a veteran designer, developer and project manager for more websites than I can count, I’ve identified a common problem with many Web projects: failure to plan. The same issues come up repeatedly in my work, so I’ve written this guide in order to help clients, other designers, businesses and organizations plan and realize successful websites.

This guide is written in relatively non-technical language and provides a broad overview of the process of developing a website, from the initial needs assessment through the launch, maintenance and follow-up. It is appropriate for:

• Small and medium-sized businesses;
• Organizations;
• Institutions;
• Web designers, developers, and design and development firms.

If you’re building a four-page website for your family reunion or a 5000-page website for a Fortune 500 company, then this guide might not be for you; it will either be too detailed or way too short, respectively.

Why Plan?

Planning is essential for most businesses and organizations. In practice, many people fail to plan their websites. Sometimes the ever-busy, dynamic nature of running a business is to blame; there are so many operational demands that proper time is not allotted to projects. But this often happens because people fail to recognize that planning for the Web is just as important as planning for anything else in a business.

The (Lengthy) Deck Example

Consider the example of building a deck. If you want a deck for your house, you probably won’t call several carpenters and ask, “How much is a deck?” If you do, you’ll get the smart answer: “It depends.” In order to provide you with an estimate, a carpenter needs some details about the project:

• What kind of wood? Cedar? Treated? Synthetic?
• Where exactly will the deck go? Are there any obstacles to work around?
• What height will it be, and how many levels will it have?
• Do you want benches, railings, built-in planters?
• Do you have clearance to bring special equipment into your yard?

Then there is the host of other things for the carpenter to consider: scheduling, building permits, inspection, maintenance, etc. That’s why a smart carpenter will answer your simple question with “it depends.”

It makes sense to meet with more than one contractor to address the questions above and more. When you choose a carpenter, they should provide a detailed plan that you both sign. Throughout the building process, the carpenter should check in with you periodically and discuss potential challenges and snags.

Full the full article, go to: A Comprehensive Website Planning Guide

If you’re looking to integrate a credit card payment solution onto your website, the following steps are a guide to applying for, enabling and taking payments online.

At first glance, the prospect of integrating a payment solution on a website can seem unwieldy, what with the vast array of payment options and technical acronyms. This article breaks down the entire process into bite-sized pieces, helping you understand the process much better.

Apply For An IMA

When taking any kind of credit card payments connected to a bank account, you must apply for a merchant account with a bank. If the payments will be taken online, you’ll specifically need an Internet Merchant Account (IMA). In addition to banks, in many locations there are dedicated merchant account providers you can use.

Even if you currently take “card-not-present” payments (such as for mail orders) or use in-store payment terminals (such as chip-and-pin), you still have to speak with your bank about taking payments via your website (ask your bank for an additional IMA ID).

As a broad overview, your bank acts as the “acquirer,” which confirms available funds, authorizes transactions and exchanges funds with the issuing bank of the credit card (e.g. Visa, MasterCard), i.e. the card holder’s bank. The funds are then transferred to your account (the merchant), minus the applicable fees. The issuing bank’s charges are called interchange fees, and your bank’s fees are the acquirer’s fees. As the merchant, you should be informed of any fees prior to signing the merchant services agreement with your bank and payment service provider (more about this further down).

MASTER-VISA-CIRRUS in Taking Credit Card Payments Online: What’s Involved?

Your acquiring bank will expect your website to operate within a strict set of rules in order for them to comply with their own security procedures and government legislation (more on that later, too). Some credit card providers have developed the technology to allow card holders to authenticate themselves online. MasterCard’s is called MasterCard SecureCode, and Visa’s is called Verified by Visa.

It’s worth noting that it is possible to process Internet payments manually, using your regular point of sale system. This isn’t recommended, though, partly due to security reasons, and partly because it can quickly become too much work to manually process payments taken through your website (do you really want to have to key in a thousand individual cards if you suddenly have a huge uptick in sales?). Also, some merchant agreements may specifically prohibit this type of payment processing. Even if you do decide to process payments manually, you’ll still need an Internet Merchant Account, because it’s where the transaction is initiated that counts, not where it’s eventually processed.

Select A PSP

In addition to an IMA, you will need to use the services of a payment service provider (PSP). Commonly, PSPs handle the pages on a website where customers submit their payment details. PSPs provide a “virtual” cashier, or point-of-sale terminal, that collects card details, screens for fraud and securely passes the details to your acquiring bank for processing. PSPs are sometimes referred to as payment gateways.

The PSPs offer various packages and rates to suit the requirements of different merchants. The main difference between packages comes down to whether you want to host the secure payment pages on the PSP’s servers or on your own server. Some PSPs also provide tailored solutions.

It’s worth noting that some PSPs also provide IMAs, and some acquiring banks provide PSP services.
Payment-Processing Companies

As is often the case, there are alternatives to the approach outlined above, especially if you want to avoid the challenge of technically implementing one of these solutions. One alternative is to use the services of a payment-processing company. This option eliminates the need to apply for an IMA and PSP separately. The application process of a payment processing service is usually a lot less stringent than that for an IMA, which results in a faster set-up, especially if you have little or no trading history.

