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The predicted end to dropping DS3 bandwidth pricing is premature as the downward pricing trend continues. Service providers are up against stiffer competition and are desperate for new customers to fill their pipes and turn a profit. If you’re ready to negotiate for a rock bottom price, first consider a few of the reasons for the drop in price on DS3 bandwith. A little preperation will allow you to take best advantage of the situation.
DS3 bandwidth pricing had reduced as companies have gone out of business and the large number of telecommunications companies are fighting for a place in a smaller market. While many service providers did have room to lose margin, many have come dangerously close to the edge of selling circuits at a loss and many have gone beyond this point. It seems that in the race to the bottom many providers failed to learn the lesson that selling at a loss does not create a long lasting and healthy company no matter how many circuits or widgets you sell. Many companies selling at a loss have already been in bankruptcy and look like they will repeat this exercise as they did not learn from their first go around. So, solvency of the DS3 bandwidth provider should be a consideration when looking at great bargains.
Another consideration in bargain shopping for DS3 service is the fact that all DS3’s are not created equal. Many providers are convinced (and rightly so) that customers are focused on price and are not concerned with quality of service. Many providers are now oversubscribing DS3 service connections as though they were DSL connections. This means you may not get the bandwidth you thought you would get. Make sure when you look for that bargain price you also review the SLA (Service Level Agreement) and make sure the contract protects you and guarantees you will get the bandwidth to which they committed. Remember, when bargain hunting for DS3 service you’ll most likely get what you pay for.
So the general moral to the story is by all means do negotiate for the best price you can get. But….ensure that critical factors such as reliability, Service Level Agreement, QoS, and scalability are met in addition to price attractiveness. For this I receommend sticking with a Tier1 provider for best price AND piece of mind. It just makes business sense.
Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications….including DS3-Bandwidth.com and Business-VoIP-Solution.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you’re always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.
There is a widespread confusion among lots of new website
designer concerning the home page.
If you get any book, any course, or ask most web page designer
how to build a website, they will advise you to build your
home page first.
It is a good idea, and most website designers start with
creating a home page first. The problem is, some web designer
think if they deleted the home page, the whole website is gone.
So, what they do is deleting all directories and sub-directories and the files within, and they start building the website from the ground up.
This is lots of work, and it is not needed. The solution is
very simple. You can delete, or edit the home page without
affecting the rest of the structure of your website.
As a matter of fact, your website stays intact with one
difference only. The only difference is, when you type the URL
of the website, you will be presented with a list of links to
the files in the home directory, and sub-directories of the website.
The home directory of the website is /www folder where the
home page (index.html) resides with other files, that can be
accessed when you type the URL with the file name appended to
the URL.
For example, suppose you have a website with the following pages: index.html ( home page), contact.html, about.html, and privcy.html. If you delete index.html by mistake or for any other reason, you will be left with the three above files in the home directory (/www).
So, if someone types your URL, instead of the home page, the website will display the list of the three above files. With each file, you will find its size, date created or modified, type , and other properties.
In other cases, where you have more than few pages on your website, the whole structure of your website will be displayed. That is all directories, sub-directories.
Now depending on the permission on each directory, some you can
access, others you can not.
In summary, if you are in the process of editing your home page
for any reason, and it was inaccessible for a short period of time,it is not a problem. Your website directories and files are still there.
However, as long as your home page is not present, your visitors
can see the structure of your website. So, may sure have a directory on your website with permission set so that no one except you have access to it. This where you hide files you don’t want others to see.
Article published by George Chamoun. I have been involved with web page design for two years. During that time, I have a acquired an intermediate knowledge. If you are new to this field, and want to learn web page design, join my list for tips and tricks about HTML coding, web page design, and website building. Just visit my subscription page by clicking the link to get your free 7 part tutorial. It is free, and you
can unsubscribe anytime. http://www.HowToUseHtml.com/
One of the frustrating things in web design currently is the failure of major browsers to stick to one set of standards in what html tags are supported and how they are interpreted. If you are designing using CSS, it doesn’t take long to realise that using the margin, padding and width properties often results in some stray pixels. The rule governing these things is called the CSS box model.
Unfortunately, IE5/win had its own ideas about the box model and interprets width as the distance between the outer edges of the box borders whereas the correct interpretation is the distance between the outer edges of the actual content (the inner edges of the padding).
