A customer asked me today about transforming his site into something he could maintain himself.  I pointed him to WordPress.org.  He asked about setting it up himself and their support record.

We actually use their software quite a bit.  It’s good software and it’s widely used and respected.

The setup time I mentioned, 1-3 hours, is for us to install and configure it for you.  We install the software, we create a template, we convert your site.  In general, we don’t need any of your time to get it going.

Can you do it on your own?  Probably.  Although it can be tricky, it’s not difficult.  It’s just a matter of figuring out what to put where. Also, during the setup process, you do need to understand how the code works and what it does in order to get your site configured properly.

Re: support.  Since I don’t use their monthly service, I have never called them for support.  In general, the companies that sell services
for $10-15 per month can’t do that and provide decent detailed personal support.

Learn more about our fast, affordable and friendly website maintenance service at FastWebUpdates.com.  Try us for just $99.  Since 1996.

You have a website. Great. So does every one of your competitors. How do you stand out? Simple: improve every visitor’s experience every time they visit.

What does that mean? “Improvement” means something different for everyone based on the particular niche they’re looking to scratch. Here are three broad ideas that almost any site can use to deliver a better user experience every time.

The easiest and usually least expensive way to improve the user experience is to add more content. These could be articles (like this one), photos, success stories, etc. Whatever your users come to you for, that’s what you should concentrate on adding. The new materials should be prominently displayed and easy to find.

Your next target should be your site’s interactive elements. Are they as simple as they could be? On your forms, for example, are you asking for any information that you don’t really need? If you are, you’re probably losing potential customers. You should take the time to review your signup, inquiry and/or purchase processes on a regular basis. If you see something that can be simplified, jump on it.

Finally, you should look at your overall design. Is it still valid? If it is, don’t touch it. If parts of it are still valid, address only those parts that need work. A complete site redesign will usually be the most expensive change you can make. It will probably force you to touch almost every page and to rethink questions you decided ages ago. This is not to say that a complete redesign never makes sense. Sometimes sites are like old, dilapidated houses that just need to be torn down and replaced. More often than not, though, elements of the old design can be tweaked to give the site an up to date look and feel for less cost and with less risk.

Regardless of the industry you work in or how big you are, the people who visit your website spend most of their time elsewhere and judge your site accordingly. A regular improvement program is a great way to make your site stand out.

Remember: Don’t wait-update!

There’s a security article making the rounds today (”Look at all these passwords“) that shows the unencrypted content of several major website login screens.  These included a couple of relatively unknown places as well as major sites like Amazon.com and ClassMates.com.  The gist of the article is this: these sites should require all users to authenticate against SSL encrypted login forms.

OK, I can hear you say, but does this really represent a significant security threat?  Do I really need to worry about this for my business’ website?

The short answer: Yes, you need to worry about because getting these passwords is fairly simple.  If you read through the comments on the article, they pretty much tell you how to harvest a significant number of user passwords without a lot of effort.

So, as a website operator, what is your responsibility?

First, make sure you have an encrypted login section and that you require your users to use it.  The days when a significant number of users couldn’t login via SSL are gone.  Forcing everyone to go SSL is quick and easy.

Second, once you have the encrypted login section, make sure you’re submitting the form as an HTTP POST request and not an HTTP GET request.  What’s the difference?  In a GET request, data sent as part of your request to the server is encrypted as part of the address.  Even when you have an SSL connection, the address cannot be encrypted so all data, including the username and password, is visible.  In a POST request, the data is sent as a separate part.  When you have an SSL request, this second part is also encrypted and you data are safe.

Finally, as a website operator you need to store your user’s credentials in something other than plain text.  You have a lot of choices with this one but your goal is simple.  In the event your database is compromised, you want to make sure your users’ information isn’t easy to get at.

The article discussing this is pretty interesting and doesn’t require any special knowledge to understand.  Definitely worth taking a look at.

Tired of all those &^%$# snakes in your $$#@% website?  Don’t panic!

We can help.  FastWebUpdates.com has helped companies like yours do more with their website since 1996. We work with most technologies and can solve most problems quickly and easily.

And, if you’re just looking for some fresh ideas or a content update, we can help with that, too.

Learn more at our main site.

I’m doing some research on Google Checkout this morning, and I just ran across this.  Can’t read it?  Neither can I.

If you’re going to bother putting together a blog, make sure people can at least read something on it other than the ads.