In most of our development work we use the WordPress platform. To many of you WordPress is just a blogging content management system, buuuut I tend not to agree, because in our vast experience we’ve successfully created feature-rich websites on WordPress for all kinds of clients. Besides being a flexible tool for development, WordPress and Google go together like a horse and carriage. WordPress takes care of 80-90% of your SEO, according to Matt Cutts (head of WebSpam for Google since 2000)

Google DOES NOT use meta keywords

Most of our clients are stressing about their keywords and don’t want to understand that it’s their content that creates keywords and brings traffic and not just a set of words they want us to make up for them. One of our current clients’ had an issue with a competitor where the lady actually threatened her with a law suit if our client did not change her meta keywords. Well, only if she knew that Google Webmaster Central Blog announced back in September 2009 that they don’t use the keywords meta tag for their indexing but instead they emphasize on the <title> tag and the description meta tag.

Users should be aware though that, Google is not the only Search Engine, and according to comScore.com Google’s slice in the search engine market is around 65%. Yes, that is a lot, but what about the rest of the search engines like Yahoo! and Bing and many other ones on other local markets? Some other search engines are known to use the keywords meta tag, but you should decide which Search Engine to focus on for your marketplace.

The description meta tag

Instead of focusing and stressing about useless things, you should be directing your attention towards your description meta tag. You should create a meaningful description for each of your pages, the description should not be longer than 160 characters including spaces and should describe the contents of the page. The ability to create a good description inline with your page’s content will most probable index that page for a certain keyword or key phrase. The description then will be used by Google to display that text snippet under the title of your site in their search results. Should you lack the description for a certain page Google will index the first 160 characters of that page and use it in their results.
There is no need for you to learn html or play around with the code, because there are many useful plugins for WordPress that enable you to edit your meta tags for each page and post that you create.

In conclusion

As regards WordPress we cannot stop singing their praises and will continue developing great looking websites full of features and functionality. We here at Vitriol Consult are more than happy to give our customers the best of the best. Guess what, we even built our own web-site on WordPress.

Till next time…

~ Iurie Vlasov

So what can yo expect from the new Vitriol Consult? Well overall, as a company, we are still the same talented, energetic, handsome and humble team you are used to. We still provide amazing websites that help you establish an online identity. However, you can now look forward to even more services being offered, all under one roof. Whether you are in need of a simple logo, a fully branded identity, a search engine optimized site or a rich internet application, Vitriol has you covered! Not sure if we offer the service you are looking for? Just ask, chances are we can help you or at least point you in the right direction.

Not only do we offer these amazing services (and more…), we also plan to write educational, informative and fun blog posts! We know that all of you not so web savvy individuals need help from time to time, and we plan to give you just that. And for those of you that take on the web each and everyday, hopefully we can mix a little something in there for you as well. Comments are open to everyone and we encourage you all to use them. Tell us what you think of the new site. Tell us what you would like to see. Have an idea? Thought? Concern? Put it out there and we will see what we can do.

Thanks to everyone for the continued support. Hope you like the site!

The process is normally divided into a few steps, that each take time and complement each other:

Step 1: Planning

Although the initial step, this one is the most important, and can take days or weeks before being completed. Communication is at the base of this step and the success of the next ones. A brief is created with the client, and in the case of RACCStore we went through thorough discussions with Paul Jankowski and Chris Troxel about the purpose, the functionality and the layout they wanted. Besides that we thoroughly planned the content they needed to provide once the site was ready for launch. Being a start-up, the guys from RACC needed to get their domain name and hosting, and as we do for most of our clients we proposed Hostgator (we truly never had any kind of issue with this hosting company and are ready to refer it to anyone).

Step 2: The creative process

The brief, that was created during the planning process, is then passed to the designer. The guys had their brand designed by Ashley Jankowski from Luxecetera, so our job about picking the colors and creating their logo was made easy. The entire process went through proposing several concepts, and then the concept selected by the client had several mockups. For you to understand the process behind the design of a single page, we’ve attached this IOGraph Log of the Contact page design. What you see here are the moves of the mouse during the design, the black dots being the mouse stopping (the larger the dot, the longer the wait) – this is the time the designer took to think over a cup of coffee and/or a cigarette.

