FAQ's - Our Most Common QuestionsIn these FAQ's we attempt to answer some of the common questions we are asked when starting a relationship with a new Client. If you have a question that we haven't asked please do not hesitate to get in contact with us and tell us what it is.
1. Why the strange company name?
Years ago the initial services that we offered were graphic design, illustration and web design. Companies within the creative industries have more leeway and usually give themselves a name that is odd or humorous. We wanted a name distinctive enough that awareness initiatives were not wasted promoting a brand too similar to others to be discernable. We didn't want to be the first in the Yellow Pages with 'A1-Media Design'. We don't believe our potentials are looking there. We believe that the post-TV and post-print dominated media favours a memorable offering linked to a distinctive name that is easy to spell. Also we wanted to create a literal (albeit incredible) image of something that is eating through the old media of paper. We understand that it is not quite conventional for a company that handles web marketing but we like the name and are sticking with it. No doubt in another 15 years our approach will seem as dated as 'concept 2000', but for now we don't see any need to change.
2. How much do you charge?
The absolute minimum that we have charged for a web site is £900. We form all our quotes based on a day rate, and this price represents what can realistically be achieved by a web designer in 3 days. This includes consultation and concept sign off by the client, all aspects of creation, and inserting the client’s content (excluding hosting). Basically everything it takes to have a simple brochure site with several pages delivered. Development (interactive elements), Flash Design, and other services such as SEO activities have higher day rates. Few web companies like bidding for a contract when a great deal is dependent on the client’s understanding and expectations. Often the client will create project definitions and have web companies interpret this to create a bid (we usually interpret at its cheapest to win). As with all sophisticated projects it is usually better for a client to have an approximate budget and ask companies to create a tender based on it. In the end choosing the best tender rather than a lowest bidder. We are very granular when we create a tenders and quotes and we happy to explain what we do and break down the cost of any service so that the best balance is found for your project..
3. I have seen web design a lot cheaper, what's the difference?
We can not compete with, or want to have a 'cookie-cutter' or 'web site supermarket' business model. We cannot compete with them on price and they cannot compete with us on levels of Service, Communication, Specificity, Support or Quality. We want to offer a bespoke service, . We want to make real materials, not fill a templates. We want build on 'face to face consultation', rather than get you to fill in a form and forward it to india. We plan, design and build whole web strategies and content specific around your business goals. What we build will legally belong to you, and every graphic element can be reused or transferred into whatever medium you choose .Usually when a company says "We need a web site" they look to these Turnkey solutions. As they grow they say "we need to develop an online strategy that is focused on capturing opportunities" they found they needed a site, material, content development and SEO strategies that is as specific and as individual to them as there business and their opportunities. That is when they look past a 'cookie-cutter' to us.
Although many of our customers started with these kind of 'template' solutions, and there are good honest companies that provide a quality service. You can create your own web site with hosting and ecommerce package through a company like 1&1. We simply just don't see ourselves in competition with them any more than a tailor sees Marks and Spencer's as a competitor.
4. What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. In short, it is the act of creating a site that can be better indexed by search engines like Google. It's an important subject that requires a little more space, the article SEO Explained explores it further.
5. XHTML, CSS, JavaScript could you please explain this to me?
You May have heard the term HTML, this stands for Hypertext Markup Language, this is just the name of the code that your computer's web browser uses to make web pages. It tells the browser what 'styles' text and images should have when they render on the browser. Such as in this example: <strong>bold</strong> here I am telling the browser to render this particular word 'bold' with the style 'bold' and it will look like this: 'bold'. The code 'marks up' the plain text to text with a style. XHTML is an advancement HTML. The original language was fine, and it still is (so don't worry your old web site won't stop working) as the new code developments build on the old, but it allows us to do so much more with styles and functions that both business and the public want from the web.
Web code gets very complex and hard to manage as the amount of styling information grows. For example this web page needs about 1000 lines of styling code. The people who first invented the web and HTML invented a language that was perfect for publishing research papers and data. They only really saw the web needing as much styling function as a word processor. They didn't really imagine it was going to be used by people concerned with sales, design, and the rich media experience the modern web has become. Everyone agreed that style and content had to be separated. It was easier for designers who had to manage the styling code. It was easier for business men who administer the information in the web pages. It was easier for Search Engines like Google who analyse the content. And it was faster for web users who want web pages to appear quickly and fully formed. Everyone agreed that the pallet of styles needed to be increased and this pallet needed to be separate from the content of the page.
