Here is a list of some of the most popular outgoing mail server settings for Australian ISPs.

AAPT

mail.aapt.net.au

Bigpond

mail.bigpond.com

Blink Internet

mail.blink.m2.com.au

Dodo

smtp.dodo.com.au

iiNet

mail.m.iinet.net.au

Internode

mail.internode.on.net

iPrimus

smtp.iprimus.com.au

OntheNet

mail.onthenet.com.au

Optusnet

mail.optusnet.com.au

Ozemail

smtp.ozemail.com.au

Three (3G Mobile)

smtp.three.com.au

TPG

mail.tpg.com.au

Virgin Mobile 3G

smtp.virginbroadband.com.au

Vodafone 3G

smtp.vodafone.net.au

With some big changes happening behind the scenes this year, a website overhaul is on the cards. So this is my little Saturday project for the coming weeks and I am going to document the process.

Last time I spoke about what was not working with the existing website and identified the things I wanted to change with my website and why. Today I will be talking about how to I am going to fix those issues.

So from our previous post I came up with my Website Goals:-

• Marketing Tool for Potential Clients
• Information source for Existing Clients

During the past few weeks I’ve had time to think more about things that need to be addressed. I really recommend taking time to do this, just so you don’t get the work done and realise ‘OH we should have done that too!’.

One thing is our availability, I have a lot of people contact me wanting websites within 2 weeks, and unless someone invents a time machine or a cloning device it’s just not possible.  I’ve also thought about how I am addressing my secondary goal of information source for existing clients, I think I need to add an Email Marketing campaign subscription – and practice what I preach.

So here is my final (for now) list of things that I’ve identified that need to be changed:-

• New Design
• Replace the home page slideshow with something that wont appear outdated
• Streamline the pricing section of the site
• Expand the portfolio pages
• integrate more social media
•  Availability *new*
• Newsletter sign up *new*

So let’s talk about the strategy…

How we are going to do it!

This section is quite specific to my requirements, so if you’re following along at home look at your list of things you want to change in terms of function and expand on HOW you are going to change them. Look at your analytics, talk and listen to your users and don’t forget to keep your website goals in mind.

Design..

If a new design is on the cards for you, think about the styles you like, theme, inspiration, elements you would like to include.

Not much I can really expand on here but as a general idea I’ve decided to go for an organic look, with a mix of artistic elements including illustrations & water colours. I also want to put in place some infographics about the various processes. Maybe a little ambitious but that is a plan of attack for now. I am going to spend some time looking for some inspiration and come up with my mood board (stay tuned for next week’s post!).

Home Page Slideshow …

Adios mi Amigo! We’re getting rid of Mr Slideshow and replacing with some of our most recent work or featured work – as that is what we update most often. This will keep the home page fresh and keep Mr Google happy too.

Pricing …

After looking at my analytics I’ve noticed that my most popular page hit  is ‘our work’,  closely followed by ‘what we do’ and ‘pricing’. My original idea was to amalgamate these pages entirely but I’ve decided to share the content across them so there are different entry points but display relatively similar information. So looking at the pricing page key points I want to address:-

• Pricing Pages to list the most popular examples of types of work- e-Commerce, CMS, Blog, Basic Websites, Email Marketing etc.
• Each category contains a small introduction with ball park pricing
• Display 3 examples per category with a link to view more (our work)
• Link to get a quote.

Our Work …

With the design I will overhaul these pages, but some function is to be added.

I am relatively happy with the grid layout, but I want to include and streamline the filters in the right hand menu. I was considering adding case studies with more information about each project, but then I came back to my time poor existence – so that is getting put on the backburner for now.  I was also considering using lightbox (click to view larger) functionality instead of linking to individual pages but decided that might make me take a hit in the google stakes, so again another thing on the backburner.

I need to add a ‘Call to Action’ in this section so will direct link to the pricing for the type of job on each filter.

