Archive for category Website Talk

Sitemeter vs Google Analytics – Got Sitetracking

Posted by admin in Website Talk on March 8, 2010

So I am going to start a hot debate, and I know every webmaster uses either Sitemeter or Google Analytics to track what people do on their website. I guess it would be like asking people if they like Mac or PC. You are going to get the diehard Mac fans (thats me) or the PC lovers. (got another idea for a blog post now ;)

But anyways this subject is on Sitemeter Vs Google Analytics so I guess I will just have to stick to the point. I am not going to reveal my pick until the end of this blog post, so maybe that will give you an incentive to keep reading (or maybe just skip to the bottom.)

Sitemeter

Really, really, simple to use. It is free unless you want to upgrade to their paid service. Which unless you got heaps and heaps of traffic I would just recommend going with there free version. Then in the other hand if you are big ballin than maybe you can afford the $6 a month or whatever it is running these days. You do have to sign up for one account for each website, though.
You do have to display a little seal for their service unless you pay for it though. Unless you figure out a way to mask it. There are ways to do it, though. You can view exactly where all your traffic is coming from which only seems to be delayed by a minute or less, which is really neat. So have fun sitting by the computer hammering the refresh button every couple minutes. Also, you can have the results sent your email every day, week, or month.

Google Analytics

This is a little more advanced than Sitemeter. It does not cost a dime though. So I guess that is one advantage of Google Analytics. However, you do NOT have to sign up for every account like you do for Sitemeter. You can easily sign up for a google account, and have the results sent to you whenever you would like.
As far as features there seems to be a lot more than you can do with Google Analytics. You are just provided with a lot more stats than you can ever imagine. I am talking about visits, impressions, clicks, CTR, CPC, RPC, ROI, Margin, bounce rate, ect.

Sitemeter Vs Google Analytics

So which one do I prefer? Well, the truth is I have used them both on a number of occasions. My opinion is kind of biased because I use Sitemeter on all of my sites, however on my clients sites I tend to use Google Analytics. Honestly, before writing this blog post, I was kind of set in stone on Sitemeter as being better because it is a little easier to use. Then again, I use it more, so maybe that is why it is easier to use for me.

At this point in time I prefer Sitemeter though, although I do just use their free service. However, in the next couple months I might try experimenting with Google Analytics a bit more and see if I still feel Sitemeter is the best for me.

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Cheap Website Design Templates – Get What You Pay For?

Posted by admin in Website Talk on January 4, 2010

Cheap Website TemplatesTalk about how time consuming or expensive it can be to design a website.  Not to mention outsourcing someone out to create you a webpage.  The bill can easily be in the 1000′s very quickly.  Trust me I know, I am a designer and it does cost a lot to build or develop a website.  However, there is an alternative that you can take verses outsourcing someone to do the work for you.  You could choose to take advantage of cheap website templates and save yourself a huge hassle.

Free Templates

First, let me start by saying that free templates; you usually get what you pay for.  Half of the time their templates do not function correctly or the divs are not aligned correctly.  Another thing that bugs me about free templates is that they are not very dynamic at all.  Sometimes you need to make a lot of changes to a website, and the free route can cause you to bang your head up against the wall from the frustration of dealing with it.  Whatever the case may be they are free and you get what you pay for in this case.

Website Template Tips

However, when you are seeking cheap website templates there are a couple things that you do need to bear in mind.  For starters you don’t want to get too caught up on the colors, because these can be interchanged. You want to look at the overall structure and can it be used for what you are desiring.

Does it look cheesy or just plain amateur.  A lot of times people are going for really novice looking designs because they do not want to have to spend an arm and a leg.  However, if you are running a business online you do need to have a look that is professional and unique to your market.

Can the template be used with an effective content management system?  If you are new to CMS (content management systems I would check out this post on content management systems.)

So please do bear in mind there are some good templates out there that can really benefit you, but outsourcing someone to develop a site for you can be quite pricy at times.

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Securing Your Website Should be a Serious Business

Posted by admin in Website Talk on December 2, 2009

Secured BusinessesYour website serves as a front to your clients or customers.  You improve it by making it visible to as many viewers as you can, including threats and hackers.  Some hackers exploit websites for purpose of destroying your business or getting their malicious wares to your viewers.  Thus, it is but imperative that you take action in securing your website.
What are the methods used by hackers in exploiting your site?  The following are the commonly used tricks/medthods that causes threats to your business websites:

SQL Injection Method

This method is done by sending false or malicious request to your machine’s database and manipulate the informations stored in it.  Upon access to your database, the hacker may then make changes, or erase information within your site.  If your website features shopping carts, search fields, and any web fields, this requires interaction from viewers and opens door to hackers, making your site susceptible to SQL injection.

Cross Site Scripting Method

Dynamic pages opens opportunities to hackers to input false codes, which visitors may trigger to run a harmful script on their computers.  This usually victimize the end users of your websites, allowing hackers penetrate their database stored in local pc.  Cross site initializes sequence through programs like Active X, Flash, and Javascript.

CLRF Injection Method

The CLRF Injection method posts high risks to websites and may disable it entirely.  This method manipulates the way Software is scripted or programmed. Here, during the first development stage of web design, the hacker inserts a statement into a web form together with code from Carriage Return (CR) and Line Feed (LF) characters.  This causes the error in web development.

With the three (3) mentioned method, your awareness of the risks posted on your web should not be set aside and should be given consideration.

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A New Meaning for Content Management System

Posted by admin in Website Talk on November 20, 2009

Content Management SystemCMS stands for Content Management System, a program for websites that improves the performance of a web page.  So a good CMS (Content Management System) will be search engine friendly.   That is the sole purpose behind a good CMS.  Also, you should be able to change your link url without breaking the path between your website and Google.  In essence you should be able to manipulate these easily.  All to often I see webmasters that will create a site and then change everything around because they do not have a good CMS installed and lose all their natural traffic.  This is very bad.

Tags, Tags, Tags

Your tag management is also very important ant because and you should be able to make changes per page rather than just as a whole.  Along with being able to make changes when you need it is extremely important that you have your keywords in your tags.  You will get extra brownie points from the search engine this way.

Also, you hear all the time that meta tags are not that important anymore.  Well this certainly doesn’t mean they are useless.  However, you do need to have them on your site.  A good CMS will allow you to edit your meta keywords, meta description, ect.  It is really advised to still put meta tags in on your site.  The key is, just make sure they are relevant to your site.  If you do not use those words on your page then it could actually hurt you.

Last, but not lease and there are ton of more elements that a good CMS will have but it has to be dynamic.  It should have the capability to work with canonical issues.  In plain English, you should make sure that everything is in the same version, rather than having various versions.  Once free CMS I use everyday is WordPress.  I would highly recommend you read this article on CMS and WordPress.

Now I know you have probably ran across good CMS’s and not so good CMS’s.  I would like to hear your questions and comments on this subject.

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