The disadvantage is that your customers will be sent to the processing company’s website in order to make their payment. Also, settlement periods can take much longer (up to 60 days), and your overall cost may be slightly higher than if you had gone with an IMA and PSP.

Not all payment-processing companies operate like this, though. Some companies, including PayPal and Google Checkout, remit payment immediately in most cases, directly into your account. In other words, as soon as the payment is made by your customer, the money is deposited into your merchant account.

For more Read On »

1. Be brief, and to the point. Keep sentences short; paragraphs shorter.
2. Be conversational – avoid sleep-inducing clichés such as “cutting-edge”, “innovative solutions” and “world-class product”: these phrases don’t describe anything concrete about what you do.
3. Give evidence – don’t just say how good you are, show proof. Link to client testimonials or samples of your work.
4. Get interactive – give a reason for customers to contact you.
5. Use visuals – graphical content shouldn’t just be there for illustrative or decorative reasons. People skim read web content – use graphics to draw attention to the point you’re making.

There is a fine art to producing good web copy. Have a look at this article “Copy is Dead” for more tips and approaches to making sure your web copy works for you!

Copy is Dead: Why Friendly and Simple Speech is Better than Marketing Copy

It may be hyperbole, but copy as we know it is nearly useless. Why is that? First we must define what copy is: copy is marketing text designed to persuade users to take action. Today, copy is less successful at persuading users and moving them forward than it has been in the past. Marketing and branding is changing, especially on the web.

Now value and brevity are more important than ever before as Internet users become more impatient, more cynical, and even more demanding. How do we combat such cynicism and increasing skepticism? The answer is clear text with interactive proof.

A different landscape

Nowadays I see hundreds of designers and marketing professionals treating websites like they are billboards, television commercials, or magazine ads. Copy as a marketing tool was developed for these more traditional methods where persuasion is everything. We cannot treat the web like it’s just another presentation medium.

The web has a powerful new ingredient: interactivity. The interactive element completely changes the game. Now customers can quickly evaluate and move on. We no longer have the luxury of pure brand exposure and time for product ideal-isms to simmer in their heads. Traditional methods of writing copy are losing effectiveness because the way they persuade is fundamentally about ideas and not about backing it up.

Credibility is harder to come by

The web as a medium levels businesses and products on to the same playing field. Before the Internet was born, having advertising in traditional spaces was enough because there was a financial barrier. The Internet breaks down such pricing barriers and allows smaller products and companies to speak with users on the same terms as potentially multi-billion dollar companies.

This means that you can no longer just speak with credibility — you must show it, support and feature it. Even as Internet scams become more rampant, users have gained access to tools that make it extremely easy to check into the validity of an offer.

Customers are experienced

Consumers are bombarded with a stream of advertising, marketing and sales pitches. In past media customers learned to expect advertising in certain places, but now they are subject to persuasive speech and image during most of their time on the web. In short, our users have become experienced and savvy when it comes to marketing. How can they not be? If familiarity breeds contempt then most users must hate marketing.

Copy usage on the web has become a multi-layered fight. First, we must break through the skepticism, fight the cynicism and address the reality. Great sounding text, slick promises and professionalism don’t get you very far anymore. Consumers are demanding more of marketing and in less time.

The road ahead

Okay, so I lied. Copy isn’t dead; it’s just outdated. The question now is what designers and marketing professionals need to do about it. The answer: adapt and build a better approach, and that approach is known as interactive copy.

Be Direct

Copy is no longer about just persuading the user. You have precious little time to capture attention and interest, so don’t mince words. When you communicate clearly and directly, users will respond.

Setting up the needs was a valuable tool in the past, but users no longer have the patience for it. Get straight to the point.

Be Brief

I could tell you that the new user doesn’t have a large attention span and that quick copy is a time limit issue, but that’s really not the case. You have limited time because users have gotten good at seeing through poorly crafted offers. Brevity does one powerful thing: it communicates confidence.

When was the last time an expert in their field had to convince people that he is good at what he does? Probably not too recently. Achievement breeds confidence. People are aware of this and recognize when it’s absent. If your copy is long winded, it can come off as desperate and feel like you are trying too hard to prove something. Be confident and be brief.

Prove it

Gone are the days when you could just convince a customer that your product or service was good. Users will ignore copy if it isn’t backed up by testimonials, portfolio, case studies, free trials, or more. “Take my word for it” is basically useless now. Users today are terrified of bad decisions and the Internet doesn’t have the best record for providing ethical companies that deliver on their promises.

You may look good and sound good but users are more skeptical than ever. You must offer tangible proof, and keep the user engaged and moving forward in the process.

Be Interactive

The web is an interactive medium. You have a powerful opportunity to not only provide the user with a path to your product or service but the ability to engage them. Never before have you been able to offer a promise and immediately engage the user to show them why it’s true.

