When building web applications for the client, I've mentioned multiple times that it is extremely important to get all the facets of the application to completely achieve it's goals to be successful. One leg of the tripod is weak then the entire application will eventually fall. Legs could include programming, graphic design, content, marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
The concept of 'Build it and they will come' is unacceptable, especially if there are dollars and expectations related to the launch. If you've built the perfect web site, it doesn't matter if no one visits. As a programmer, you are expected to optimize the site to provide the proper opportunities for search engines to index and promote the listing. This obviously includes meta tags, title tags and having a base that is easy for robots. If you're not familiar with some of these concepts, you might want to look at the following article "Search Engine Optimization (SEO) : Tune up your META".
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Best online site building tools associated with hosting accounts
Today's sponsored post, I wanted to compare a couple of the best online site building tools associated with hosting accounts. I often get asked about hosts and general recommendations of features. I think hosting will always come down to your immediate needs. If you're a skilled programmer and developing your own application, then site building tools are not really needed. If you're looking to establish a web presence or possibly wanting to have a online product catalog for your business, but have little to no programming skills, and have a limited budget, then site building tools are your ticket for quickly reaching your internet goals. Bookmark to:
Developing a brand with Brand Identity Guru, Inc
I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time reading blogs and see what internet marketers are up to, and maybe find a tip or two to help my business or my client's businesses get a edge of their markets. I keep mentioning that there are many facets of having a successful application and web presence. This would range from graphic design, programming, effective search engine optimization to planned business model. All the legs need to be strong to be able to succeed.
When I read many marketing blogs, I get hit on the head on almost a daily level about branding. They all discuss branding themselves. Not selling the blog, but selling themselves. Obviously this won't apply to all business, but that is an interesting concept for other areas of business. The idea is to make your site the 'go-to' site when dealing with product X or service X. It's a simple concept, but can be incredibly difficult to pull off in reality.
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10 Things you can do to protect file uploads via PHP on your Linux / Apache web server
Today I came across an awesome article/tip on how to improve security for uploads using PHP and a Apache/Linux server. The site is called Uno-Code.com which is a great server administration blog. It's discusses Linux related items pretty heavily, specfically Gentoo Linux, so it might not be for everyone.
The article touches on some great security points. Mostly the idea of having multiple security layers to protect your application and/or server. I'll be writing a article in the near future about comment SPAM and techniques to help stop that. But, I believe in the multi-layer approach, since each layer is not full proof against attacks.
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Simple JavaScript/eBay search form
There are multiple ways to utilize search for eBay auctions. One of the most popular ways is to utilize eBay's API to do look ups, then you would return the results and add flexible desination rover links to it. You can learn more by clicking this link for connecting to eBay's API for real time results.
Another option is to use eBay's editor kit, but this might not be ideal, since controllability is minimized with the editor kit. Let's say you wanted to create a your own HTML search forms that would take search criteria input and direct the user to the eBay's search result page? You can still maintain rover tracking with some simple javascript.
This solution will send the user to eBay's search result page. If you want to display the result on your page, you'll need to explore the API, or optionally the eBay RSS handling. Either case will involve serverside language (eg: PHP, ASP, etc). If you're looking for a simple HTML/JavaScript solution, then here is my example below:
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