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Frequently
Asked Questions
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| General |
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| Q |
What does HTML stand for? |
| A |
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
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| Q |
What is an HTML document or 'Web Page'? |
| A |
An HTML document is a single web page. HTML documents can be
created from the documents you supply or can be written by SOS to organize and link your
other documents (pages).
Picture an HTML document (or Page) as you would an A4 size
printed page.
Too much text content tends to complicate the impact of your message and is unlikely
to appeal to browsing customers. Too much graphic or photo content will also
slow down Web page loading and frustrate prospective customers.
S.O.S will construct efficient web page designs, with graphic impact and optimum loading time. We have the capability to scan in printed documents or graphics (pictures).
Therefore we can either process electronically submitted
documents, e.g., email file attachments or we can create web graphics forwarded as hard copy
photographs by post.
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| Q |
What is a browser? |
| A |
A browser is an application that a person uses to read or view the Internet. The
most popular Browsers are Netscape Navigator and Internet
Explorer.
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| Q |
What is a hyperlink? |
| A |
A hyperlink (also called link) is a word, phrase
or picture highlighted
(normally underlined) on your screen. When
you click on it, your browser jumps to another location page either within the current website, or outside the
current page, but still within your web site, or to another web site.
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| Q |
What process takes place
after the initial consultation with yourselves? |
| A |
After the initial consultation, you will be asked to develop and/or provide
us with the text content you want to present as well as a general idea of
how you want your solution to appear and behave. Following that, a structured
quote will be drawn up and explained in plain english. We will describe
the costs associated depending on the package you select as well as any
optional services that may be involved.
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| Q |
How long does the process take? |
| A |
Page developing times will vary but, after the initial consulation, we should
have a good idea of the timescale needed to complete your site.
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| Q |
How
much work do I have to do? |
| A |
Basically, we need to know what you want to be displayed on your web site.
For E-commerce solutions, we will need a little more information such as
product listings, images, etc. Other than the site content itself, you don't
have to do an awful lot. It's often helpful to 'surf' the web looking at
other websites such as competitor ones to get ideas.
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| Q |
What is a scanned-in image? |
| A |
We will scan in the photo or graphic or art you send us, crop it, size it for your
website, adjust color, brightness, and contrast as necessary, and store it in JPEG
or GIF format for use on the Web.
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| Q |
How do I supply electronic images? |
| A |
You must have images available in a .jpg, .psd,
.tiff or .gif file format so that you can attach them to an email message
or save to a disk/CD. You can do this if you have access to a scanner or if the image
was computer generated to begin with. If you are scanning an image
save as a .jpg file as the file size will be reasonably small and the image can be
reduced in size with little reduction in quality.
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| Q |
Where does my website reside when it is
complete? |
| A |
A website physically resides on a Internet Host Server
when we are completed the development phase - at which location it can be accessed by customers
worldwide.
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| Q |
What is a web server? |
| A |
A web server is a computer where a Website physically resides,
and is accessible to others via the World Wide Web. We
can arrange for a place on the World Wide Web for your site.
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| Q |
Do I have to do anything to my computer to have a web site? |
| A |
You don't even have to own a computer to have a web site, but in the normal
course of events, all you need for your computer is one of the popular Internet browsers (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) and an Internet
Service Provider (phone line) access agreement with a local
'provider', e.g, AOL, Freeserve, BT etc., or other.
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| Q |
What is the function of E-Commerce? |
| A |
E-Commerce enables your customers to transact business
on the internet. This includes displaying products, enabling
customers to make selections, calculating invoice amounts, recording
delivery instructions, and confirming orders. E-Commerce pages not only make use of hypertext
links, they also access data from a database and
record data into a database. This is what makes designing E-Commerce Websites
complex to develop.
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| Q |
Is E-commerce safe? |
| A. |
The short answer to this
question is relatively speaking yes, since secure servers encrypt online
transactions making it difficult (but not impossible) to hack into.
It is far easier to pick up a statement out of the bin or look
over someone's shoulder in order to obtain a credit card number. Indeed, it is
more secure than say, giving a card number to someone over the phone.
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| Q |
What are the advantages and disadvantages? |
| A |
First the advantages. Unlike the average high street shop, an online store has the capability to stay
open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Secondly, there is more flexibility
in a website to add and remove a product or products than in printed
catalogues
or brochures. Another advantage is that being online potentially gives exposure
to new previously untapped market segments.
