03/17/2007
One of the things that really bugs me about a lot of websites that I deal with on a daily basis is garbled matted text that overruns the next blocks of text. Also text that doesn't change size when you specify. Any one that knows me or for those that don't must know that my eye site is very poor. In fact one of the reasons that I do this job is the fact that I can increase the size of text that I read. I haven't been able to read written text like in a magazine for more than a few seconds for years. For some reason (personal preference) White text on a black back ground is easy on my eyes. In my years of freelance work on countless web pages its always been the customer that is the director. I was merely an actor to follow his (or her) lead. I like things simple. Simple makes its easy to change things. Its easy for anyone to follow, and easy to make the point of what the site is all about. All the tables and banners and hyperlinks in the world in not going to help win customers or fans or whatever if the message isn't crystal clear. As a free lance web designer I can make things look any way you want . I can build tables and banners and applets galore but its the content that must have teeth or it isn't worth much. Yes a couple of well placed pieces of art work is really nice but . If the only reason you want or have a web site is to wow your friends then a page or two on myspace.com or others like is the way to go. They offer all kinds of built in features that are easy to use, and easy to change. But if you want your own "domain name " and have a need for a legitimate site. Then unless you are very experienced in HTML ,perl , mysql , flash ,java ,applets ,databases, and other such things. You are going to need someone like me to keep all the bells and whistles ringing and blowing. If your serious about a real website then I suggest you my article on domain names.. Or if you own your own domain and need somebody to host it for you I offer complete hosting packages at LastNickel.com.
A lot of the websites you see today have banner ads that contribute to their revenue. Yes you really can make money placing banner ads on your site. A word of warning though those waters are deep and very muddy. If you do choose to place banner ads on your site the average pay out is 8 cent per click through. If you and grandma are the only ones viewing your site your paycheck isn't going to be worth the paper its printed on. And remember visitors have click on the banner for you to get anything. Often times if they do click on an add they have left your site and may or may not return. Banner ads are great if you have the traffic. That means generally you need at least 100,000 visitors a day to make it worth it . Lets do the math to make the point. YourMegaSite.com sees 100,000 visitors a day. 2% of those visitors click on one of the 6 banner adds they have placed on there main page. The average pay out for any add is $.08. There for 2% of 100,000 =2000 (2000 *.08 =160 ) or $160.00 dollars a day. Sounds good but wait .With that kind of traffic you need a guy like me to keep the whole thing up and running. I cost money , you could shop around for the best deal tech guy to hire, but your still going to have to shell about a hundred bucks a day. And then there is the Band width. The more traffic you have the more money it costs to host it all. Not to mention that when a potential customer clicks on a banner add you may have just lost a sale. Lets say your website is brandoX.com and you sale hand signed lithographs of your show horse Whinning for a slick 100 bucks (what a deal). Its going to take a lot of banner adds to make up for one lost sale.
When I bought my first domain name I hosted my web site from my own machine. That was fine for awhile because really it was me and grandma and maybe a friend or two viewing my site. As time went by and as I built more content and learned how to generate traffic things changed. My machine started to get attacked by hackers. After long late hours of hair pulling I did the only thing one could sensible do. I bought space on a professional web hosting provider. Security is their problem not mine. Yes now I'm a web site developer guru and I could buy servers and a T3 line and do it all. But its still not quite that simple. Its easier to buy space from the big boys in the business. When I finally got my first few sites together my costs per month were only about $25.00 a month (those were the days). Now with my fingers in many pies my costs are much greater. Of course my traffic is much greater too. Since I now own my own hosting service LastNickel.com of course its a whole new ball game.
But this is really about me and my sites. Some of them are for profit others are not. I even have a few sites for sale (the for sale list is here) My non profit sites like this one is to inform and to inspire. you won't see banners but can learn a great deal , hopefully and that is my intent.
The lesson of the day is KEEP IT SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT.
Copyright 2007 RickStone dba/ STONEBUILT
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