I get a lot of initial calls and emails from people asking “what’s the price tag?” Problem is, we’re not buying paper towels here — for an effective Web site, the answer is, “it depends.”

Every Web site project I’ve ever worked on is unique, and as a result, the price for each is different. For some sites, the bulk of the project is creative: creating logos and artwork, writing or editing content for the site, producing effective product photos, etc. For others, it’s more technical: for example, implementing a custom template into a blog, CMS system, or e-commerce solution. Still other sites require both creative and technical efforts. And since I do a lot of business strategic planning, information architecture and usability work, all my projects include at least some organizational work before we even start with creative or technology.

Starting with business planning, we first need to determine your goals, understand your key audience and evaluate your competition. If you have an existing business plan, some of that work might already be done. This step is important, and it takes time and resources to return valuable answers.

Next, we need to plan the Web site. What style, features or applications will be needed? How many pages of content? How much artwork? How will the site be maintained over time? Are there Web server technologies that must be considered? How many email addresses will be created and maintained? How will the site be marketed, initially and over time? Are there future expansion plans that we can prepare for now?

At this point, it is finally possible to assign a realistic cost for the project. If you’ve skipped to the end, hoping to bypass all the blather and get to the numbers, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Go back up to where it says, “it depends,” and read from there.

In a social networking world, where your presence on MySpace and Facebook is almost as important as your own Web site, any redesign project needs to think outside the box.
Granted, offsite factors have always been part of the business marketing mix. In case you can’t afford a few Super Bowl ads, online advertising and offline marketing can be crucial to driving traffic to your Web site. And your presence on search engines is important as well.

So the easiest metaphor is that your business Facebook profile is just another ad for your business — a way to drive traffic.

But social networking is more than just an advertisement. With the added interactivity of social media, it’s not just a you-to-them proposition. In the same way that some Web sites go beyond brochureware, your presence in social media can help you connect, network, and interact with your audience. For example, if all your current customers were to Digg you at once, you’d have an ad campaign. By joining and participating in various Facebook groups, you can connect with an audience — and then leverage that network to reach even more people. You might convert a customer without them ever being on your “official” Web site. So in that way, your Facebook profile is kind of like another Web site for your business.
Add in the possibility of embedding various Web site components between Web sites — either from a social media app such as Flickr or MySpace or from your site into another site, and the lines between your Web site and your various social media profiles gets blurry. And, of course, that same concept is magnified in virtual online communities such as Second Life. You don’t have to set up a store to advertise — just be there and interact with people (and include your business info whenever appropriate).
So when you’re planning your redesign, you should consider your strategy carefully. Sure, you can set up your Web site as an island, nicely designed and full of corporate stoicism. But by not also planning for social media, you might be missing some valuable opportunities.

In the past few months, I’ve been working with a few clients whose domain names have expired — that is, the period of time they registered the name for ran out. If your domain expires:

• Your Web site goes dark (or more likely, is replaced with a page full of ads). The HTML files might still be there, but the address pointing to those files now points elsewhere.
• Your email bounces. Since email is tied to the domain, if the name goes dark, so does the email.
• Usually, you have 30 to 45 days to reclaim your domain, just by paying the fees for another year (or more). After that, anyone else can grab your domain. There are squatters who will try to sell your domain back to you — for a lot more than you would have paid for it…), and they use automated software to find expiring domains. But sometimes others want your domain for their own use — for example, if they have a business with a similar name.

The best solution is foresight: set your domain settings to “auto-renew” and be sure the current credit card is saved in the system.

If you lose your domain (and someone else takes it), there are few options to get it back:

• Buy the domain back. Paying $60-1,000 or more to get back your own domain is a drag — but if you’ve invested in branding and marketing as well as search engine optimization in a domain, you’ll be paying more to reprint your business cards and marketing materials and redo all your SEO efforts with a new domain name.
• Contact the domain owner directly: WHOIS records often list a name, email, phone number and mailing address. Be professional: explain your situation and ask if there’s something you can do to get the domain back. This actually worked for one client (a nonprofit; we reimbursed expenses, and the guy was very nice). If nothing else, you might find out what you’re up against.
• There is a formal alternative, which is: try to wrest the domain back by asserting a trademark-based claim to the domain. All registrars follow the same policy, which is detailed here: http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm. Basically, it’s an arbitration procedure, in which you formally assert that you have trademark rights to the domain (and therefore have a claim to the .com version), and that the other person does not have those rights. You can learn more here: http://domains.adrforum.com/ . Note that as of January 2008, fees for this arbitration start at $1,300, and there are no guarantees…

For more on this, see Domain Ownership Woes, which also includes a little background on who “owns” your domain.