The individual pages for the portfolio.. where do I start…. Remove the cropped image at the top of each page and provide a full size images. I also want to make this as easy as possible to update so I am adding some checkboxes as to features.

Also provide another call to action with a direct link to the pricing section.

Social Media …

Really only a couple of things I want to do here – add a link to our facebook page as it’s no where to be found on the website and use facebook connect so people can instantly comment on our blog with their facebook account.

Availability …

I have to do some investigative work on how this will actually work, but this will be added to the pricing page – I will integrate our schedule into a google calendar. I wont display actual details but more of an estimated start date for your project if you book today. It needs to be super easy to update and streamlined with our existing scheduling systems.

Newsletter …

A signup form needs to be added! We’ll deal with the content and design at a later date, but the key thing is for it to be in a prominent position for us to start collecting email addresses!

Summing up

So I can just pretty much copy and paste this and I have the good starting of  a website brief. So if you’re following along at home your home work is to take your list of issues – make them headings and then write out what how you are going to fix those issues – solutions! If you haven’t done last weeks home work you can find it here…

Next week I’ll be looking at creating a mood board for the design component.

With some big changes happening behind the scenes this year, a website overhaul is on the cards. So this is my little Saturday project for the coming weeks and I am going to document the process.

So before I get started designing and building like a bull at a gate, I really need to know what it is that I want to change with the website, what are my goals, what’s not working, what new things I want to add?

If you are contemplating overhauling your website (or even if you’re starting from scratch), this is a really good process to help yourself understand exactly what it is you are wanting to achieve.

This process is about asking questions. Questioning what you are doing, how you are doing and if it’s working for you and your users.

Website Goals

Why is it that you need a website?

Have a think about who uses your website, question yourself as to why you need it and who uses it. What is the ultimate end result you want from someone visiting your website?

If you are running an online store it’s to sell products. If you are running a blog then it could be to provide information & sell advertising.

My primary goal for my website is a marketing tool for my potential clients, it really needs to show off my teams ability whilst also providing information about the services we offer. The secondary goal for this website is to provide information source for my existing clients. My ultimate end result – more clients and happy existing ones.

So why the change?

I’ve never been 100% happy with our website. I’d even go as far as saying not even 60% happy. I probably never will be 100% happy with it. It’s always been one of those things that was knocked up quickly and has really been neglected, kind of like the builders house that’s never finished, or the plumber with the leaky tap.

Do I need to change the website? Probably not.

Is it working for me as well as it should? A big ol’ fat NO.

So a change is as good as a holiday right? right?… eh.. maybe not, but if it’s going to make my life easier and get me more clients then close enough.

So thinking about why I want to change I have identified 3 key things that are the catalysts for changing our website:

• the outdated design
• to make my life, as well as potential clients lives easier; and
• the addition of some new features to benefit my users

So let’s break it down…

Design..

Generally feedback about our website has been reasonably ok, so why don’t we like the design? Well..

• It’s too generic
• White text on dark background is harder to read (especially in the blog)
• Not reflective of the business we are (creative) and the clients we are wanting to attract
• We are part of an ever growing and changing industry and we need to keep up

Making life easier..

We almost never have time to update our website other than to quickly add our latest completed job or the occasional blog post should the mood strike. The home page slideshow often makes the site look out of date and we can never think of anything to go there. So we really need to get rid of it and find something that will fit in it’s place.

With each quote we write being specific to each business, and it’s incredibly time consuming. I find I often spend hours writing quotes only to never hear from people again. We need a strategy to get rid of the cool leads (aka. time wasters, quote fillers) so we can focus our time and energy on the people who value our service.

Added features..

The Portfolio pages was kind of a bit of an after thought – and ironically it is the primary goal for the website. These pages need more information and images with calls to action (ie. get a quote).

Another aspect is social media – although Facebook is not one our main sources of gaining clients, it does tick the secondary goal box with our existing clients. So we need to some how better integrate this functionality into our website.