Step 3: The development process

This is the longest and the most time-consuming process of them all. After the design files are approved by the client they are sent to the developers. In the case of RACC Store there were a total of ten Photoshop files created. The developers made the template using mockup images, text, XHTML (html), and CSS (styling language). This resulted in an example website, built straight from the approved design files. The developer then built in the functionality. This included installing a Content Management System (CMS), in our case WordPress, developing contact forms,  the shopping cart, member areas, etc. In this stage, the developer checks in with the client the functionality of the website by using temporary/staging pages that only the client could view through their website browser.

Step 4: Content

Many clients have their copy/content ready before even starting designing their site, even though the actual content is added only after the development phase is complete. Once the website was coded and programmed, the client is given access to his site’s backend where he can start adding content or pay one of us to do that for him. After the content is added, the design, functionality and content merge to reveal a functioning website.
A piece of advice here: Add content to all your pages, there is really no point having a ‘coming soon’ section of a website as this will only annoy users

Step 5: The launch

Houston we are ready for launch! This is the process of copying all the files and databases from our development server to the client’s live site. Once this is completed, the site becomes viewable to the whole internet. Enjoy!

]]> http://vitriolconsult.com/2010/08/racc-store-behind-the-scenes/feed/ 0 http://vitriolconsult.com/2010/07/choosing-a-web-designdevelopment-firm/ http://vitriolconsult.com/2010/07/choosing-a-web-designdevelopment-firm/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:26:28 +0000 admin http://vitriolconsult.com/?p=107

As with just about anything nowadays, there are tons of companies to choose from when it comes to hiring a web designer or developer. If you Google “Web Designer”, you will get over 66 million results! So how can you choose the right developer or designer for your project? There are various aspects to consider, and many of them depend on the needs of your project, but I will name a few major points that should be taken into considerations.

1. Website Does the designer, developer, or firm have their own website? This is an obvious one, but very important in my opinion. I find that a lot of companies (including myself when I first started out) do not have websites. Many will claim to be so busy, that they have not had time to create there own. While this may be the case, a good firm will know the importance of having their own online identity established. After all, they are attempting to sell you a product based on the importance of having a website as a sale point. If they aren’t taking their own advice, then you should probably be weary.

2. Consulting This is a big one. Many people know very little about the process involved with creating an online site or application. Those who have some knowledge are often a little off in their findings. A good developer will explain the importance of what they are doing. They will make recommendations based on your project’s needs. If the firm you choose doesn’t enlighten you on the path they are taking, the technology they are using, or the method to their madness, then you should probably take a second look. You may not understand any of what they are saying, but it will help you to realize that the company you are giving a bunch of your hard earned cash to knows what they are talking about. In many cases, it will also help you to realize that you have options. There are usually several ways to approach each and every project, and each has it’s own pros and cons. So ask questions!

3. Portfolio What has the company done before you came along? Are you their very first project? That is not necessarily a bad thing (everyone needs to start somewhere), but depending on your project, you may want someone with a bit more experience. Every designer, developer, or firm has a portfolio. It may not be readily available for display on their website, as a lot of companies and clients have very strict legal mumbo jumbo which keeps them from displaying it on their site, but if you send an email asking for a list of work, they should be readily able to provide you with a list of live projects they have worked on. If a company does not have any work to show, then they may not have much experience.

4. Contract Does the company have a contract or legal agreement of some form which they have you sign on acceptance of a project? Many clients and individuals do not like signing contracts. There is usually a lot of stuff to read (most of which is hard to understand), and it puts restrictions on what you as a client can or can’t do. However, it also puts restrictions on what the firm can or cannot do. This serves as a protection for both you and the firm. This is why contracts are important. It helps put many items in perspective, such as the cost of the project, payment terms, deadlines and other expectations. And naturally, they are legally binding in the event that the firm doesn’t keep their end of the bargain. If you do not sign a contract, then there is nothing holding the firm you hire to their end of the deal.