Okay, if you’ve read Part One and Part Two, you know what the story is. Below are the technical details. (Warning: if your eyes glaze over at tech stuff, stop reading now…)

• Upstream connection (from the church where the choir is singing): DSL about 722 kb/s (note for any newbies:  upload and download speeds are usually different). After testing the church’s DSL upload speed initially at 312 kb/s, we asked if they could boost it. They were happy to contact their DSL provider, and the speed was bumped up to 768 kb/s (note again for newbies: the actual speeds are seldom as high as what the provider quotes).
• Our encoding laptop was a Toshiba Satellite L-45, (a low-end laptop, but boosted to 2Gb memory), running Windows Vista Home Premium. I turned off all other programs except AVG Free antivirus. During encoding, the laptop ran from 45% to 75% CPU usage. I turned off the screensaver and set the power consumption levels to never sleep.
• Not sure of the exact specs on Doug’s microphone, but it was an external standalone mike in shock-absorbing webbing, run into the camera (and then both sound and video were run to the laptop).
• Not sure of the exact specs on Doug’s camera, but it was an excellent professional digital camera (Canon, I think). This connected via FireWire (400) to the encoding laptop via an ExpressCard (PCMCIA) Firewire adapter card.
• WME 9.0 was installed and configured before the event, and the settings saved as a “session.” However, for some reason, the guys encountered an error, so they just restarted and went through the wizard.
• Based on the 80% maximum guideline, we first set Windows Media Encoder to use CD-quality audio (audio quality being in this case more important than video quality), then selected a single stream totaling 564 kb/s (safely below 578 kb/s, which is 80% of the tested maximum). This means 30 frames-per-second, 320×240 output size. (Since we were blowing it up to full-screen, the image was a little blocky — but as mentioned previously, we wanted better audio.)
• For the viewing end, we used a Toshiba Portege (not sure of the exact model), with I believe 1Gb memory.
• We ran audio output to a set of Bose Companion 3 Series II speakers (a three-piece system with a subwoofer and two satellite speakers — designed for use with laptops and PCs).
• Our VGA connection to a Dell 3300MP for projecting the image on a screen ended up not being used, as the kids just crowded around the laptop. (It would have required a restart to complete the projector connection, and we didn’t want to take the time.)

Note: If you haven’t read Part One yet, you might check it out.

So, as schedules happened, I was in San Francisco during the event — which meant I wasn’t going to be in Brentwood to handle the encoding and/or troubleshoot any problems that might arise (and arise they did…). But it’s a Webcast, so my plan was to find a wireless network and watch the event the same way the kids at the shelter would.

First, my setup: I had the Mac (iBook) with me, so I had to use the Flip4Mac plugin instead of Windows Media Player. In order to get full-screen video with Flip4Mac, you have to have Quicktime Pro (which I do) and open the live stream from QT player as a standalone instead of inside a browser window. With WMP, it’s easier — but I’d tested it earlier and knew it would work. Wireless was provided by the good folks at Nob Hill Inn (they really are good folks), so we’re all set. Also, I had my cell phone nearby, just in case…

About a half hour before the event, the live stream began. (So there’d be something to look at besides an empty stage, our cameraman, Doug, pointed the camera at the stained glass window in the church. Very exciting!)

Then the phone rang.

It was Lynn, who was at the shelter, calling to report that she had no Internet connection. Yikes! (The shelter doesn’t have any tech support staff, and the settings we had used in a previous test weren’t working.) Now, I wasn’t ever at the shelter during testing, so I’m not sure what settings were being used. Also, networking is not my strength. But I gave them a basic few suggestions and said to call back if nothing worked. (Nothing worked — but they didn’t call back until much, much later…)

So I assumed that things were going well. The event started, with me watching along from afar, and assuming that the kids at the shelter were watching, too. Cameraman Doug did an excellent job of panning the choir and zooming in as needed on soloists or speakers.