This is just one of the many problems you encounter when you start thinking beyond how your page renders in just your own browser with your screen resolution. The method I use on my sites to reign in those pesky browser variations is to use a strict document type definition (DTD) on all pages. It can restrict some aspects of your creativity, but in terms of getting everything in the same place in different browsers, it makes things a lot easier. To do this, just add the following as the first line of your HTML document (before the tag):
Everyone join the campaign for standards compliance among browsers so we can stop losing time making our pages cross-browser compatible!!
Jon Collins has nearly 10 years experience of taming HTML.
For more information that will make your website stand out from the crowd of average sites, visit UK Webmaster Advice.
If you have decided you or your company is in need of a website, you will have to purchase web hosting services from a hosting company. There are many different web-hosting companies to choose from, and they can easily be found on the internet. If you do a quick search for them in any search engine, you will find that there are almost too many to count. Choosing the company that is right for you can be a harrowing experience, but there are really only a few basic things to consider.
The first factor to consider when choosing a web hosting company is how much space they will give you for your account. If you merely want a single page on the Internet with little or no graphics, you can get by with purchasing an account with the smallest amount of space available. However, if you are planning to create a full e-commerce site with multiple pages and order forms, you will need to make sure you have enough server space to support your entire operation.
Before you sign your web-hosting contract, you will first have to choose and purchase a domain name. Though many of the names you might want are already taken, you can often find one that suits your needs, especially if you get creative with it. For instance, if your business is called Cards For You and that domain name is already taken, you might consider choosing More Cards For You or Cards For You Today. The possibilities are endless, and with a little thought you will be able to think of a snappy domain name.
You can often purchase a domain name through your web hosting company, or you can purchase it through a private domain name retailer. These companies are very easy to find. Often times, if you type the domain name you want into a search engine, a domain name seller will pop up if the name is not already taken. You can purchase a domain name for a year at a time, or for several years, depending on how much you want to invest at the get-go.
Once you have a domain name, you will of course have to create a website to put on the Internet. There are many do-it-yourself web design programs that are fairly user friendly. Software like FrontPage makes web design a cut and paste, fill in the blank soft of affair. However, if you would like a more professional look, you can use programs like Dreamweaver or Image Ready to make your sites. There are always freelance web designers looking for work who are ready to take on your cause if you are not savvy enough to do it yourself.
Web hosting companies give passwords to allow you access your space on their servers. You can upload files and pages using their own interface programs, or you can utilize the upload tools built in to your web design program. Once you upload a page, it is important to make sure it looks correct on a variety of different web browsers. Because each browser interprets information differently, you may run into trouble if you build a site while only previewing it in Internet Explorer. There are often compatibility issues between Safari and Mozilla browsers that distort site tables and images.
However, once you work out the kinks and create an excellent site, all you have to do is pay your web hosting bills, and your site will be available for the whole world to see. Web hosting companies usually offer options regarding payment plans. You can pay for a year at a time, or you can monthly or quarterly to maintain your place on the World Wide Web.
Sintilia Miecevole has many years experience on the internet. Be sure to visit www.ritzyhosting.com for expert information on hosting, providers, host finders, resources, reviews, reliability and much more. To find the right web hosting plan to meet your business and ecommerce needs click on www.ritzyhosting.com
Web Design is an art, yet following basic steps can help lead even a non-artist to a good design. For the novice or the expert, there is always more to learn with these web design tips.
Web Design Tips
1. Graphic Design of the Site
There is a saying “First impression is the last impression.” The design of the site is one of the most important aspects to be considered while creating a web page. If the design is good and easy to understand then visitors are more likely to view many pages of the site. An ugly, unclear site is likely to result in pages being closed without looking at the content at all. The layout of the entire site should be consistent and each web page should look as a part of one web site. The same content presentation style and color scheme should be followed throughout the pages of the site. The content of the site should be divided into logical sections. For purely artistic sites, there are obviously exceptions to these rules. For sites aiming to make money these guidelines should almost always be followed.
2. Limit the Use of Plug-ins Required to View Your Site
Try to avoid the use of extra components which the user needs to download to view the web page. People tend to avoid downloading unnecessary plug-ins and they might close the web page without viewing it if they have to download and install a new plug-in. However, some external components have become very common. Components such as Java Applets, Shockwave and Flash components, and Active X components are becoming standards for web development.
