e-Start-net | Start Business, SEO and Internet Marketing

Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

Every business relies on effective communication with its customers. Communication doesn’t just convey information, it inspires trust, builds credibility, stimulates involvement and generates loyalty. But in today’s global, hi-tech, rapidly changing business environment, how do you ensure you’re communicating effectively?

THE BENCHMARK – FACE-TO-FACE

There’s no doubt that face-to-face communication is the most effective method for most people. Why? Because of its two-way nature. It’s about dialogue. Listeners are not passive participants. When someone talks to us, we send a continuous stream of responses back to them. Some are verbal, but many/most are not. These responses have the power to actually change the message being disseminated by the talker. What’s more, they have the power to change how other listeners’ interpret that message. (Similarly, other listeners have the power to change your interpretation.)

Unfortunately, however, the global nature of business makes it impossible to conduct face-to-face meetings for every communication. So what are the alternatives? Specifically, what are the alternatives offered by technology?

EMAIL – THE STARTING POINT

The benefits of email are numerous and well known, and include (but are not limited to):

•Email is an excellent mechanism for distributing information to people. It is fast and cost effective.

•It is incredibly convenient – you can readily communicate across time zones.

•It provides a useful electronic paper trail.

•It can save a great deal of time because most of the fluff surrounding a phone call (the social niceties) are seen as unnecessary in email.

•It allows recipients to read and respond to messages in their own time.

•The wording, grammar and punctuation in an email can be considered and edited before finally sending.

But email does have its limitations:

•Its lack of social niceties is a double-edged sword. Without the benefit of other communication cues, it’s sometimes hard to interpret the tone of an email, and this can make some messages ambiguous.

•It isn’t ideal for critical communication. For many people, emails are not ‘real-time’ communication. We all have that unaddressed email sitting at the bottom of the list. Because emails are so easy to ignore, they’re also easy to forget.

•Ironically, email’s dissemination effectiveness has been one of the major impediments to its communication effectiveness. It’s so easy to send emails – and they’re so anonymous – that our inboxes are now flooded with SPAM. Consequently, emails are viewed with some suspicion. It’s sometimes hard to identify legitimate emails, but it’s very easy to just hit Delete.

•Because email senders are typically geographically (and often culturally) distant from their recipients, they have no immediate visual and aural cues to help them tailor the message as they type.

But there’s no need to ‘throw out the baby with the bathwater’. Email is an excellent solution to many communication needs. And for those it is ill-equipped to handle, there are newer, more appropriate technologies that are built for the job…

WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES – THE PERFECT SUPPLEMENT

Web 2.0, a term coined by O’Reilly Media (an American media company) in 2004 refers, to a second-generation of internet-based services that let people collaborate and share information online in new ways.

Web 2.0 technologies are well defined in www.wikipaedia.org, which suggests that these sites allow the users of the sites (members) to create and share content, including exploring and discussing ideas, opinions, initiatives and issues. Web 2.0 is all about communication. It is the evolution of the internet from an endless library of static pages to an endless world of conversations. These pages can be restricted to particular individuals (eg the executive), or open to all members. The only difference is that the interaction takes place in cyberspace, and those taking part can be sitting behind a keyboard just about anywhere on the planet.

Importantly, a reader’s understanding of the message in a Web 2.0 communication is determined, not just by the publisher, but also by the responses (e.g. comments) of the audience. What’s more, the publisher’s actual message tends to be far more fluid as it, too, is informed by the responses of the audience. In other words, Web 2.0 services are far more like face-to-face conversations than any communication technology before them.

So what are these emerging technologies that we should be keeping an eye on? The two most notable are ‘Wikis’ and ‘Blogs’. The following definitions are from http://www.wikipedia.org, an online encyclopaedia developed as a wiki.

•Wikis – A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove or otherwise edit and change content. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. Examples include Wikipedia (wikipedia.com) and wikiwikiweb (http://www.wikiwikiweb.com).

•Blogs – A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of online diary or journal which allows one to voice their opinion on something. Blogs often provide commentary or news and information on a particular subject. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media. Blogs are usually text based, but they can include photographs, videos or audio (podcasting). Blogs can be presented in a way that creates a conversation between users. As an example, see the Sydney Morning Herald travel blog (http://blogs.smh.com.au/lostintransit/).

THE USES OF WEB 2.0

As with face-to-face social gatherings and forums, online get togethers attract a broad spectrum of participants eager to engage, entertain, befriend, advise and lecture.

It was reported in The Australian (Tuesday 8 August 2006) that the social computing element of Web 2.0 has recently been embraced by the US Government. The US State Department has started including blogs and other Web 2.0 concepts to deliver public information to citizens. It is also using wiki style services to improve information by permitting small expert communities to improve advisory services.

The same article advised that Australia’s leading information advisory body, the Australian Government Information Management Office, had begun experimenting with the use of blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 technologies.

As new online social networks mushroom, they are becoming increasingly focused on niches, ideally suited to membership based organizations and the NFP sector. Examples of general public social networks include My Space (http://www.myspace.com), Classmates (http://www.classmates.com) and Bikely (bikely.com).

