Do you use the same password for your Facebook , Itunes or Email ? if you do then you could be at risk of being caught out by hackers who will then make your life a complete misery. You might think that you have nothing important in your inbox and would it matter if someone logged into your ITunes account.

The answer is yes , with systems like Itunes your personal information is registered on a central database including credit card information , addresses and if you recently backed up your iphone or upgraded the firmware , your entire phonebook , photos , messages and passwords to all your Iphone applications are easily extractable with the right tools. As Itunes is part of the Apple Online Store purchasing apps isn’t the only thing a hacker could buy and the change of address is very simple. If your based outside of the USA you could have issues getting your Apple account terminated or un-locked so remember to keep your password different. If you need a password generator use this one.

Secure Delete Files

Most of us have digital cameras , phones , laptops and computers which store thousands of files which you might wish to keep confidential and secure. If you have deleted a file on a Windows Computer or MAC there is a 90% chance that file can be recovered using simple forensic tools which could span over many years. When a file is deleted the OS (Operating System) actually keeps that file in the partition with an instruction to overwrite it with new information when necessary so just because the file has gone through the recycle bin process its still physically available , this also applies to temporary internet data , logs and caches from applications.

Windows (OS) Secure File Deletion Programs

Simply download a copy of Window Washer or CC Cleaner within the settings options simply change the deletion method to a single pass deletion. If you wish to also erase data you think might be recoverable use the Free Disk Space erase this will clear all the recoverable data with zeros. Another great tool is called Eraser .

If you are selling a laptop and wish to remove all the contents securely download DBAN . Simply make boot from disk or CD and your hard drive will be clean and secure for selling or re-installing.

MAC OSX

The MAC operating system is based on a UNIX file system which is very different to a windows file system. Data recovery as standard through a MAC is more difficult that a windows machine. The MAC OSX has built in secure erase tool which is safe and secure.

We recommend MacKeeper which is low cost and comes with lots of powerful tools.

Keep Data Safe

What would happen if someone stole your computer or laptop and all of your files , including photos and personal information was now at the hands of the criminal and out of your control. The solution is hard disk encryption  , it may sound complicated and something you would expect to see at a military base but more and more people are using full hard disk encryption to keep data safe and yes its 100% secure.

Windows and MAC users please download True Crypt and follow the instructions. Or you can use the built in windows 7 Bit Locker facility of MAC OSX disk encryption tool to create a volume.

A few more security basics !

• Avoid online banking in a public WiFi area , just because the connection is SSL it doesn’t mean your keyboard strokes are not being logged. If you have been on holiday and used the free internet change your password when you get home.

• Change your Facebook privacy settings so Google does not cache all of your personal data in search engines.

• Register for a gmail account and enable the secure login feature , this will send you a SMS code each time you want to access your email. Very handy if your emails are sensitive. Also Gmail keeps a list of I.P addresses that have connected to your account (see bottom) right details link.

• Add screen lock passwords to all of your devices including your phone , most phone applications will automatically log you in as your password is usually stored so just think what a thief could do with all your data.

• Have a Iphone ? get a mobileME account or if you have a HTC get Sense

Mobile Technology

Its estimate that almost 40 million people in the UK have a mobile phone and almost 29 millon people in the UK are registered on Facebook alone creating a huge industry for online marketing and website integration for websites. Facebook advertising allows you to specify your target audience to the exact requirement such as a “ engaged female aged between 18-25 who lives in the north west ” if you operate in a small sector this type of advertising is highly recommended.

If you don’t wish to spend money on CPC cost per click campaigns you can link your website with Facebook using a variety of website tools / badges.

HTML5

Have you seen those animated Google homepages ? did you know that those animations are not individual frames or single videos its HTML5 ! if you are still puzzled you might remember or still see websites that are powered by Flash animation which might appear pretty but companies such as Apple who are known for the Iphone and Ipad don’t support  it which means Flash is slowly fading away. If you would like to read Apples official statement on Flash click here.

HTML5 designed websites are getting more and more popular as browser compatibility for HTML5 and CS3 is becoming more supported.  If you are running Internet Explorer 7 or 8 you really should be upgrading or switching to Google Chrome or Firefox as you could be missing lots of interactive websites that are running HTML5

Google’s Matt Cutts | How to Get Better Visibility on Google

Using Webmaster Tools like an SEO

Where is Google heading in the future?

How much does a domain’s age affect its ranking?

How important is it to have keywords in a domain name?

But…there is a growing a problem which gives any designer or developer a major headache when it comes to implementing this technology into websites.

For example which web browser are you using  to view this page , FireFox ? Internet Explorer ? Chrome or maybe Safari….well if we said that each browser displays web-pages differently you probably wouldn’t think its true…but it is. As this isn’t a problem for the user its is a problem for the developer as certain page elements might not display correctly or function in the correct way unless the site is cross browser compatible.

