Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Ecommerce Web Development and Web Design Company India
- By: Ritesh Patel, 2008-08-15
Techno Infonet is a unique Web Design firm offering a variety of services from basic HTML Website Designs to complete E-commerce Website development. We have created and launched many of successful Websites since our origin; our designers and developers can work on your ideas and implement them on your Websites to strengthen your presence on Internet.
Techno Infonet provides professional Ecommerce Web Development Web Design, easy to navigate, & quick to access.. We have an expertise to understand the client's requirements and work accordingly and provide the excellent quality Web designs which can enhance the opportunities for our customers to get succeed.
Successful Web design is an artwork for the Internet, which is eye-catching, easy to use, proper content, and ability to work in all browsers using minimum plug-ins. Website design needs to have a unique look which should convey the correct messages. Our Web design department provides all artistic work with all unique features that differentiate the design from others. Techno Infonet introduces your company to the world by providing effective and efficient world class Web design.
By providing an effective and efficient customized E-commerce solution as per our customer’s requirements we try to enhance the degree of easiness in our customers, which eventually augment the level of satisfaction.
Techno Infonet can work on the entire above factor to get your business online with customer satisfaction methodology. Our team includes the most experienced and web design and development to meet the current and future needs of our client.
Techno Infonet provides offshore Web Design Solutions in a professional way with the right combination of quality, service & support. You get the highest quality; Designing work. It also offers services such as Email marketing, SEO in India.
We have been providing this highly Complex white label service to other Web Design Services Provider in the UK, GERMANY, USA and Australia and Canada.
We have built a strong reputation as a web design company in India by consistently building Web pages and producing sites that are good looking, technically excellent and affordable for small businesses and individuals.
Techno provides effectual, classy and within your means Web Design and Developmen in India. As a well established Web design company, we can provide a range of affordable Web design services for your company.
Techno Infonet is consist of highly technical Software development Company India, Creative Web Designers, and Marketing Professionals that know how to get online results with E-Technologies. Company has a certified team in the field of Web design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email marketing India, IT outsourcing, logo design and Ecommerce Solution. The team has a vast experience that specializes in Web hosting, Web Designing and Web Redesigning. Our support team works in 24/7 environment with a key feature to solve the queries in fraction of time and provide an effective web solutions.
Techno Infonet provides Outsource web design India. Solutions in a professional way with the right combination of quality, service & support you get the highest quality; Designing work. It also offer services such as Email marketing, SEO in India.
This article has been provided courtesy of TECHNO – Technoinfonet.com specialize in best-in-class Web design E-Mail Marketing, Flash multimedia designing, logo designing and thus in ultimate Corporate Identity.
Techno Infonet is a unique Web Design firm offering a variety of services from basic HTML Website Designs to complete E-commerce Website development. We have created and launched many of successful Websites since our origin; our designers and developers can work on your ideas and implement them on your Websites to strengthen your presence on Internet.
Techno Infonet provides professional Ecommerce Web Development Web Design, easy to navigate, & quick to access.. We have an expertise to understand the client's requirements and work accordingly and provide the excellent quality Web designs which can enhance the opportunities for our customers to get succeed.
Successful Web design is an artwork for the Internet, which is eye-catching, easy to use, proper content, and ability to work in all browsers using minimum plug-ins. Website design needs to have a unique look which should convey the correct messages. Our Web design department provides all artistic work with all unique features that differentiate the design from others. Techno Infonet introduces your company to the world by providing effective and efficient world class Web design.
By providing an effective and efficient customized E-commerce solution as per our customer’s requirements we try to enhance the degree of easiness in our customers, which eventually augment the level of satisfaction.
Techno Infonet can work on the entire above factor to get your business online with customer satisfaction methodology. Our team includes the most experienced and web design and development to meet the current and future needs of our client.
Techno Infonet provides offshore Web Design Solutions in a professional way with the right combination of quality, service & support. You get the highest quality; Designing work. It also offers services such as Email marketing, SEO in India.
We have been providing this highly Complex white label service to other Web Design Services Provider in the UK, GERMANY, USA and Australia and Canada.
We have built a strong reputation as a web design company in India by consistently building Web pages and producing sites that are good looking, technically excellent and affordable for small businesses and individuals.
Techno provides effectual, classy and within your means Web Design and Developmen in India. As a well established Web design company, we can provide a range of affordable Web design services for your company.
Techno Infonet is consist of highly technical Software development Company India, Creative Web Designers, and Marketing Professionals that know how to get online results with E-Technologies. Company has a certified team in the field of Web design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email marketing India, IT outsourcing, logo design and Ecommerce Solution. The team has a vast experience that specializes in Web hosting, Web Designing and Web Redesigning. Our support team works in 24/7 environment with a key feature to solve the queries in fraction of time and provide an effective web solutions.
Techno Infonet provides Outsource web design India. Solutions in a professional way with the right combination of quality, service & support you get the highest quality; Designing work. It also offer services such as Email marketing, SEO in India.
