Effective website design

As software consultants and website developers we are often asked how best to present a website. The key thing when designing any website is the call to action in our opinion. It can e the prettiest most technically advanced website on the internet - but if it doesn't have a strong message explaining what to do next then it won't deliver results.

A call to action can be perfectly simple - such as "Call our X experts now to find out how you can improve y". Hardly a difficult thing to do. Or perhaps the call to action is no more than the request for an email address to provide an (interesting) newsletter.

We develop a range of different style websites for our clients but it is always key to understand what would work for them when it comec to a call to action.

Online Markting for free

Online Marketing can be done at little or no cost - all that is required is a time, diligence and effort.

Search Engine Optimisation is extremely effective as a method for website promotion and of course so is Pay Per Click.

SEO provides great results if you are in a field which is not overly competitive - ensuring the urls, content and tags all reflect your product and service is the key. PPC is also important though - it can drive transactions to your site cost effectively (though you can mess up badly if the call to action doesn't chime with the advert).

For us a combination of all works best. Theres lots of free advice on the web regards SEO - we offer some ourselves on various sites to help folks with no budget - it isn't rocket science.

Software project management

As the customer base grows within any company the nature of project management can change as well. For us we like to ensure that our software consultants build a good relationship with the end client - it's often quicker and better to go direct to the software consultant than via a help desk or account manager.

Software development is a complex task and often it is difficult for clients to fully explain what they want until prototypes are built - so giving them access to the correct people at the correct time can ensure that developments run a lot more smooth than otherwise they might.

Sharepoint support in Scotland

Microsoft Sharepoint is one of those systems that everyone knows off but not everyone uses. It's mainly used for intranet projects though can be used very successfully for public facing sites as well. In essence it's a Content Management System and developed specifically to ensure scalability and robustness.

There are many CMS alternatives of course - some better than others - but in some cases it's the pricing model that is the deciding factor. We are happy to develop Sharepoint systems as required though if license pricing is the deciding factor it's normally systems like Dot Net Nuke we opt for as the system is open source.

It's down to technology preferences and budgets in the end. And of course the existing system that is in place - throwing the baby out with the bath water is never a good idea.

Windows 7 - not before time

It's amazing to see the transformation from Vista to Windows 7. Quite an improvement and to be honest well overdue. At last the PC interface is starting to look engaging - though perhaps somewhat borrowed from the Mac.

When it was launched it came out to aclaim - but even now it is looking like a very solid platform to build on. Not before time.

As for whose idea it was? Everyones - we all knew that we needed something easier to use and work with. As software developers we find some interfaces tricky - so goodness knows how the non techy types cope.

From asp.net to microsoft.net and Dot Net Nuke

When Microsoft.Net first got announced we were already knee deep in a huge ASP.net project so could'nt easily jump ships to the new platform. It was a bit of a frustration for us but there really wasn't much we could do about it. That was a good few years back and now of course we build almost all of our software solutions and websites around the .net framework.

It's made life much easier for developers like us and with each new release the product seems to geet better. We've combined the benefits of Microsoft.Net development with the DNN (Dot Net Nuke) framework and it's made for increased throughout for project. Good to see progress.

Great Hex songs

I do like number jokes - I know its naff.

This one courtesy of a colleague who sang tunes all day in hex....

"I've got the key of the door never been 15Hex before"

love it

Dot Net Nuke as a core platform

One of the systems we use a lot is Dot Net Nuke - it's a Content Management System based on Microsoft.Net technologies. For us it's a near perfect fit with our skills set which include a significant team of .net developers.

We've found that the framework it supplies lets us concentrate on the clients requirements rather than on the more tedious areas of web development. We've extended the system a great deal and added event management systems, social web components, shopping carts.

Thats not to say we dont use PHP and other technologies but the benefit we see is the ability to build scalable and robust .net systems at speed.

Augmented Reality - the term for 2010

Its good when a new term emerges in the technology and software development arena - the term for 2010 appears to be "augmented reality".

Sounds really good - almost Minority Report in nature. Augmented reality is the ability to overlay images and videos with dynamic information - ie point your phone at a street and it will tell you what direction to walk to reach the nearest Starbucks.

Augmented Reality is undoubtedly here to stay - great term.

ZX spectrum in the loft

I never bought a ZX Spectrum but I did geet one when a friend had had enough. Very quickly I had as well and the thing ended up in the loft. It turned up the other day when we were gutting the loft - strange how it's keyboard was clearly unusable and yet we all persevered with it.

I've notice though that cost cutting with PCs these days is introducing very flat looking keyboards - not as bad as the ZX - but far from ideal.

Newsletters for marketing

As our email inboxes fill up with junk it's easy to forget that most of the information we get is through that medium.

We've seen our marketing been positively impacted by the use of a regular and informative newsletter system. As software developers we built the system ourselves and promote it through our web development site - Web Wise Business.

It's fascinating to see readership levels and interest in the news we publish and a relief that not everyone junks email.

Business Events in Scotland

With Techcrunch soon coming to Edinburgh (May) I thought I would run through the events site we run to see what else was coming up - Whats On Central - a lot going on and some interestng events from the University of Edinburgh as they bring in expert speakers to motivate aspirational businesses.

The site is free to use if you a business or academic event to promote.