Web Design, Internet Marketing, E-commerce, SEO Blog | Las Vegas, NV

Chances are if you are in the market to purchase a website, you’ve been baffled by all the different ranges in pricing.  With so many web designers out there, you probably found yourself asking “What’s the difference?”

When choosing a web design company, you should first do a little background to help yourself understand the differences and the terminology you may encounter.  This little bit of digging will help to save you a lot of headaches in the beginning and possibly money in the long run.

Custom Web Design or Web Templates?  Which Should I Choose?

At netMouser.com, we specialize in custom designed websites.  We feel that every company is unique and your website should show the unique quality of your business.  A custom design allows you to have a one of a kind presence that no other company has.  Because the graphics are created custom for you, the price may seem slightly higher than other quotes you receive.

However, web templates, which may be priced lower at first, are templates that designers pay for and then “customize” to meet your needs.  Please pay special attention to the word ‘customize’ versus custom web design.

Web templates can sometimes be restrictive since they may actually limit your content space or have restrictive layouts.  Also, you have to keep in consideration that web templates are bought and not ‘created’ to make your business unique, so other companies may purchase the same layout.

That being said, it really is the personal choice of the customer as to what type of website you choose.  Web templates are quicker, and normally least expensive, but custom web designs are unique and specific to your branding.  Surprisingly, custom web designs can be very affordable.  Our netMouser.com starter 5 page custom web design package is only $995 and is a professional entry into your online business.  This price is sometimes lower than website templates after you pay the design firm to ‘customize’ a template for you.  So, long story short, if you are in the market for a website…find out a few things when calling around to web design firms.

1.  Is this a custom design or a web template?  Sometimes the low price is attractive, but when you find out it’s a template, you may actually pay a higher price for the customization than our 5 page package custom web design package.

2.  If a template, how much does it cost to exclusively purchase the design?  Again, you may find the price is higher than our custom web design package.  I’ve seen some web templates priced at $3,000 for exclusivity!

If this seems overwhelming at first, don’t panic.  Most people don’t understand the differences and may be hesitant when choosing a design firm.   The main thing you need to decide is whether you would be happy with a web template or if you prefer to have a unique custom web design.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.  We always welcome your call.

This post is a continuation from our SEO series “What is SEO?”

Why do I need SEO?

SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, plays a vital role in getting your website listed on search engines. It can make the difference between people seeing your website just by searching for phrases on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… or whether you are so far hidden in these search engines that the only way to be seen is to pay for it.

SEO is a small phrase for a much larger purpose, but today I will try to write some helpful information in order for you to gain more insight on why this is a phrase to remember.

SEO Resources

If you browse the web and do a search for SEO you will come up with all kinds of articles, forums, seo training and tutorials, along with a wealth of promises by seo companies that guarantee you number 1 spots on all the top search engines. That being said, let’s examine some of the top ways in which you can insure your website is search engine ‘friendly’… and I truly mean friendly in the most ethical ways.

Common SEO Tips and Advice

• Guaranteed Number 1 Spot - I have had many clients over the years tell me they received a telephone call from a company claiming they can get them to be the number 1 search phrase on Google. They tell me that the company has reviewed their website and for a small fee (normally a few thousand dollars), they can get my client’s website listed number 1 on Google for any search phrase relating to their website.  Can this really be true? YES…you can be number 1 on Google or any search engine…IF YOU PAY FOR IT.

  It’s important to understand that natural/organic seo is a process that does not happen overnight.  And it is equally important to understand that it is not the ‘norm’ to be listed number 1 for EVERY search phrase that relates to your business.  Even the best SEO’s will have trouble with this.  When someone guarantees you the number 1 spot for every search phrase, this is absolutely too good to be true.  And the only way they would be able to follow through with this, is if you paid for it through a search engine marketing advertising campaign.

• Simple Website with Clean Coding - Search engines crawl the web looking for websites.  When they crawl your site, they look for copy to read on your website.  This copy will include Meta Data and Title Tags, content/copy on your site and navigational links.  When you build a website, there are key things a web company who understands SEO will suggest to keeping your site simple and search friendly.  For example, Flash should never be used entirely to create a website because flash code does not contain any real content value.  Since flash operates more as a program and not as plain HTML, the search engines do not really read these files.  (At least not yet anyway.)  However, that being said, Flash does have wonderful multimedia value and can add that little bit of creativity or artistic vision that just separates you from the rest.  When a customer is dead set on using Flash, I will make suggestions on what we can do to try to make the website as search engine friendly as possible, which may be creating a separate HTML website, along with specific programming things we can do to replace flash with HTML using javascript/css.
• Text Links versus Graphic Links - Text links are much more search engine friendly since they are exactly that…text.  The search engine can read them.  Graphic links, buttons or artsy-fartsy graphic navigational menus are not search engine friendly.  There are things a good seo can do to make them more seo friendly, but a good text link can make a HUGE difference on how well your site is ranked when indexed.
• Dynamic URL’s and Dynamic Content - It is a mistake to think that these two items are one in the same.  Dynamic URLs are web addresses with a question mark (?) in them, while dynamic content is normally content that is being pulled from another source, like a database or file.  Our ecommerce shopping cart uses the Apache server to rewrite dynamic URL’s to turn them into static URL’s.  These static URL’s normally get indexed better because a search engine is able to read these URL’s that are static and not constantly changing, as dynamic URL’s.  Dynamic content, if displayed as plain HTML or CSS, is also search engine friendly.
• Rich, Descriptive Copy - When you write the copy for your website, make it keyword rich and as descriptive as possible.  I always ask my clients this one thing that normally helps them to understand what I mean here.  The question is:  If I were on Google or Yahoo searching for your business…what search keywords or phrases would I type in to find you?  By them answering this simple question, it allows me to optimize their site with relevant keywords and descriptive copy that should help them in getting their site indexed and ranked higher in the search listings.