Summing up

So now I have a basic brief of the things that I want to change.
• New Design
• Replace the home page slideshow with something that wont appear outdated
• Streamline the pricing section of the site
• Expand the portfolio pages
• integrate more social media

So if you’re following along at home here is your homework :-

• Define your Website Goals
• Determine what is not working for you or your users
• List any new features you would like added to better help with your overall website goals

Stay tuned for next week we’ll be looking at the results of my analysis and coming up with some strategies to overcome some of our issues.

I am still yet to do one of these my own facebook page (like the builders house that is never finished) but I have done them for a few clients so I thought I’d share a quick basic intro on how to do it yourself.

What is an iframe?

An iframe is an inline frame that contains another document (ie. webpage) within a HTML page. Basically that means it is a ‘container’ that can hold an external web page.  Click here for more info on iframes.

Why is this awesome for facebook pages?

This is great for business pages on facebook as it means you are not restricted by using static html for your welcome pages, in fact you can almost have a mini website all within your facebook page. You can use your data driven CMS website and even some Javascript (yes slideshows people!).

It also means you can link directly to your existing website. You can also add little icons to your page tabs, which can look very impressive – no more ugly generic FBML icons.

What are the draw backs?

You’re still restricted in width to the 520px – most modern websites are 1024px in width so if you are linking to your home page you might get some ugly scroll bars happening.

If you aren’t linking directly to your existing website it also means you need somewhere to host some html files, if you don’t have a website already this can be a problem. No longer can you just use  photobucket or flickr to ‘hold’ your welcome page.

If your mini iframe website includes links you also need to be careful about the ‘target’ value in your <a> tags. So if you want to link within your little frame you don’t need to do anything – but if you want to link outside the page- for instance to your facebook wall – you will need to include the target="_parent" code to your <a> tag. If you don’t do this – it will open up the facebook page within the iframe.

If you do not have secure https on the server where you upload your html, your welcome page will not display for those users who have set their preferences to secure. You can purchase security certificates from around $69 per year.

So how do you add a facebook iframe tab?

Create your HTML files

So first of all you need to setup your HTML files. I am going to assume if you’re reading this post you have basic knowledge of HTML and you have this all setup ready to go.

If you are not using your home page for your website you need to ensure it is put within a folder and the page is entitled index.html on your server.

So for example the path to your page will need to look a little like this:- http://www.yourdomain.com.au/facebook/index.html

If you’re adding links remember what we said about the target values.

Creating your Facebook iframe tab

Make sure you’re logged into facebook and go to http://www.facebook.com/developers/

It will ask you if it can access your account which you will have to allow to move to the next step.

Once you arrive to the developers home page you will see a link to “Setup New App” in the top right hand corner – click this.

Click Set up New App in the top right hand corner

Give your App a name eg. “My Page Welcome Tab” – it doesn’t matter what it is at this stage – it’s just to differentiate yourself from other apps. Agree to the terms and click Create Application then pass the anti spam checker.

Give your App a name and agree to the terms

Give your app a description, an icon (this is displayed in the sidebar of your page), a logo and click save changes. You can fill the other stuff out if you want but it’s not necessary for this basic intro.

Enter your Application Details

Then select the ‘Facebook Integration’ tab in the menu on the left hand side (3rd option down).

In this area under the Canvas section, you just need to specify the Canvas URL which will be the full address to your html pages less the page name – so the path to the folder of where your index.html file is held. Eg.  http://www.yourdomain.com.au/facebook/ (it’s really important that you have the trailing slash ‘/’ otherwise you will get an error)

Under the Page Tab section – enter the name that you want to display in your Pages’ sub navigation eg. Welcome!

For this basic setup all other settings can remain as the default.

Once this is done select save changes.

Enter the Canvas URL & The Tab Name

Now to assign it to the page.

In the dashboard area of ‘My Apps’ Click the ‘Application Profile Page’ for the app that you’ve just setup

Click Application Profile Page

When you arrive at your new applications page, under the profile picture you will see “Add to my Page” select this – then find your page that you want to assign the app too and select ‘Add to Page’ and select Close.

