Overview and Scope

This particular project was focused on creating and deploying a Blog style personal website rather than a business style website. The main objective was to create a clean and professional looking site that allowed to visitor to focus on content. There were several other objectives including the integration of a way to recommend books and music. Many people look to Pastors for guidance on books and music that will help them change and shape their lives, so this was an important aspect of the site as well. Finally, there was a goal to harness the power of Social Media and make sure that Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn connections could easily be within reach of the website content from each of those services.

This project was also a rare occasion for us, where customization was far less important than simply being able to deliver a nice looking and easy to use personal website quickly.

Social Media Integration

The integration of Social Media for this project was a no brainer. I don’t imagine that there is a Pastor on the face of the earth that isn’t at least using Facebook. As well, many Pastors are seeing the great potential that comes with using Twitter to instantly broadcast a message to thousands of people. In this particular case, Tad was also using LinkedIn to help connect with church members and ultimately, try and help them connect with other professionals. We set Tad’s personal website up so that every time he publishes a new blog post three things happen:

1. A Tweet is automatically generated announcing the new blog post and a shortened link is included in that Tweet which links people directly to the blog post.

2. A copy of the blog post, including media, gets posted to his Facebook wall.

3. A copy of the blog post, including media, gets posted to his LinkedIn profile page.

Unique Aspects of the Site

The primary unique aspect of this personal website compared to others we have done is the integration and implementation of the Amazon Associates code. Because it was so important for Tad to have a way to recommend books and music to site visitors, we recommended that he take advantage of the Amazon Associates program. Essentially, this enables him to recommend the books and music of his choice using some code snippets that Amazon created uniquely for Tad. By putting these code snippets in place, whenever a site visitor clicks on a book or a music item, they are directed to Amazon.com. If they end up purchasing that book or music at Amazon.com then Amazon pays Tad a small bit of change for referring the purchaser. It doesn’t cost the purchaser anything extra and it can help out a Pastor who is trying to help people change and improve their lives.

Pictures

Sync

Have you ever been working on your notebook computer while you are out of the office or traveling and realized that the file you need is on your desktop computer. One of the great features of Dropbox is that any files you store in your account are synced to any other computer you set up. This means you’ll have access to your important files on every computer you use. You could even access your files on someone else’s computer if you needed to. There is an iPhone app that allows you to access your Dropbox files as well. We use our account to make sure that we always have access to the important files we need on every computer that we use.

Share

As with many small businesses, we have a need to share many different files both internally between Kevin and me and externally between ourselves and contractors. We make every attempt to utilize our Project Center for file sharing and collaboration, however, because we are limited to a 100MB file upload on the Project Center, Dropbox comes in very handy. We can drop in files of any size as long as long as they don’t exceed the remaining space in our Dropbox. To share a file with someone, it’s really as simple as creating a new shared Dropbox folder, invite people to join the folder so they can access it, and then all you have to do is place files inside the folder.

What does this have to do with Web Presence?

All in all, not a whole lot. However, our clients and prospects are small businesses. We absolutely love building websites for small businesses and helping them develop their Web Presence. But, we also want to make sure that we share resources that might help out our small business clients and prospects. Hopefully, Dropbox is something that can help make life a little easier for you and your small business.

If you check out Dropbox and find it useful please be sure to use the sharing buttons below and let others know about how great it is.

Overview/Scope

The BenchMark Public Adjusting Group project was a redesign project. The client had several primary objectives. A new site designed to better meet current web standards, integration with Facebook, and an easy to use Content Management System was really the focus for this project. Another aspect of the project included creating a Contact Form that uses conditional logic to enhance the user’s experience. As a Public Insurance Adjuster and a company that provides Professional Services, they needed a website that would help differentiate them from their competitors. As Insurance Adjuster Websites go, many come across in a very gimmicky manner, in our opinion, by relying too heavily on Flash video of storms and disasters.

From a Social Media perspective, this particular client only uses Facebook at this point. While we believe Social Networking platforms and Social Media can certainly benefit Small Businesses, we feel that it’s also important to consider whether your market will interact with you on a given Social Network. At this point in time, the client is focused on building a following on Facebook and thus, only Facebook integration was included.

If you take a look at just a few Insurance Insurance Adjuster websites, you’ll quickly get the feeling that you could be dealing with a shady outfit. Our design helps break that stigma and paints this firm into a far more professional light. Rather than convey a shady persona and a gimmicky look, it was very important to immediately establish a trustworthy and professional appearance. One big challenge here was that there was a lot of information that the client wanted to ensure was accessible from the Home Page. By integrating the “Tabber”, we were able to help the client present a lot of information that was logically organized and still visually pleasing.

Before

The drab textured background wasn’t really representative of the company’s color palette. As well, the photographs and pictures in the old site were quite small and it was really hard to tell what was actually in the picture.

After

A better organized and more informative representation of the company and the benefits they bring to their clients.

Unlimited – in Shared Web Hosting terms

A while back, there was a commercial made by Metro PCS where they were mocking their competitors for making promises of “Unlimited” calling plans. (It’s a funny commercial, you can watch it HERE). In that commercial, the sales person kept saying, “Um” limited. When it comes to “Unlimited” Web Hosting packages, in most cases, they really mean “Um” limited. In other words, if you read the Terms of Service closely, the “Unlimited” plans are still, limited. So, if you find yourself lured by the promise of “Unlimited” domain hosting, file storage, and bandwidth, do yourself a favor and read the Terms of Service closely.

If it’s not really Unlimited, then why do they offer it?

The truth is, most Web Hosting Providers that make this offer know that probably 99% of their customers will never use more than several hundred megabytes of file storage and will also likely never have enough regular Website visitors to consume enough bandwidth or data transfer to cause a problem.

Is Unlimited Storage and Bandwidth really even possible?

No, not really. I like to use a pie analogy when talking about this subject. Think of the whole pie as the equivalent to the Web Server itself. Your Website has to be hosted on a Web Server. So, think of your Website as a piece of the pie. Keep in mind, that there are hundreds and maybe thousands of other Websites sharing this pie, or Web Server. If your Website suddenly gets a lot of visitors, your piece of the pie expands. But what happens if you suddenly get so many visitors that your Website starts consuming most or all of the pie, which is equivalent to the Web Server’s computing resources? All the other Websites that are using this pie, or Web Server, are going to experience some trouble. This isn’t fair to them, and as such, even a Web Hosting Provider offering “Unlimited” everything, is going to impose penalties for such actions. The same thing applies to File storage. The pie, or Web Server, is limited in it’s hard drive capacity. If you try to upload four terabytes of files onto a one terabyte hard drive, it’s not going to work.

How is StudioD.tv Hosting different?

We’ve designed our packages to be robust, valuable, and we’ve given them very specific limits. It’s important for you to know exactly what your limits are when it comes to your Website and Web Presence. Knowing your limitations will enable you to plan well and make sure that your Website isn’t inaccessible because of suspension. After all, the first action a prospective customer takes is to go to your company website and learn about what you do. We want to make sure that your prospects and customers can always access your Website. We have hosting packages to fit the needs of most Small Businesses. If you need help in making sure you choose the right one, you can contact us here.

Mystery Solved

Hopefully, this information has helped you gain a better understanding of why there is really no such thing as “Unlimited” Web Hosting. If you, or anyone you, know need Web Hosting services now, or will be needing them soon, we would appreciate you sending them our way. You can use the buttons below to share this on your favorite Social Network or even send an email of this blog post to someone directly. Don’t forget to tell them about our Launch Special; extra savings is always a good thing.

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