So the code became eXtensible. And when the style code was separated from the web pages it was called the Cascading Style Sheet or CSS for short. Because HTML became extensible it meant designers could be much more specific about the styling information, and create their own pallet. For example: In the Style Sheet i can define exactly a special strong red style that takes up as many lines of code as it needs. Give it a specific name and call it back to this web page with only one line of code: <span class="mySpecialRedStrong">Bold and Red</span> (you can see it here as i made it the first style) when it's called back it looks like this: Bold and Red. Separating style and content means that when you visit a site you download far less code because you only need the styles once. And if a designer needs to change something he only has to do it once and it will cascade throughout the whole site. You may have noticed something similar if you are using the latest version of Microsoft Word. It also means that if you visited the web site with a mobile phone you could download different styles that fit better on small screens. However as styling has become more exacting designers have found that they need web browsers to be more consistent with a universal standard. Web users have also decided they want a consistent experience across different computers and browsers. Check out this FAQ on IE6 to find out why the world needs web standards and why good browsers follow them.
JavaScript is simply the name of a programming language used for client side behaviour. When a web page does something dynamic a script must run that will take the html code and dynamically alter it. This happens on the computer of the person who has visited the web page rather than on the computer that is 'serving' the web site. The effect can be as simple as roll-over buttons that change colour as you move your mouse over them. Or complete dynamic experiences such as Google Maps.
6.What is a CMS?
CMS is short for Content Management System. This is a dynamic web site that does not require any expertise or any special software to administer, update or maintain the content. You are probably aware of these web sites without having used the term CMS. When you are using Facebook or any similar web site where you can alter the content from your browser you are effectively using a CMS. A CMS web site can have multiple users, multiple administration rights, different levels of access. What can be done with a CMS is vast.
It is absolutely staggering how little is known, by enterprise and startup companies, about what a good CMS based web site could do for them. Also how much more accessible and affordable solutions have become with the available open source software like Wordpress, Joomla & Drupal. Nobody doubts that these kinds of web sites are the future of the internet. But there is a good deal to think about before you make your choices. We will be making it the focus of a white paper for companies very soon and if you would like to receive one as soon as it is completed email us at info@papershark.co.uk
7. I have seen something on another web site, but I am not sure how it is done so I don’t know what exactly I am asking for or what it will cost?.
Whatever your level of experience with the web we are happy to help you and tell you what you are looking at and the process we would undertake to create the same function or effect. If what your looking at seems really impressive in terms of sound, animation and effects, in all probability what your your looking at is a Flash web site. You can find our a little more about the Flash services we offer here. Just email us a link to the site you are looking at with any questions your might have about it and we will be back in contact with you. Our email address is info@papershark.co.uk
8. Someone tells me that Flash is bad, is this true?
You may have spoken to someone in your company who has been researching SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to discover that Flash is the sole reason why no one visits your site. In my experience Flash has been scapegoated when in most cases the reason people do not visit web sites are because they are poorly planed and most importantly lack useful content for the user. In short: Flash works perfectly well when used as content and should be wrapped in HTML 'normal' web pages that contains the information people are looking for.
8.1 SEO and Flash. Could your elaborate?
It used to be the case that the text content (the words) where difficult for search engines to see. Search engines use 'Web Spiders', this is the name of an automatic process that is like a librarian searching through books and making a set of index cards that is held and regularly updated and help people find the information they want. If you had a great article about how to make 'cup cakes' the web spiders search through your site to 'index' words like "recipe" "cup cakes" as well as the links to other web sites. When you do a web search with a company like Google they don't search the web there and then, but search through their index.
Search engines can now search the text content within Flash files and can trace the hyper links. Things are infinitely better than they were a few years ago, and pays to look at the words you are using. Then again it doesn't hurt to match that text content within good metadata in the web page that holds the Flash file. In short: You can accidentally achieve good Search Engine Optimisation results without Flash, but it you are going to use Flash a lot, you must think in terms of SEO Strategy and the Meta Information of a page.
Sadly Flash has been abused and it has grown some haters. This is mostly because it was used without good reason to to add some 'whiz-bang' to, what is an essentially, empty web site. This usually happens when a Client communicates their idea of a web site being solely about image and flair, they communicate all the aspects or form but not content. If the sole strategy for site is add some 'stardust' and extend the sensational marketing aspects 'structure' then that is fine, many companies do it, and do it well. Although it has to excepted that you have to drive people to that site with a marketing strategy to then extend that marketing message. In short; you have to offer something useful to get them to come of their own accord.
It is true that Flash seems to be the preserve of web site that have more style than useful content, but this is more the fault of web designers who do not plan a site from the perspective of this visiting the site. You Tube is based around flash media served within normal web code that is easily searchable by search engines, and it is one of the most successful web sites in existence.