3. Avoid Unwanted Tools and Effects
Don’t use every tool that is freely available on the market. Page statistics buttons are common, yet most decent web hosts provide the same service with no advertisements required. People also use effects like fade-ins and outs, which can slow down a user looking for information. This is a potential source of irritation.
4. Clear and Concise Content on Web Site
In most cases, the content of a site should be clear so that the visitor knows from the very first page what the site is intended for. To reach the most visitors, the information should be clearly conveyed without the use of jargon that an average person might not understand.
5. Update the Site Regularly
If you want people to revisit your website then make it a point to regularly update your site. If visitors always find new information on your site then they are likely to visit again. If the information is always stagnant then it is very difficult to keep a visitor’s long-term attention.
6. Limit the Use of Graphics
Using many images can cause page downloads to be slow. Slow web sites are irritating to visitors on slow connections and fast connections alike. Further more, search engines do not index text in images.
7. HTML Coding Standards
Proper coding standards should be followed for cross browser compatibility. For example, many people omit the use of alt tag for images and people with slow internet connectivity might have problems viewing the images. If alt tag is present then at least the visitor will know what is missing. Proper height and width attributes ensure the page is viewed correctly as the page loads. http://www.w3.org/ provides a widely used standard.
Web design tips can help you over a hump with a site. Use them to get the most bang for your buck.
Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company offering automated web site systems - www.businesscreatorpro.com - for e-commerce solutions.
THE BRAND STORY - A TALE WORTH TELLING
Every Business Has A Story To Tell
Everybody likes a good story and why not? Stories are
entertaining, instructive, engaging and above all human; they
connect people to people, and businesses to customers. Stories
are about communication and communication is the essence of
marketing.
We have at our disposal the greatest communication tool the
world has ever known, the Internet, and we are wasting it.
Websites are used as if they were corporate brochures. The
techno-experts would even have us remove its visual and kinetic
elements, and turn it into an academic-style journal to please
the SEO gurus. We’ve been there and done that. Search engine
optimization is great, but who is going to go to your website if
it’s boring to view, and tedious to operate. It’s time to move
on.
A Communication Venue For The Rest of Us
The Web is a multimedia communication venue, and with increased
bandwidth and high-speed connections we can use it effectively
to deliver our marketing messages. But communication is a funny
thing, just because we talk, write and present information,
doesn’t mean we are communicating.
Since I am advocating storytelling as a means of delivering your
marketing messages, I will illustrate my point - you guessed it
- with a story. In his book ‘Information Anxiety,’ Richard Saul
Wurman relates the following story attributed to U.S.
Representative Pat Swindall, of Georgia.
“A woman seeking a divorce went to visit her attorney. The first
question he asked her was, ‘Do you have grounds?’
She replied, ‘Yes, about two acres.’
‘Perhaps I’m not making myself clear,’ he said, ‘Do you have a
grudge?’
‘No, but we have a carport,’ she responded.
‘Let me try again. Does your husband beat you up?’ he said
impatiently.
‘No, generally I get up before he does,’ she said.
At this point the attorney decided to try a different tack.
‘Ma’am, are you sure you really want a divorce?’
‘I don’t want one at all, but my husband does. He claims we
have difficulty communicating.’”
It’s a great story; it delivers everything a good story should
communicate: a appoint-of-view, information, emotion, and truth
about the human condition. The only thing that would make this
story more effective is if it was delivered by a human voice
that could add character, emphasis, and personality.
Marketing is nothing more than telling your story in an
effective way that embeds your identity into the minds of your
audience, connecting and communicating who you are, what you do,
and why your audience should be doing it with you. Branding and
positioning are the results, not the process.
So Tell Me A Story - It’s All In the Delivery
One of the great storytellers of the last forty years is radio
broadcaster and commentator, Paul Harvey. In his hay-day he had
everything a great storyteller needed to make a memorable
impression: the voice, the cadence, the attitude, the writing,
and the ’schtick.’
He presented his commentaries as if he was reading the
newspaper, even, reading off the page numbers when he came back
from commercial, “Page Two.” He would craft his stories by
introducing the listener to a character in the most casual way,
perhaps by referring to him or her by a diminutive first name.