A disadvantage of selling online is the
inability to touch and feel merchandise. As one analyst puts it, to
"kick the tires". The one exception is with shareware programs
where you are allowed to use the programs free for a trial period. More
than anything this is a psychological barrier. As consumers become more
familiar with shopping online this barrier will decrease. It is much
the same as for first time e-mail users. Having got used to paper and envelopes,
sending and receiving mail electronically can at first seem almost
surreal, however with further usage this feeling goes away.
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| Q |
How do I get orders from my site? |
| A |
There are a variety
of ways. You can receive orders through traditional mail or via the telephone.
Orders can be placed by simple e-mail. You could have forms for
customers to fill out with all the necessary information. This way may
be better than simply using e-mail because it ensures all the information
will be included and it looks more professional. If you plan on selling
a variety of products on your site then the use of a shopping cart should
be considered. A shopping cart is a program that uses forms, the difference
being it allows shoppers to store their selections as they go along. Then
when they are finished shopping, they go to the "check out"
area where their order is processed. It makes online shopping easier and
smoother, which is important because the easier you can make it for the
buyer the greater you increase your potential earnings.
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| Q |
How do I take credit cards on-line? |
| A |
There are two things you need in order to take credit cards
on-line. First, you will need a merchant account. Second you will need some type of "Shopping
Cart" or "E-Commerce" package that allows you to build and manage a web store
A Merchant Account is issued by card processors on
behalf of merchant banks. There is a misconception
that merchant accounts are difficult to get. This
is because most major banks do not want to offer
merchant accounts directly to their clients for Internet
or telephone sales because they still consider these
high risk.
Actually, if you have a normal credit record, getting
a merchant account is not difficult.
A Shopping Cart or E-Commerce Package is software
specifically designed to allow you to process orders
on line. We can design and develop a very powerful e-commerce
package in liaison with you and with a full understanding
of your business needs.
This website package will allow customers to select items, place
them in shopping baskets, remove the items if they
change their mind, calculate delivery/shipping charges and process
the order through your card processor or merchant
bank. For you, the merchant, you can easily manage
your store via a secure server. Add or delete items,
update your prices, contact customers and download customer orders to
your local computer.
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| Q |
How
do I assure my customers that my site is safe for
them to give me their credit card? |
| A |
When you purchase an e-commerce or web store hosting
package from us, you will be able to perform all
of your transactions over a secure server. When
your customer clicks onto your secure order form,
a closed lock symbol will appear at the bottom of
their browser window indicating that the transaction
about to take place is secure. Their web browser
will automatically encrypt all information (either
40 bit or 128 bit depending on their browser) using
industry standard methods (Secure Socket Layer or SSL).
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| Q |
How difficult is it for me to build an e-commerce enabled website? |
| A |
This depends on the complexity of what you want to
do.
A small to medium web store can be built using 'off the shelf'
software. However, a website which you wish to have more control over and which
allows your corporate style to be built in is a bit more complex and is something
that we would do for you (see our e-commerce section for more information).
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| Q |
What is a search engine? |
| A |
A search engine is a free world wide web service that allows a user to search
through the millions of web pages for a word, phrase, or category. Different search engines have
different methods of cataloging web sites. Some of the most popular search engines are:
Yahoo, Infoseek, Webcrawler, Excite, Lycos and Alta Vista.
We will
promote your presence on the entire Internet.
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| Q |
Can I submit my site to the Search Engines myself? |
| A
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Yes, if you are able to dedicate the time and
resources to do so. You will also need to be aware of the different registration rules for each
engine. S.O.S can provide a practical training course to explain everything involved.
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| Q |
Do the Search Engines charge for registration? |
| A |
In general, no. However some search engines and directories (such as Yahoo and Looksmart) do offer paid
'express' submission services.
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| Q |
How long will it take for my site to appear on the Search Engines? |
| A |
Depending on the Search Engine, anything from a few
days to several months.
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| Q |
Does SOS guarantee Search Engine placement? |
| A |
No. Once a site has been registered with the Search Engines, the indexing process is entirely out
control. In practice however, we are 100% confident in our ability to achieve effective Search Engine
positions for all our clients.
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| Q |
Are the Search Engine techniques you use unique to SOS? |
| A |
No. There are no unique or secret techniques. All our
Search Engine work is based on years of experience and information freely available in the public domain.
We are always happy to explain to our clients exactly what we're doing on their behalf and how we're doing
it.
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| Q |
Does SOS use 'auto-submission' software? |
| A
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No. All our Search Engine registration activity is
carried out manually. This is the only way of achieving reliable and effective results. Many of the
major Search Engines are able to detect automatic submissions, which they tend to ignore at best or, at worst, penalise the
site, pushing it further down the rankings.