9. So should I use Flash or not? what are the 'pros and cons'?
Flash is a highly powered tool. It is mostly used to create the more striking animated banner advertisements you see on the net. It can also be used to render whole bill board advertisements. It's used in retail environments with information that updated simply by any user. In can be used for interactive exhibition presentations and Point of Sale demonstrations. Flash is everywhere and it is working for companies that know how to use it right. But there are companies that have used it badly and regretted it.
So how do you know if you are going to be using it well? Remember that people on the web are 'active'. This means they are 'goal orientated' and that goal is usually certain information. When you are asking them to partake in a Flash experience you are usually asking them to be passive and receptive for a while. This may be perfect for the viewer if they are getting the information that they want, or if they have nothing better to do for the moment. This is why some Flash media would be great on someone standing in a queue who has nothing better to do. But not on a web site where the same message would fail because there is any number of more fun rewarding things to do than watch your advert. On the internet when we have reached our information goal we are willing to be passive for the moment. Most limited interactivity within the Flash experience is pseudo and usually encumbers the information we want. If the Flash experience is getting in the way of the information that web users are seeking it can be a massive failure. If you make a Flash interactive experience the goal, rather than a hurdle before the goal your thinking in the right direction. Flash is better at communicating specific product experience rather than a whole company...For example, it is ideal for for an interactive experience of the interior of a new luxurious car. But it would be awful it it were used the home page for Ford because it wouldn't be needed and it would slow down your progress to your information goal within a vast organisation. which could have been "what is the interior of the new car be like". The first good step is an honest approach to what is useful information for the customer and what is 'sales offering' from you. Using Flash well effectively should begin with thinking about web strategy.
10. Do you have any jobs, or can I do third party work for you?
I am afraid we do not have any positions available at the moment. We appreciate the interest you have shown our company. If you really think that you can offer us something really special with your abilities and talents we would be more than willing to here about you and what you feel you can offer us.
11. What is the LAMP Environment?
Lamp is an acronym for a collection of open source software that many web sites use. They include: Linux, an operating system a bit like a windows but is free, it is not very popular with office and home users but it is very popular with server computers which are used to store the web sites that you see every time you go on the web. Apache a web server software that runs on the server computer. It can run on a Windows or a Linux OS. It is the software that hold the HTML and other files and serves them to your computer when you request them in your web browser. IBM, Google many other large companies use it for many of their web sites. MySQL, this is database software that dynamic web sites use. a lots of the information that appears in web site has to be put together before after you search for it. Before it is arranged it sits in order on the web server on a database. Wikipidia, Google, Nokia and YouTube use MySQL. PHP, this is a code language for creating dynamic web pages and talking to the database. more web sites use PHP than any other language in the world, including Facebook, Yahoo and Wordpress.
12. If something is free does it mean it is not very good?
Think of this software as 'Free' as in speech rather than free as in lunch. Personal freedom and freedom of speech is the most valuable thing you have. Processes that are used for communication are regarded by many people as to important to put financial fence around. Tim Berners Lee could have chosen to make your pay a licence when you use HTML he did not for this very reason. It still became the most important business communication tool of our tine. The original creators gave these software a free licence because they believe it would be better if everyone had the opportunity to contribute to it's development. The companies that make this software have chosen to monetise what they do in different ways to a company like Microsoft. They make money from advertising like Google, or they sell support, development and training amongst other things.
13. Accessibility, W3C, WAI, British Standards !!?? I'm a British Company with a Web site tell me what I need to know and what I have to do?
The WAI stands for the Web Accessibility Initiative, they are a body that has laid out guidelines on what makes web site works well for people with disabilities. To generalize for a moment you must consider three types of people when you make or create content for a web site: people with poor mobility who may not be able to use a mouse like you and I, People with poor vision, and people with no vision. We also have to consider deaf people if we are using video with sound. The WAI guideline lays out, amongst many other thing, how we should produce our code so words stand out, or can be found in the right order by reading technologies, and buttons and links are easy to point to. The British Standards Document PAS 78:2006 doesn't look particularly different to the American Disability Act on web sites given that a well trained web developer will be more than familiar with creating sites based on ADA & WAI standards.. However few doubt that these British standards will effect a companies Kite mark and ISO accreditation in the future. You don't have to follow these standards, you can build a site exactly as you want and you wont get the web police knocking on your door. However it is widely understood that a Google search will favour sites that have take WAI standards into consideration, for this reason Accessibility goes without saying for any SEO optimised site. It ads a little more time on to any web development project but it more than worth it. It is worth understanding that Accessibility created little more work for anyone submitting content to a site (creating image descriptions or transcripts of films). We create sites that meet WAI guidelines as standard.