By the end of the story, he would tell you who this person
really was and invariably it was someone famous, and the story
he told revealed something unusual or hidden in this person’s
background. Each story had a strong point-of-view, and each
commentary was ended with the tag line, “… and now you know
the rest of the story.” Paul Harvey’s little radio commentaries
are a quintessential example of Sonic Personality© (see
http://www.sonicpersonality.com).
“Content is Not Communication”
Web experts are always talking about ‘content’ and how ‘content
is king’ on the Web, but as Curt Cloninger wrote in his article
‘A Case for Web Storytelling’ “content is not communication.”
Content just lies there until it is delivered in some proactive
manner, and plain text content on your website is as far from
proactive as you can get. Stories must be communicated
effectively if you want to deliver your intended message. Left
alone, your audience will scan, skip, misinterpret and generally
overlook the point you are trying to convey. The only effective
way to make sure your audience doesn’t misconstrue the message
of your story is to deliver it in a human voice: one with
character, cadence, accent, language, and an attitude that
represents who you are. A story well told creates expectations
and relevance; it creates image and identity, and it focuses on
the business promise you must fulfill.
Fakers Need Not Apply
As good as your storyteller is, he or she cannot overcome a
fake. You must be honest to who you are, and what you really do.
Every business has a character, and an operational ethos. Trying
to communicate a message that conflicts with that corporate
character is a prescription for failure. Apple and Dell are both
good companies, but Apple Computer is cutting-edge; Dell is not.
Walmart and The Gap are both successful companies, but The Gap
is cool and Walmart is Walmart. No matter how hard a company
tries, they can’t be something they are not, and trying can only
create false expectations, confusion and failure.
A Blueprint for Creating Your Brand Story
Whether you write the story yourself, or you hire someone to
write it for you, you must first gather the necessary material.
The easiest way to collect material is to create a series of
questions that when answered reveal the Brand Story. Think of
the process as an interview.
The Brand Story Interview 1. What was the original vision of the
company? 2. Who were the company’s founding fathers? 3. How was
the company started? 4. What was the guiding entrepreneurial
philosophy? 5. Is there a creative genius or technical wizard
behind your vision? 6. What is the big idea behind your product
or service? 7. What does your product or service do for your
target audience? 8. Does your vision rely on quality, cost, or
uniqueness of your a. Products, b. Services, c. Knowledge, or d.
Delivery system? 9. Has your focus changed since the company was
founded? 10. What is your vision for the future?
Once the material is collected it must then be put into story
form. You are not writing a research paper, nor are you creating
ad copy. You are telling a story, and as such, it should be
written as a story. If as suggested you’re delivering the story
using audio, you should write it for the spoken word and not for
print. There are a variety of multimedia styles that can be used
ranging from the radio commentary style of Paul Harvey to the
PBS documentary style of Ken Burns featuring accompanying
graphics and photography.
It’s Not Just The Story, It’s How You Tell It
If you’ve ever tried to tell a joke you heard from a
professional comedian and messed it up, you know how important
the telling of a story is. It’s not just the words; it’s the
rhythm, cadence, accent, intonation, point-of-view, and attitude
that makes the story funny, memorable, interesting or
instructive.
Our previous article entitled ‘The Sound of Business’ goes into
detail on how the concept of Sonic Personality©
(http://www.sonicpersonality.com) delivers marketing messages
and Brand Stories in a compelling, inventive, entertaining, and
memorable way. It explains the power of the human voice and the
necessity of integrating it into your website.
The Medium Is the Message
It is hard to believe that there are any companies of any size
or sophistication that don’t have a website, but it is even
harder to understand how so many companies with websites, have
no idea what the Web is.
The Web is typically described in technical terms, but in fact
the Web is merely a venue designed for communication, a place
where conversations take place, where information is exchanged,
and where transactions are conducted. If you can accept the idea
that the Web exists to further your communication efforts, then
it stands to reason that delivering your story is your website’s
‘raison d’etre.’ And without the sound of the human voice, the
delivery of emotional connective content, and the conveyance of
clever, interesting, useful, entertaining, and compelling
stories, the Web is a wasteland, an uncommunitive environment of
random confusion.