For my part, I was happy: Flip4Mac was running in fullscreen with excellent audio (as near as I could tell on my little built-in Mac speakers) and decent video. There was an annoying occasional jiggle in the video that I hadn’t seen in my previous tests with WMP, and afterwards the folks at the shelter reported that they didn’t notice any video shaking.

Then the phone rang.

It was Lynn, at the shelter. Still no Internet connection (why she didn’t call earlier, I don’t know — but I assume she was trying other things all the while). That means the kids are missing the concert we set up for them.

YIKES! After some panicked phone calls, someone suggested rebooting the router at the shelter, which worked. A little more fiddling and the kids were finally able to see the concert.

Which was nearly over. More phone calls to people at the church, and the Chorale did a few more songs just for the kids (a strange kind of encore, when it’s longer than what you’ve just seen). And so, in an abbreviated form, the Webcast ended.

Lynn said the kids were really happy to have a Christmas concert, and that she didn’t think our technical problems took away from their experience at all. They loved when the whole choir waved to them! So, despite my frustration, I’m calling the event a qualified success.

In the future, however, I’ll insist on having a network-savvy tech on hand at the remote site.

I just finished helping out a nonprofit client of mine to broadcast live streaming video of a concert, and in the process am stumbling into some video expertise. Since it’s the season for sharing… here goes.

First, some background: Every year, The Angel City Chorale takes its holiday concert on the road — to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, hospitals, and other places that serve people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend a holiday concert. (In addition, they raise funds and supplies throughout the year to bring with them to the places they visit. It’s a long day, but a really rewarding one. This year, they wanted to do a live video stream from one concert location to a women’s shelter — allowing them to reach another isolated audience with a little bit of holiday cheer.

And they asked me to help with the technical issues of a live stream. It’s been much harder than it should be, but in the end, it worked.

It’s important to note that live streaming video is not the same as plain ol’ streaming video, such as the clips you see on YouTube (or any of the dozens of video clips I’ve posted online for several of my clients). Plain ol’ streaming video is fairly easy, and most Web servers can handle clips of reasonable size and with average Web traffic. Live video, however, requires a specialized Web server (thus, in this case, a specific Web hosting company) and some pretty high-speed connections.

To help everybody understand what we were doing, I whipped up this chart.

Test #1

We started by testing WebEx, an excellent service for live meetings. The system is really easy, and I recommend it for business presentations. Since WebEx provides the hosting and all the technical assistance, setup is simple. However, in tests the audio (Voice Over IP) was not rich enough to do a vocal ensemble justice.

Test #2

So… we moved on to Flash Video (FYI, we could have also used Windows Video, I suppose. I just happen to like Flash more than Windows). The setup would be nearly the same, except that the church laptop would have Flash Media Encoder2 running to encode and simultaneously upload the video stream to UVault; and the remote computer would view the video in a Flash player rather than through WebEx’s Java client.

First problem: finding a host. See, dedicated hosting for streaming video is more expensive than your average GoDaddy account, and many hosts don’t even offer live video streaming (”because it’s too server intensive” is the common explanation). After some research, I landed on a Florida company, UVault. They seemed on top of things, and I spoke to their VP of sales, who seemed nice and helpful. Their Web site claims they offer 24×7 tech support.

But there were a few things I didn’t calculate, such as quality and availability of customer service, and quality of documentation.

Oops.

In any event, I signed up for one month of Flash Media Server hosting for $60. (Note again: this is not Web site hosting; you can only put live Flash streams up on the FMS. So you’ve still got to have other Web hosting to place the Flash file that will be the viewer.)

Here’s where things get ugly, and I grow progressively older…

Turns out, UVault offers very poor documentation on live video streaming (there’s an inscrutable welcome email, and a link to Adobe’s FMS documentation, which is technical and voluminous). In order to play the video stream, you need a custom Flash player. UVault had promised to send one, but it hadn’t arrived… So, armed with a decent Adobe tutorial, I made my own. Great — but on UVault, it didn’t work. Went back to the tutorial and rechecked everything. Looks good, but still doesn’t work. So, time to put UVault’s 24×7 tech support to work.