Interactive Copy is all about momentum. If you can build it up by generating a valid question and moving the user to the next step, don’t leave them hanging with no direct way to get to the answers. Not only should copy be an active step in the process but it should act like it. Make your links and buttons react to user input and activity. Just like a confident and charismatic salesman can work wonders so can copy and calls to action that provide feedback.

Generate Momentum

With Interactive Copy, one of the new tools we can leverage is momentum. Building up urgency and process movement is critical to effective sales. The way to build up effective momentum is crafting scarcity into your calls to action. The user is not watching a TV show, driving or reading a magazine. They are on your website looking at your product or service. If you don’t call them to engage in the process then you are inviting them to procrastinate and think it over.

Scarcity breeds value and urgency. If they feel the offer is temporary, they’ll act sooner. This builds more momentum. Always move the user forward with urgency, calls to action, and justifiable intent.

Interactive copy is here to stay

While there are whole other articles (and even books) written about good copy-writing and marketing tactics, we are dealing with a new breed of user and a new approach with a brand new tool-set for persuasion. Engage your users, provide them with ways to interact with your copy, and the result will be momentum toward sales and, eventually, success.

You can’t escape it. Everyone’s talking about HTML5. it’s perhaps the most hyped technology since people started putting rounded corners on everything and using unnecessary gradients.

In fact, a lot of what people call HTML5 is actually just old-fashioned DHTML or AJAX. Mixed in with all the information is a lot of misinformation, so here, JavaScript expert Remy Sharp and Opera’s Bruce Lawson look at some of the myths and sort the truth from the common misconceptions.

Once upon a time, there was a lovely language called HTML, which was so simple that writing websites with it was very easy. So, everyone did, and the Web transformed from a linked collection of physics papers to what we know and love today.

Most pages didn’t conform to the simple rules of the language (because their authors were rightly concerned more with the message than the medium), so every browser had to be forgiving with bad code and do its best to work out what its author wanted to display.

In 1999, the W3C decided to discontinue work on HTML and move the world toward XHTML. This was all good, until a few people noticed that the work to upgrade the language to XHTML2 had very little to do with the real Web. Being XML, the spec required a browser to stop rendering if it encountered an error. And because the W3C was writing a new language that was better than simple old HTML.

For the full article checkout: HTML5: The Facts And The Myths

Google Australia is unchanged, so to try out the new feature go to the Google.com site and have a play.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElubRNRIUg4

Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way.

Benefits

Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.

Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.

Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.

One of the key strategies for an effective SEO campaign is competitor tracking. Knowing who is out ranking you and what they’re doing to achieve the results is the key to improving your performance.

Back in the old days, monitoring the 100’s of SEO variables of your competitors was just as time consuming as running your own SEO campaigns…

Now, thanks to technology and some very clever people, we have a range of tools that do the hard work for us.

To save you the effort of finding the right tools to spy on your competitors – I’ve listed my Top 10 competitor tools below (in no particular order). If you’re serious about SEO – you need to add these to your SEO arsenal.

Some are free, some offer free trials, some will charge nominal monthly fees – all are worth exploring.

Checkout the full article: The Top 10 SEO Competitor Tools for 2010.

It’s important to stand out from the pile, Smashing Magazine has compiled a great business card resource: 

Professionals in any field should always keep business cards on them because you never know when you’ll meet a potential client, partner or like-minded person. Despite their small size, business cards are one of the most powerful and handiest marketing tools. Not only do they create a link between you and your new contact, they’re also a quick way to give a great first impression. Business cards promote your skills and achievements and serve as a little container for big ideas.

Don’t underestimate the process of designing business cards; a well-made card does not just share your contact details: it generates further sharing and buzz. Like any self-promotion tool, designing a business card requires solid brainstorming and careful implementation to get the best effect.

This post targets a diverse audience. It features a collection of remarkable business card designs that could help you in your search for creative ideas. The round-up of fresh tutorials and business card templates further down might come in handy for those who don’t have the skills or experience to design their own.

For the full article go to: Business Card Design Starter Kit: Showcase, Tutorials, Templates.

This article from Design Shack gives you a simple checklist to follow:

As a web designer, you’re probably accustomed to obsessing over the layout and visual appearance of your designs. And if you’re like most, a site’s content is something you’d rather not worry about. But being able to identify weak web copy allows you to offer greater value to your client. By spotting major problems and helping him to solve them, you can position yourself as an expert who works with him…rather than as a labourer who works for him.

And if you know some basic principles for identifying and fixing weak copy, you not only increase your value to your clients—you increase your chances of getting them. Your own website will have stronger copy; more likely to persuade prospects to hire you.

So how can you tell if copy is weak? And what can you do about it if it is? Here are five foolproof questions to get you headed in the right direction.

For more view the full article How Persuasive Is Your Website’s Copy? A Simple, Five-Step Checklist.