There are many other factors that go into making a decision when choosing a company to design and/or develop your website or web based application. Many of them simply depend on the needs of your individual project. Hopefully these 4 points have helped you in your decision making process. TextCS believes in these guidelines and follows them as closely as possible. If you would like a free quote on your next project, please feel free to contact us . We would be happy to discuss it with you.

Today, February 18 Vitriol Consult is one year old. Consider that we launched this business in the middle of a global crisis when people continued whining about lack of funds and were ready to spend nothing. Nevertheless, we were really blessed by God and work continued growing in the months to pass. We made really strong partnership connections with the ladies from Luxecetera, became more than partners with the great team at Flosites. We served around 80 different clients from US, Italy, UK, South Africa, Moldova, Romania and Russia. We became bigger and added up great people like Chris and Nikita that now are more family than a working team. We enlarged our specter of services and continued to improve the quality of our work pleasing clients at max power.

What are the plans for the next year, you will ask. We have some interesting ventures that will give us even more market share. In Italy we are to launch, by mid-March, a service dedicated to lawyers, called “Siti per avvocati“, in translation to English “Websites for lawyers” plus there are some other crazy ventures that we are braining as I am writing this post, but you will have to find out more about them in the next blog posts.

To conclude this, I am sincerely thankful to all of those that supported us in the past year, my mother that has been a great teacher to me, Ross for being a good buddy (even if we quarrel from time to time, I love you man!), Ashley for teaching me how to be a “smart ass”, Chris for coming around when we needed him most (Thanks Bro!!!), Andrea for being the best lawyer a company would want and to Nikita for being a great asset to the team. Please don’t be upset if I did not name you, but honestly I owe a piece of Vitriol to many people who were around me!

Happy first birthday Vitriol Consult!

Sincerely your servant,

Iurie Vlasov

Nowadays the level of development of systems like WordPress is so advanced to allow simple modifications of the system without touching the core of the platform to be adapted under any needs thus keeping lower costs, less time consumption, security levels and better future development of features and extra needs. That’s exactly why high-level clients use it for their websites:

People magazine: http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/
The Prime Minister of United Kingdom: http://www.number10.gov.uk/
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/topnews/blog-index.html
Visit Oregon: http://visittheoregoncoast.com/
FORD: http://www.thefordstory.com/
Golf Royalty: http://golf-royalty.com/
Republican Governors Association: http://www.rga.org/

These and many more examples of WordPress customization to fit ones needs can be shown. As follows are the reasons why WordPress is a good system:

1) WordPress will never out-date.
In fact, WordPress is a system used by millions around the globe, allowing for the best and largest “bug-checking” team in the world, and once glitches in the system are revealed WordPress comes up with an immediate upgrade. And even if it is not about bugs, even if it is about making the system better there will always be new updates therefore the system will never out-date.

2) WordPress helps you save time and money
Instead of spending time on waiting until a good, bugless and expensive custom system is developed, it takes considerably less time and resources for developers to concentrate on creating features needed by the client to be installed into WordPress and work on the design of the front end. Also, learning to use WordPress is much easier as there is plenty of  documentation available on the internet, which is much easier than having someone explain “how the new super advanced custom CMS works”.

3) WordPress is quicker and more optimized
Wordpress is known to be one of the best DB driven systems available at the moment, thus being one of the quickest Open Source platforms on the internet. Moreover it has the ability of optimizing the database so as not to lose data and work faster under heavy traffic.

4) WordPress is the best for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is a fact, WordPress driven sites get indexed by Search Engines much faster and better than custom system driven sites do, due to the cleanliness of the code and the features it has.

5) Anyone can use WordPress
At any point in time should the client decide to update his site with new features, new design etc it will be enough to hire a WordPress developer and not look for someone to understand someone else’s code.

There are many other reasons why one should use WordPress, and mainly that is why many important companies around the world have decided to opt for WordPress.