Good luck. UVault tech support can only be reached via e-mail, and replies take 12 to 24 hours. (In my experience, the replies only came during EST business hours. Since I’m testing in the evening (PST), I’d send a request, wait until morning for a reply — which was often pasted boilerplate text that didn’t address my request). I tried to supply as much information as possible in my messages to tech support, since I wasn’t sure what exactly they’d need, and didn’t want to lose a week clarifying things. Hah! I lost the week. Some of the replies asked for information I’d already provided, and none of them solved any of my original problems.

But I did finally get the player they promised, so I started using that (still don’t know why mine didn’t work). It’s ugly but functional…

So we should be good, right? Wrong!

My first live streaming test was badly buffering at the remote site — up to 30 second gaps in the middle of the stream. (For a live concert? That’ll never do…)

Finally, I call their sales guy back and he tells me that my upload speed is not high enough. I guess I should have known that, but I hadn’t considered it. I was testing on a DSL line which had about 312Kb/s upload (same as the concert location). [BTW, SpeedTest.net is great for testing upload speeds.]
Naturally, the entire process is only as good as the slowest component, and for a live show, that means from the camera to the encoding computer to the media server to the end client. In almost all cases, the upload speed at the encoding site will be the slowest… So, in setting up your live feed, getting the fastest possible upload speed is crucial. Also, there’s always network traffic overhead, so the upload stream needs to be less than 80% of the total available bandwidth.
The guys at UVault know all this, and yet I couldn’t get anyone to say it until I called the poor sales guy and chewed him out. Yikes. There’s a customer service lesson in there…

Final Solution

I’m a big believer that if you’re unhappy with the service, take your business elsewhere. So, we started looking for another company. We eventually found UpStream Networks, who specializes in Windows Media, and as it turns out their prices are lower and their customer service is much better. (For starters, they’ve produced a getting-started guide that walks you through the simple setup options. Also, since the Windows Player is already set up to play live streams, you don’t have to create a custom player to connect to the video stream.)

That’s the service we used, and for that part of it, everything worked out great. For the other side of the story, see Part 2: The Client Experience.

I’ve been really busy lately (a big thank you to all my clients!). Over the past few months, I’ve started a half-dozen drafts that never got finished. I’m going to finish them (eventually), and each one will show up as from the day the draft was started, rather than the day it was finished.

I got an email recently from someone asking for (free) advice on how to manage their Web site that someone had built for them. Here’s my response:

I’ll try to offer some basics to get you started — of course, this is an overview, and you’ll have to do some studying…

An important caveat: Some Web sites have been built using non-standard HTML or other technologies. The pages might look fine in the Web browser, but if the underlying code is not well-formed, using a different tool can expose problems. Make a backup of your current site before you change things just in case.

There are many different programs available that can edit HTML. In general, you’re going to want a visual editor (also known as WYSIWYG) as opposed to a code editor. Visual editors are much easier to use, and they all work pretty well for updating text on pre-existing pages. But for more advanced things — such as applying design changes or creating new pages to be linked into your current site, you might need a more advanced editor. So first off, decide if you’re just changing or adding to text on pages that already exist or if you need more advanced design, layout or site management.

In general, the process is:

STEP 1: Copy the files that make up your Web site from the Web server to your local computer.

• Usually this is done through a protocol known as FTP. Your Web server host has the instructions for how to access these files, and should be able to remind you of the username and password for access.
• There are standalone FTP programs, but many of the HTML editors now include transfer utilities.

STEP 2: Open one of the files for editing and make changes. (Save when done.) Repeat as needed with other files.

• Most of the pros use Dreamweaver for overall layout and site management as well as simple updates.
• There are hundreds of other programs that can also work — iWeb, CoffeeCup Editor, and HotDog are common basic editors. They’re easier to learn than Dreamweaver, but they have limitations as well…
• For images, the pros use Photoshop or Fireworks — but again there are many other possibilities. Photoshop Elements is an excellent option for basic picture editing.

STEP3: Upload all changed files from your local computer to the Web server. This’ll be the same process as in step 1, but you’ll be moving changed files in the opposite direction.

STEP 4: Test in a Web browser to see that the changes look good.