OTHER USEFUL TECHNOLOGIES

•SMS – Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available on most digital mobile phones (and other mobile devices, e.g. a Pocket PC, or occasionally even desktop computers) that permits the sending of short messages between mobile phones, other handheld devices and even landline telephones.

•Podcast – Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, over the internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

•Webinars – Web conferencing is used to hold group meetings or live presentations over the internet. In the early years of the internet, the terms “web conferencing” and “computer conferencing” were often used to refer to group discussions conducted within a message board (via posted text messages), but the term has evolved to refer specifically to “live” or “synchronous” meetings, while the posted message variety of discussion is called a “forum”, “message board”, or “bulletin board”. A webinar is a seminar which is conducted over the World Wide Web. It is a type of web conferencing. In contrast to a Webcast, which is transmission of information in one direction only, a webinar is designed to be interactive between the presenter and audience. A webinar is ‘live’ in the sense that information is conveyed according to an agenda, with a starting and ending time. In most cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen, and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speakerphone. Whilst not necessarily considered Web 2.0, Webinars can also be a useful mechanism for information distribution and discussion amongst membership based organizations and SMS can provide important or urgent confirmations.

CONCLUSION

Email is – and will continue to be – an incredibly useful and convenient communication tool. In fact, with the emergence of new technologies that are either more direct, more immediate, or more like face-to-face communication, email is improved. As businesses supplement their email usage with other communication technologies, email will be increasingly reserved for those communications to which it is ideally suited.

Whether you are an amateur or a professional, gadgets play an essential role in the life of a spy.  Although there are some tools and gadgets which are only designed for specific situations that you may encounter as a spy, there are other gadgets which can be useful to you every single day.  If you are a spy and don’t have these five gadgets, you are missing some valuable tools from your arsenal:

1) Portable Bug Detector-As a spy, you are responsible for not only obtaining information, but also keeping privileged information completely secret.  Whether you are concerned about a phone, room or car bug, a portable bug detector can provide you with the security you need.  Portable bug detectors are extremely easy to operate, and allow you to quickly decide whether or not it is safe to divulge confidential information in your current environment.  Best of all, portable bug detectors are easy to conceal, which means that you can take one everywhere you go.

2) Room Bug-Although you need a portable bug detector to protect yourself, the primary job of a spy is surveillance.  In order to do this, you need to know what other people are talking about.  The best way to accomplish this is with a room bug.  You can place a room bug in any environment, and then listen to the conversation from a secure location.  Because they can only be picked up by radio scanners, Ultra High Frequency (UHF) room bugs are your best option.

3) Binoculars-Since a lot of your surveillance will take place from a distance, it is important to have a pair of binoculars with you.  Having a quality pair of binoculars can mean the difference between whether or not you are successfully able to identify someone.

4) Audio and Video Recorder-This is the gadget that the general population almost always associates with spies.  An audio and video recorder will allow you to obtain and preserve valuable information and evidence.

5) Notepad-This may seem overly obvious, but many spies neglect to carry a notepad with them.  Whether its writing down a license plate number or a description of a suspicious person, a notepad is arguably the most important tool a spy can carry.

It is important that your web host has all the greatest features and technologies. However, you may not be aware of what you should look for in a web host. They all say they are the best, most reliable, etc. but how do you decipher who is really telling the truth? How do you find out what is really important when choosing a web host? In this article you will find the 5 things your web host must have. When you are researching a web host and you come across one that does not have these 5 things just click away to find one that does have what you need.

5 Features Your Web Host Must Have –

1. Greatest Control Panel: The control panel is the place you will be visiting most often, so it should be easy to use, have all the features you need, etc. You can find a great control panel with cPanel, which provides one of the best control panel user experiences among all of the others. CPanel offers more than 42 different icons, 50 of the most used PHP scripts, shopping carts, forums, and even a WordPress blog – one of the best blog hosts out there. cPanel also provides an easy to use layout and navigation so when you do use it you can forget about frustration.

2. On 24-7: Your web host should be working for you around the clock. This will keep your website up and running 99.9% of the time, and the server should be able to locate and repair any problems as soon as they appear. It is rare that a server could become inactive, but if/when it does happen, you do not want it to happen to your website. That could mean lost sales, lost visitors, and maybe even lost customers for life. No one wants that. The web host should be working all of the time – no exceptions. It should constantly monitor your website at least every few minutes for problems, check your server load and RAM, and be able to let administrators know immediately so they can instantaneously fix the problem. Your web host should also provide a fire wall to keep your website safe from hackers, viruses, and anything else that could effect your website.

3. An Outstanding Server: If you want to avoid regular problems and too much downtime (all that can be avoided) you need to find a web host with a reliable server. The web host’s server should have multiple hard drives, good RAM, the latest CPUs, the best power supply, quality motherboards, a great cooling system, and a testing system for all new servers.

4. Linux Servers: No, you do not need windows servers. You should get a web host that uses Linux only. You don’t need to have Linux on your own computer to have a web host that uses Linux. Linux has been shown to be more reliable and able to handle larger loads than other server operating systems. It is even better at virus protection and has a better uptime than others.

5. Free Features: Your web host should provide you with a variety of free features, or features that you can use for a small fee. These features should include things that you can use for your website such as graphics, blogs, paid pages, sub domains, interesting facts to add to your website, forums, and more.