Click Add to my Page

Now visit your page and you will see your fancy new Welcome Tab! Yep that’s it.  All you need to do now is set your Welcome page as your first page by clicking edit page (top right hand corner) and changing the default landing tab to your newly created welcome tab.

If you need help with setting up your iframe facebook tab or getting a mini facebook html website setup get in contact with us.

Do you follow any industry standards?

The big answer for this is W3C standards. If they get this question and really have no idea they may try to pull the wool over your eyes and google it then tell you they do – one sure fire way is to run one of their websites through the W3C validator http://validator.w3.org/

What browsers will my website work on?

As a minimum you should be getting the following browser compatibility: internet explorer 7, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, iPhone & Opera.

What programming languages do you code in?

If the answer to this question is dreamweaver. RUN. If they only respond with HTML only. RUN. If they answer with just a open source package like WordPress or Joomla then, they may have misinterpreted the question or they have no idea what programming language they are built in – if you get this impression RUN.

Some correct answers are HTML, CSS, Javascript,  Flash (actionscript), PHP or ASP, MySQL or SQL server.  They may also tell you what open source packages they use as well.

*note if CSS is not an answer it’s a good indication that they are using table based design which is a big NO NO for seo, compatibility & usability – you know that if a blind person’s screen reader cannot access your website that you can get sued? Yup happened to the 2000 olympics website.

This is also going to determine your hosting requirements. While ASP is a great programming language it’s a Windows proprietary product so Hosting is extremely expensive. Also ASP developers are hard to find and are also expensive if you do decide to move on to someone else in the future you might find it hard to find smoeone.

Will my website be SEO friendly?

If they answer yes, Quiz them out about how – and the response needs to be more than just ‘meta’ tags. Usually it will be structure, alt tags, meta tags and content.  If they are trying to put your website into 100% flash then it wont be SEO (or iphone/ipad) friendly.

Will my website be customised to my design & are there any limitations?

Of course you have to consider file sizes when designing websites but there is not much you can’t do with websites these days, so if a developer comes back to you about a design and says we can’t do that. ask why, if the answer is ‘it’s not possible’. RUN. If they give a good explanation on file sizing, compatibility etc then they are thinking of the user experience.  If they just say ‘it’s impossible’ Good chances are they are either a. they are using a template and just switching out colours/images or b. they don’t know what they are doing.

Do you code the websites yourself?

Try and get a feel for if they are outsourcing to other countries. If they outsource their coding to a third world country, then not only is it highly unethical in our opinion, but chances are you could end up with an inferior product. (yep, I have to fix these problems all the time)

Will I own the finished website files?

Some developers offer ‘hosted’ solutions – so this usually includes a setup fee and and  a yearly subscription (kinda like hosting but likely a little bit more). You’ll notice these options are usually cheap. That’s because you’re not buying the intellectual property (the code)- you’re hiring a space and customising it. And if/when you decide you hate the developer or the hosting keeps on dying and want to move to someone else, you can’t as you don’t own the files and you have to start again.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. So if a deal seems ‘too good to be true’ chances are it is and you’ll end up having to pay for the dodgy website you got plus the more expensive version you should have gone with in the first place.

Our Sneak-Peeks are works in progress, and some may never see the light of day apart from this blog. We’re not giving much more away other than the tiny screenshot – we’ll let your imagination do the rest!

To deactivate Auto Save simply insert the following code into your ‘functions.php’ file in your theme directory.

add_action( 'wp_print_scripts', 'disable_autosave' );
function disable_autosave() {
wp_deregister_script('autosave');
}

So instead of trying to find the time to write the blogs, we will give you a Sneak-Peek of what we are working on.

Our Sneak-Peeks are works in progress, and some may never see the light of day apart from this blog. We’re not giving much more away other than the tiny screenshot – we’ll let your imagination do the rest!