Are we SEO Gods?

There are many SEO companies that promise you the world.  At netMouser.com, you are given the facts about your site and how well it ranks as well as what we can do to get it to perform even better.  We don’t promise you the world, but we sure will work as hard as we can on making your site as visible as possible so that it is much more search engine friendly.  If you would like to set up an initial SEO evaluation, contact us.

What is phishing?

Phishing is not something you do on a boat with a rod and reel. Phishing (notice the ‘ph’ in the front of this word) is a practice that some deviants do to attempt to get sensitive information from you, all the while, disguising themselves as a company you may trust.

For example, I have a PayPal account. A phishing expert may send me an email saying “Your PayPal account is about to close” or something to the degree that will make you urgently act on this email. Inside the email, they may ask you to login to your paypal account and enter your credit card data or bank account information. If you don’t, your PayPal account will expire. In the email, they will provide a link to login and the design of the email will look exactly like PayPal. Is this email really coming from PayPal? No! The phishers are sending you to a phony website that looks and feels just like PayPal, so you will enter your credit card or bank information for them to steal!

How can you tell the difference between a phishing email and a legitimate email?

Each company has it’s own policies on phishing. For example, here at netMouser.com, we will NEVER ask you for account information, credit card numbers, or any other sensitive information in an email. If we have a question or need information from you, your sales representative will contact you personally. Since all of our clients are assigned a dedicated sales rep, they know who to trust. If for any reason, they are unsure, I encourage them to call me personally.

In my example above, I used PayPal because I too have received numerous email phishing messages from phishers who claim to be PayPal. I must say, I am very impressed with PayPal’s proactive stance on phishing and the resources they give to their members to insure that they are not fooled by a phishing attempt. In fact, they have an extensive security section on their website that devotes resources to phishing and other security related issues.

What to look for in a phishing email attempt.

In most phishing emails, the URL or link they place in the message is normally an IP address or a website address that is similar to the company you are familiar with…but not the exact web address. An example of an IP address link would look something like this PayPal phishing example I found on Wikipedia. Notice the yellow hightlighted IP address under the “Click to verify your account.”

What are all the methods of Phishing?

Wikipedia has a great listing on the methods used by phishers. Of course, you can probably expect this list to grow because as technology grows, so do the methods phishers use.

• Link Manipulation - this is the example I gave you above. Where a phisher will disguise an email or website link as an IP address or another website address that is not the real website of the company they are trying to act as.

• Filter Evasion - this is a technique where phishers use images instead of text, making it harder for anti-phishing filters to detect text commonly used in phishing emails.

• Website Forgery - creating a website that looks and feels like the trusted company is just one factor. There are several other advanced scripting methods utilizing java script that replace a URL in the address bar…or even open your browser to a legitimate site and then quickly closing the site and opening to a new phishing site within a split second. Read the Wikipedia article for more on website forgery.

• Phone Phishing - Yes…phishing can also be done over the telephone. Some phishers leave phone messages on a voice mail claiming to be a bank & asking them to call their 800 number due to account related issues. What some people don’t realize is the toll free number is really set up by a phisher and they are prompting people to enter their account details in order to fraud them.

How can I protect myself from a phishing attempt?

I, personally, have a few general rules about phishing and how to make sure I am not a victim.

If I receive an email from a company that is asking me to login to my account for any reason, I will do one or all of the following:

• I will NEVER click the link in the email message.
  I will instead open up my web browser and type in the website address directly into the address bar to go directly to the source. This will enable me to login to my account on the company’s website on my own…without using a link from the phishing email. Then, once inside my account, I can look for any messages from the company.

• I will call the company and ask if they sent me the email message.
  This is very important because if you are truly uncertain about the message…call the company! It never hurts and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. In fact, if the company didn’t know there was a phishing email circulating to its’ customers, they will be glad to hear about it and will take action to insure their other clients know not to trust the message.

If I receive a voice mail from a bank or other company stating there is a problem with my account, I will:

• Go to my filing cabinet and look for a legitimate bank statement and call the number on my statement.
  Never call the number they leave on your voice mail. Always verify the number by looking at the company’s most current statement or invoice.

• Read the back of my credit card.
  I will open my wallet and pull out the credit card that may be in question and turn the card over to review the toll free number for that credit card account’s Customer Service line…and then I will call that number. Not the number that was left on my machine.

Hopefully this blog post will help people to identify the common techniques used and to insure that you are not a victim of phishing scams. Remember my philosophy of always being safer than sorry. If you are ever in question of a communication effort made by a company…call them and ask. You will rest assured knowing that you were not a victim and may be helping thousands / millions of other customers from making the same mistakes.