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| Q |
My Website has been live for ages, but isn't receiving any traffic - why is this? |
| A
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The most common reason for this problem is that the
site hasn't been optimised for target search terms and hasn't been effectively registered with the
major Search Engines and Directories. We can help with this.
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| Q |
Will the Search Engines automatically index my whole site? |
| A |
Some will, some won't. Every Search Engine has its
own set of rules, algorithms and operating practices. AltaVista for example, will only index pages
which you register. Google on the other hand will automatically index everything its 'spider' finds.
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| Q |
Will my site's Search Engine ranking always remain the same? |
| A |
No. Search Engine rankings change constantly as new
sites become indexed, old sites are removed and existing sites work to improve their position. The
Search Engines frequently change their ranking algorithms which can also have a major impact. Maintaining and
improving rankings can only be achieved through continuous, long-term, Search
Engine Positioning activity.
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| Q |
What is a Domain name? (Also called URL) |
| A |
A domain name is your business
'www' address (e.g www.shand-online-solutions.co.uk).
URL stands for Universal Resource Locator. It's like a unique internet phone number.
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| Q |
How do I get my own "www.Dot.com" name? |
| A |
These names are controlled by an organisation called InterNIC that ensures
there are not duplicates of names. They charge an initial fee to register your dot.com
domain name and an annual fee for you to be able to keep your domain. We can arrange this for you if you haven't done so already.
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| Q |
Do I need to have my own Domain Name?
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| A |
Ideally, yes. Although not essential to be able to
use E-mail and establish a Web site, there is little reason not to have your own Domain Name as the
cost involved is minimal. Apart from looking more professional and better representing your
company, using a Domain Name to identify your Web site will improve the chances of it being indexed by the Search
Engines and achieving a healthy ranking.
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| Q |
Can I register more than one Domain Name? |
| A |
Yes. In fact you can register as many as you like.
There are of course regulations about who is eligible to register certain types of domain in certain
countries, but there is no restriction on how many you can own and use.
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| Q |
If the Domain Name I want is already registered can I use it? |
| A |
No. Domain Names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis. If the name you want has
been registered by someone else, you have very little option but to choose an alternative.
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| Q |
How do people find out about my
business web site? |
| A |
The best way for people to find out about your web site is to add your URL to
your traditional advertising media. Promote your URL (domain name) on your business
cards, product brochures, magazine, radio,
newspaper, and TV advertisements. Promote it in all
your press releases and in your trade show publications.
Users use Search Engines to find things on the internet.
We will add you to the most popular search engines. You can also
use online
business directories and yellow page sites (e.g www.yell.co.uk) so that people can find your site.
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| Q |
Why do I need a Web Site? |
| A |
Typical reasons a company will want to have a internet website are
to: improve
corporate image, improve customer service, find new prospects, increase visibility,
perform transactions, expand their market, meet their customer expectations,
reduce costs, and get up to speed for the 2000's before it's too late.
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| Q |
My company is based outside Scotland. Can SOS promote my site? |
| A |
Yes. Internet Marketing is an entirely location-independent activity and we welcome
overseas enquiries.
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| Q |
Should I provide links to other sites? |
| A |
Ideally, yes. Although the idea of giving your visitors an easy route out of your site may
sound illogical, in practice sites which provide their users with additional resources and a 'way out' tend
to be more successful because they are more useful. External links also assist the process of gaining 'reciprocal'
links from other sites, which can be an important source of traffic in their own right and also help to increase
your site's 'link popularity'. Link Popularity has a significant impact on Search Engine ranking.
For example, why not provide links to complementary products if you don't sell these yourselves. This willl be welcomed by your customers and the suppliers of complimentary products may then return the favour.
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| Q |
Do I need a Website to take advantage of Internet Marketing? |
| A |
Ideally, yes. However, there are a number of Internet Marketing services which can still be of some
benefit. These include online PR, E-mail Marketing and online Advertising.
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| Q |
Can I use E-mail to blanket mailshot every user in the
country? |
| A |
Potentially, yes. However we would very strongly
advise you not to try! Sending unsolicited e-mail is extremely bad practice, highly in-effective and
will very likely result in serious repercussions for your company. Using E-mail to contact people who
have given their permission for you to do so, however, can be one of the most effective methods of online promotion.
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| Q |
Is Banner Advertising cost-effective? |
| A |
That depends on your objectives. Banner Advertising can be a highly effective
method of brand-building online, but its not so great at immediately generating traffic to your Web
site. The average click-through rate for an ordinary (but well designed and targeted) banner ad is around
0.5%.
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