Wikipidia Article on Web Accessibility in general : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility
Wikipidia Article on PAS 78 (UK Web Accessibility Standards) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pas_78
14. What is Validation or Valid HTML?
The W3C has created a guideline of standards for web code. The guidelines are created so that there can be consistency between different browsers and different versions of the same browsers and browser that will come in the future such as on mobile phones of televisions and other technologies.
Validity means that the HTML code conforms to these guidelines that the browsers where built to.
'Validity' is not a mark of quality in same way that a bad company can be compliant with ISO regulations. 'Valid' does not mean 'good web design'. 'Valid' does not mean 'Accessible web design'.
Many web companies will offer 'Valid HTML Design' as an implied guarantee of the former. 'Valid' only guarantees that web sites, good and terrible will render consistently good or terrible over a multitude of browsers and future technologies that follow the same validity guidelines. Microsoft has recently committed to do so with their latest browser Internet Explorer 8 to come in line with all the major browser manufacturers such as Firefox, Safari & Google Chrome.
The badges of validity (above) have come to be a hallmark of quality, when they can only ever represent commitment to consistency. However, quality code is always consistent and inconsistent code is never good quality... the association is perhaps fair.
If you would like to know more about web validation check out this Wikipidia article:
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/W3C_Markup_Validation_Service
www.validator.w3.org/docs/help.html#validation_basics
Conversely If you would like to know how well different browsers follow the W3C standards check out this Wiki article: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid3 .
15. Ecommerce, what do i need to know before i setup an online shop?
You have to be aware of the laws and tax issues if you were to opening a normal shop. You may also require a merchants account with your bank, but it's not essential as there are other options such as Paypal. You really don't need any specialist knowledge beyond a normal shop. Of course if you are selling beyond your country you will need to be aware of all the export laws attached to the product you are selling. We prefer to use Actinic products when setting up an ecommerce site. They are the UK's foremost developer of ecommerce products for small and medium businesses, and a leading supplier of electronic point of sale (EPOS) and multi-channel retail technology. Alone they can provide you with a decent ecommerce solution but with us we can get it to look exactly the way you want it.
16. Do you do training?
A big part of what we do is training for Clients and their staff. This has included everything from using Photoshop to ongoing SEO strategies for small groups. We don't believe in being 'secret-squirrels' about what we do, and we want our clients to make the most out of what we provide them and we are happy to show them how things are done and train their staff.
17. When I get branding graphics what format will i get them in?
You will get branding and graphic materials in whichever vector or raster format is most convenient for you. If it is a vector file this means it is made of coordinates, and can be enlarged to any size imaginable. It is highly unlikely a printer or other third party will have a problem with the files we provide but if they do we will gladly resolve the situation free of charge.
18. Why are you publishing white papers for your company.
We have found that in consultation with our clients that there is usually good deal of information that can be very helpful formulation marketing plans. Current technology and the sheer scope of what is possible for a normal company has massively increased in the last few years. Solutions that once cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to implement and roll out, from products like Sharepoint to 3D animation, can not be created without the need of buying in very expensive software, but just the services of a good developer of designer. Similarly In the area of web marketing and lead development there are many companies that are selling 'big red button' type marketing solutions when clearly they need an ongoing strategy. Our white papers are a marketing tool that appeals to the rational needs, and educates our potential customers to important developments of software and applications that are Open Source and not so widely promoted as expensive alternatives.
19. Does Web Marketing really work?
Web Marketing can be very effective and deliver a good return on ROI. It is a tested model for many companies and it is the chief source of income for Google. A good deal of people have tried it and found that they made considerable losses with it. The difference between much higher chances of success and failure is, in a word, strategy.
20. What is Click Fraud?
This is deeply simplified explanation: When you undertake a PPC campaign you effectively bid and compete with others for keywords. You set your highest bid and your daily budget to run throughout the day. when your budget runs out and you have used all your 'clicks' your ads stop showing for that day. When this happens the prominence of ads by lower bidders is raised. obviously it is in the interest of lower bidders to have their competition fruitlessly use up all their clicks for both their campaigns and to drive down a competitors ROI and in effect the true value of keyword bid. Click fraud is fraudulent and illegal under the Computer Misuse Act of 1990 and needless to say we will not engage in act that breaks the law. Google use excellent tracking and analytics systems to detect click fraud to, this is very important to Google as it is essentially protecting the main source of revenue for one of the largest companies in the word. To say that it doesn't happen any more is untrue but there is significantly less of it. Some people take the approach that it is just a reality of an internet campaign and that if you open a sweet shop you should expect school kids to steal some sweets. We take a very dim view of it and will immediately report any irregularities to the relevant bodies when we administer a campaign.