In some cases, it may be possible to edit your Web site directly on the Web host’s servers — this depends on the host and whether the site was set up for this. This is generically known as a CMS or Content Management System, but the host company probably has their own name for it, like PageBuilder. (As an example, this blog is a kind of CMS.)

When people visit your site, they need to know where am I, what can I do here, and what’s in it for me? These tips can help.

1. Branding

Your logo and tagline should be easily found on your site. Just from looking at the logo and tagline, I should have a clue what your business is. Especially with your tagline, make sure it’s clear — this is not the time to be cute.

2. Who’s Your Audience?

Defining the intended audience for your Web site is crucial, and a step that many businesses gloss over. Sure, your audience is everybody on the Web… but the more specifics you can provide about your target audience, the better you will be able to reach them. Ask questions like: Why is your audience here? What are they doing while they’re visiting my site? What were they doing before and after? What makes them happy? What grabs their attention? What gets them into motion? If you don’t know the answers to any of these, stop what you’re doing — and go do some research.

3. Site Layout & Organization

Confusing site layouts are among the biggest problems sites face these days. You’re better off with the KISS strategy of keeping it simple. Try to allow the user’s eye to flow in one direction only — top to bottom, perhaps, but not both top to bottom and left to right (or worse yet: bouncing around on the page).

4. First Thing You See

This is a test of first impressions — that instant when most users decide whether to stay on your site or exercise the back button. Close your eyes and imagine you’re seeing your web site for the first time. Now, open your eyes and notice the first thing you see. If it doesn’t help answer where am I and what can I do here?, you’ve got some redesigning to do.

5. Main Navigation

Many visitors will scan your navigation bar to get an idea of what can I do here?. Make it easy for them. Be sure your main navigation is all in one place, and that the labels are clear. This is not the place to be cute. Be especially careful of using industry-specific labels (that your target audience won’t understand) and labels with multiple meanings.

6. Call to Action

Give your target audience something to do. Address the what can I do here? need right in the middle of your Home Page — such as “buy our most popular widget now” or “contact us to start improving your manufacturing processes.”

7. It’s About Benefits

Remember the three main goals: where am I, what can I do here, and what’s in it for me? Answer the last question in terms of benefits to the user. Consider this weak-benefit statement: offering curriculum consulting to higher education — that doesn’t tell what’s in it for me? Can you rephrase that in terms of benefits to the user?

8. Retention/Stickiness

First impressions are important, but repeat visitors will be your core customers. Give them a reason to come back — either by providing information (or services) they’ll want or by constantly updating the information (or services) available.

9. Content

Write clean, simple text for your Web site, and keep it organized. If the text is long, highlight key information or provide summaries. Where appropriate, include links to related content (or services), and a call to action that is related to the content.

10. Ask for Feedback (and really listen!)

Most people leave your site and don’t tell you why. Maybe the phone rang. Maybe the computer crashed. Maybe your site blew off all the tips listed above — and not only are they leaving your site, they’re going to bad-mouth you to all their friends. One way to involve your users is simple: how can we improve? Even if people don’t respond, they’ll be happy to know that someone’s out there waiting for their opinion. And if people do respond, send them a nice reply (even if you think they’re crazy…)

That’s my ten. What are yours?

A while back, a friend of mine pointed out that his Web site (which is very basic) gets a fair amount of new business for his family-owned printing company. The secret: there’s a snapshot photo of him and his wife on the Home Page, and many new customers comment that they saw their photo on the Web. (Very few, except curmudgeons like me, comment that the site looks dated and boring.) The crucial lesson: be personal on your site.

Larry and Charlotte are not models. But they are likable in person, and the snapshot makes them real to people surfing for a business. It puts a face on the business, which is otherwise just a logo.

Another client started a “Meet Captain John” feature to introduce a new expert on staff. Response has been so good, it’s become a regular feature on the Web site, and Cap’n John is now answering online questions from customers. When people come into the store, they seek out John and introduce themselves.

Today, I stumbled across the Web page for Scott, The Nametag Guy. He’s taken this to an extreme, even tattooing his nametag on his chest. And though I haven’t heard him speak or read his books (yet), I instantly love Scott — and clearly a lot of other folks do too.

On the Web and in business, competition is fierce. Projecting your personality is a powerful way to connect with potential customers.