If this wasn’t a big enough problem , older browsers that have not been updated will also fail to display websites correctly. IE6 and IE7 can almost double programming time for developers due to the lack of compatibility.

Please update your browser to IE9 , or use Google Chrome or Firefox. 

HMTL5 is the future of web design and we will be the universal language for displaying online content through any device or browser over the next century. Compatibility issues will exist but aslong as the device or browser can display HTML5 or CSS3 you know you are getting the best experience while browsing the net.

Interesting Sources

http://www.ie6countdown.com/
http://www.apple.com/html5/
http://html5test.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/html5/default.asp

What about the hidden costs ?

The standard set-up of all online shops requires web hosting which is between £149.99 – £199.99 per year , a SSL certificate which are £75.00 – £100 and a dedicated IP address which is about £3.00 per month. Besides from support the operational costs to running a online shop is around £299.99 per year.

* These costs are currently the average prices that we charge to our clients as from 2011

How can I accept credit cards ?

If you want to accept credit and debit cards on your website you will need a Merchant account such as SagePay , RBS World Pay etc. These types of Merchant accounts are not free and you will be charged a % of all online transactions and a set-up fee.

Alternatively you may stick with the standard merchants such as PayPal , Google Checkout or even just cheque. If necessary you could just have a online shop without the payment function which would still allow you to advertise all of your products and accept email or telephone orders.

What can we offer your business ?

• eCommerce Web Hosting
• Prestashop Installation and Setup
• SSL Certificate Installation
• Dedicated IP Address
• Domain Name (If Required)
• Design Layout / Modification
• Telephone Support / Training
• SEO Implementation

The above list is the a standard implementation required to get you online and selling. We understand that every business is different and you may need face to face training , Google AdWords and much more which will reflect the final cost but as standard the eCommerce package starts from £749.99

For a list of features please click here , if you would like a online shop but can’t afford it right now then we would be happy to work out some agreement with you on a possible percentage of your online sales or a monthly direct debit over a fixed period.

Sources

http://www.thawte.com/ SSL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrestaShop Prestashop Wiki
http://www.prestashop.com Prestashop
http://www.worldpay.com RBS World Pay Merchant
http://www.ebay.co.uk eBay
http://www.paypal.co.uk PayPal Business
http://www.google.com/base Google Merchant Center

The costs of running a online shop

• Web Hosting Hosting
• 128bit SSL Certificate
• Dedicated IP Address
• Domain Name -
• Prestashop Software-
• Integrated Website Design-
• Google Base Account- Google Checkout / PayPal
• SagePay , RBS or HSBC Merchant (optional)

The initial cost we charge is £999.99 which includes 12 Months hosting and SSL certificate , dedicated UK IP Address.

In a nutshell the first year is the most expensive but once your shop is established your renewal costs are on average £249.99 per year.

Prestashop is a global eCommerce application which is used by a growing number of businesses around the world. Prestashop is a open source applicationwhich allows developers and designers use the platform for free of charge under the GNU licence.

Just like Magneto and osCommerce , Prestashop is a leadingand fully supported eCommerce solution for your business.

For a list of Prestashop features please www.prestashop.com If you have received a quote over £999 for a eCommerce website then you could be paying too much , we understand that it is in our interest to win competition but we don’t like to see customers paying over the odds for products that exist for quarter of the price.

If in doubt request multiple quotes from various companies and compare the differences or simply give us a call on 01204 235928.

Do I really need a online shop ?

We understand that not everyone does online shopping and you can’t beat that face to face business or displaying your new products in your shop window but having a online store can open a new world of opportunity for your business and increase sales !

• Sell online 365 days a year ! 24 Hours a day
• Showcase your products or services using photos and videos
• Manage your Stock Levels and Order Management
• Create Newsletters and Keep track of your customers
• Advertise your whole products through Google for free
• Accept mutiple payments through Free Merchants like PayPal
• Generate Invoices , Packing Slips and Order Confirmations
• Link your shop to Facebook or Twitter
• Create your own delivery options and prices

If you would like to discuss the benefits of a eCommerce online shop , or maybe you already have a website that needs that function ability then please give us a call , we offer free consultancy within the Bolton area and possibly in the North West or we are open to any questions at support@boltonwebdesign.net

1. Before you begin you must have FTP control of the website that you wish to be removed from the search engine results. If you don’t have access you will need to contact the domain registrar. If its a .co.uk domain you can use Nominet Whois or for all other TLD’s you can use Whois usually a address or phone number is registered. The last option is to file a complaint with Google using the below links.

2. Okay lets begin to remove this content from Google. First of all you will need a Google Webmaster account. If you already don’t have one please register one by clicking here.