For more information checkout the wikipidia article on click fraud.
21. What are Black Hat & White Hat Marketing Activities
'Black Hat' SEO are basically activities that break search engine rules and regulations. A good example of of a 'Black Hat' activity would be keyword stuffing. People used to over stuff pages with relevant and in many cases irrelevant words to drive traffic, this is done so much as it doesn't work, and it does it doesn't work for long. The fact that doesn't work long might cause a short term spike in traffic that the 'SEO Expert' invoices for and then leaves to client to clean up the mess later. We do not engage in any 'Black Hat' activities. There is still a great deal that a White Hat SEO can do that will give a web site a good advantage over others that have not been well optimised. Some further activities that we wont do are listed in our Ethics.
22. What does Google Analytics Do, more specifically what can it do for me?
Your web site already creates simple data such as 'the amount of people who visit your site'.This is information is usually held within the 'statistics' folder with your web site on the server. Google Analytics captures sophisticated information about it. It can tell you so much more than how many people visit your pages. Such as as how people travel through your pages. What pages they leave on. From what referrals they come from (if they are Google partners). Google Analytics can be a highly affective product that takes this information and helps you present in a meaningful way. However the product is probably misnamed, although it captures information it is the job of the user to analyse it in a meaningful way.
Any kind information feedback and analysis is only useful if you applying an adaptive and iterative strategy to your web site and marketing goals. It requires the time and the inclination of the user to set up and study the information in a systematic way and constantly apply it and adapt the study. It it most defiantly a solution who see marketing as a science rather as well as intuitive and creative. It is to see why Content Management Systems are being taken up by business that see the importance of an adaptive strategy. It can take seconds to publish a monthly report from these tools. But it can take a take a good deal more time and intelligence to turn this quantitative data into qualitative plans of action.
Such levels of attention and feedback are very important if you are driving your sales solely from the web. But if you are driving your sales from another other areas, and your web site simply contains some solid information about your company and contact details an ongoing analytics program is quite simply not needed. Be wary of site that offer Analytics and Reports as a sort of bonus item to a 'out of the box' web package. you could end paying hundreds of pounds more for monthly reports than can be created for free and in seconds. Reports that are next to useless without a qualitative based on the goals and strategy of the site. Google Analytics is a free service designed to help advertisers on the Google networks be more effective, making the both Google and the advertiser more effective. It is completely rooted in the adaptive strategy. Google Analytics in a fixed package web site (That the owners never change or add to) is like putting a speedometer in a house.
Wikipidia article Google Analytics : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics
Wikipidia article Iterative Strategy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterative_and_incremental_development
23. Will my web site work with Internet Explorer 6 (IE6)?
You may have noticed that this web site functions fine, but does not look quite right when viewed on Internet Explorer 6. IE6 was a good browser in it's day, but it it is almost 9 years old now. When any company has a web site created it must make the choice as to whether it will render on old technology or whether it must be standards compliant for future technology. We could have used any amount of little tricks and hacks to get web site to look closer to as it intended in IE6, but this would have been at the expense of standards compliance and valid code. We have made the decision to inform IE6 users why the site is not rendering as they expected (a situation that probably doesn't surprise them).
Please note that we can create web sites that render on a 2001 browser. But we cannot guarantee 2009 functionality and security. And given that an IE6 focused development is based around creating 'valid code', and then hacking it to work in the browser the ultimate result is a longer development process with compromised functionality for the vast amount of users.
Both Google and Facebook are sending the same message... you can use out site with IE6, but with limited functionality and it won't look as good. We don't think continued support is viable given that web trends suggest that less than 4% of web surfers will be using this browser by the end of this year. In short we feel that the tipping point for support for this old software has passed in preference for stability in future browsers. And we are advising our Clients of the same.
However we recognise that statistics can be misleading, just because a small amount of people use IE6, it could be a significant amount of people that you are trying to target. Sometimes focusing development to a browser could be your best strategy. And we will do all we can help you with that if you can understand that it takes a little more time to fix code to work on IE6.
It is worth pointing out that Microsoft themselves admit that IE6 is 'less safe' than later browsers
We urge you to use and encourage your employees to use a W3C Standards compliant browser such as Firefox, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome or Internet Explorer 8. These Browsers are free, and all are easy to install on any computer they are continually updated to be secure and more reliable they have more function and they are faster.
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Phone : 020 323 97871
info@papershark.co.uk
Papershark Media
Kings Court
91-93 High Street
Camberley
Surrey
GU15 3RN
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