3. So you have registered your account and are now logged into the Webmaster Tools , before you can instruct Google to remove content you need to verify the website. The easiest solution is to download the .HTML verification file and place it in your /public_html/ or /www/ root directory or add the verification within the section of your website. Once you have done this click Verify and you will see your website listed your account.

4. Before you submit a URL removal request you will need to block the Google robot from crawling your website. Simply add <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> within the tag in your index.html or index.php page code. This is a precaution to prevent the site being re-crawled after the site is removed.

5. The last step is to tell Google what you want removing , click into the domain you wish to use and go to Site Configuration > Crawler Access section and then the Remove URL. If you copy and paste the entire URL Google will flag this as Site Removal if its sub-content on the URL this is classed as Webpage Removal. If you have moved your website to another server you can create a 301 redirect and tell Google at this stage the website has moved.

6. The removal process took about 6 hours but it can take up to 48 hours so please be patient.

A few external links that you also may wish to read are :

Google Webmaster Official Help
A website is publishing personal information about me

The Google Robot is always crawling the Internet for content and it never sleeps and depending on how much content you have will determine how often it will visit your site , nobody besides Matt Cutts and his team knows what happens once the robot it at your site but its clear to say that content is king.

The days of Meta Keywords is a thing of the past and is no longer supported by Google so don’t waste your time thinking of lots of pointless keywords and focus on more important content such as articles which bring us to our duplication replication issue.

Articles are great way to share information online which includes Page Content , Blogs and Tutorials and if the text is unique , hand written and published by you its going to be cached uniquely in Google monster data centers , but after a couple of weeks someone decides to copy all of this text and host it on another website and this is called content duplication and will damage your online position and reputation.

Unfortunately this isn’t a crime and having this content removed is a complicated process. You can check to see if anyone has copied any content from your site by using Copyscape. This tool will give you a % of the amount of text that is duplicated.

If you find that someone has copyrighted your work , you can proceed with a formal email or letter requesting for the content to be removed or adjusted. Even though this could be complicated in most circumstances most websites will respond to possible legal action.

Google Local is now called Google Places and allows businesses to update and manage their physical business location information within Google. This information can be used to update their business listing so that it appears correctly within Google Maps and associated Google properties and search and Display Network web sites.

Why add your business to Google Places?

Once you’ve verified your listing, you can enhance your Place page by adding photos, media, coupons.

Your business may already display in Google, but you should still verify your listing and make sure its up to date and accurate.

Click Here to read more information about Google Places.

• What type of development do you require ? Static or Dynamic ?
• How much content do you have to publish ?
• Do you need the ability to edit and publish your own content online in real-time
• Is your website looking to advertise products ?
• Do your require social networking integration such as facebook or twitter ?
• Are your customers using a specific device such as a mobile or tablet ?
• How fast do you need the development online ?
• Is face to face consultancy / travel required ?
• Is the content you looking to publish high risk ?
• Do you expect high volumes of traffic which could impact hosting costs ?
• Is Search Engine Optimisation SEO a major priority ?

The above examples are a few things that reflect the development cost. Un-fortunately everyone has to pay income tax and national insurance which is another factor that we have to calculate when providing a estimate development cost.

Why not charge per hour ?

We feel that its wrong to calculate a project on the number of hours required to complete the task for many reasons. The first reason is that a project might encounter problems , bugs or changes which cost time , if a client is paying per hour why should they have to pay for errors that may have been caused by someone else..

Also the web industry adapts to change quickly in implementing new technology which is often implemented straight away so whist’s the development is being created the developer is learning new techniques and methods , this is the way developers become educated and charging per hour isn’t really fair to the client if you are spending 50 minutes learning a 10 minute process.

We would say £450 for a week is a average valuation for a semi-professional developer. This equates to £2025.00 per month , deduct £450 for income tax / national insurance leaves £1575.00 profit. ( £24,300 Gross ) salary.

How much do we charge ?

On average we charge in the region of £450-£650 per project , for WordPress integrations , Custom CMS projects and eCommerce sites the cost is considerable more due to the technical requirements and skill required to implement.

How to avoid paying to much ?

If you have already received a quote you might think it is acceptable but what are you paying for ? what level of service will you receive ? and how much will you be charged for changes etc ?
Every designer / agency or company will have different rates due to the above factors but here are some tips to look out for to avoid paying to much.

• Does the company have a professional built website ?
• Does the company have a good organic position in Google ?
• Does the company have a portfolio with active links to the sites ?
• Does the company charge a fixed price ? or charge by pages ?
• Is the company registered for Tax or VAT ? will you receive an invoice ?

We would obviously like to discuss with you your requirements but if you do decide to go with another company please remember the above factors.