This article has been provided courtesy of TECHNO – Technoinfonet.com specialize in best-in-class Web design E-Mail Marketing, Flash multimedia designing, logo designing and thus in ultimate Corporate Identity.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Success of Internet marketing companies in India!
- By: Kirthy V, 2008-08-08
The most important strategy or concepts employed in the Internet marketing field by online Indian marketing companies.
Search engine optimization is a valuable strategy that can deliver a strong return on investment when properly managed. Businesses can cultivate a web presence that organically ranks high in the search engine result pages, delivering requests for quote and product sales. By the same token, the effective implementation of SEO is a long term strategy, often requiring months of development and significant project costs before a return on investment is realized.
Pay Per Click marketing on the other hand is completely measurable, making it possible to monitor profitability on a real time basis. Furthermore, the pay per click model enables marketers to revise their advertisements, budgets, and target audience(s) on a real time basis. This flexibility, when properly harnessed, is the key to an industrial manufacturer's success in the world of Internet marketing.
Traditionally, industrial manufacturers relied on trade journals and tradeshows to promote their goods and services. Unfortunately, the costs associated with these marketing channels are proportional to the number of products or services being advertised. With the advent of technology and internet marketing seo, sem and ppc have caught the eye of online marketing companies in India. Printed advertisements are typically created by graphic artists and experienced copy writers who can communicate a product's benefits and features in a professional and practical manner. These skills are often sub-contracted and usually require in house participation to ensure that the marketing message is correctly expressed.
Such traditional form of advertising channels is expensive, inflexible, and a return on investment becomes difficult to measure. Furthermore, successful marketing through tradeshows and trade journals depends on a wealth of skills and expertise that often cost money. Whether these additional costs come in the form of sales training or graphic design and copywriting services, the end result is stiffer marketing costs, coupled with poor ROI tracking.
Link Popularity is an ongoing "Off-Page" Optimization of your website. The basic idea behind link popularity is that high quality web sites tend to have more links pointing to them than low quality sites do. The recent algorithms of the search engine crawl or spider deeper into the links present on your website to further judge their relevance and determine their rank. Building link popularity has become a science in itself that requires great deal of analysis and tactics. The phenomena also naturally grows the user base of the website by rendering the site extremely worthwhile to visit for a wholesome information on a subject with user-friendly navigation, which in turn, further advances the ranking of the website across the search engines equally naturally.
Expert author, Platinum status. Guide to Direct Email Marketing Services: Online marketing companies in India
Your display ads services: Online display banners
The most important strategy or concepts employed in the Internet marketing field by online Indian marketing companies.
Search engine optimization is a valuable strategy that can deliver a strong return on investment when properly managed. Businesses can cultivate a web presence that organically ranks high in the search engine result pages, delivering requests for quote and product sales. By the same token, the effective implementation of SEO is a long term strategy, often requiring months of development and significant project costs before a return on investment is realized.
Pay Per Click marketing on the other hand is completely measurable, making it possible to monitor profitability on a real time basis. Furthermore, the pay per click model enables marketers to revise their advertisements, budgets, and target audience(s) on a real time basis. This flexibility, when properly harnessed, is the key to an industrial manufacturer's success in the world of Internet marketing.
Traditionally, industrial manufacturers relied on trade journals and tradeshows to promote their goods and services. Unfortunately, the costs associated with these marketing channels are proportional to the number of products or services being advertised. With the advent of technology and internet marketing seo, sem and ppc have caught the eye of online marketing companies in India. Printed advertisements are typically created by graphic artists and experienced copy writers who can communicate a product's benefits and features in a professional and practical manner. These skills are often sub-contracted and usually require in house participation to ensure that the marketing message is correctly expressed.
Such traditional form of advertising channels is expensive, inflexible, and a return on investment becomes difficult to measure. Furthermore, successful marketing through tradeshows and trade journals depends on a wealth of skills and expertise that often cost money. Whether these additional costs come in the form of sales training or graphic design and copywriting services, the end result is stiffer marketing costs, coupled with poor ROI tracking.
Link Popularity is an ongoing "Off-Page" Optimization of your website. The basic idea behind link popularity is that high quality web sites tend to have more links pointing to them than low quality sites do. The recent algorithms of the search engine crawl or spider deeper into the links present on your website to further judge their relevance and determine their rank. Building link popularity has become a science in itself that requires great deal of analysis and tactics. The phenomena also naturally grows the user base of the website by rendering the site extremely worthwhile to visit for a wholesome information on a subject with user-friendly navigation, which in turn, further advances the ranking of the website across the search engines equally naturally.
Expert author, Platinum status. Guide to Direct Email Marketing Services: Online marketing companies in India
Your display ads services: Online display banners
Friday, July 18, 2008
Advantages of Shared Web Hosting
- By: Noel Swanson, 2008-07-18
When the service provider serves pages for multiple Web sites, each having its own Internet domain name, from a single Web server, it is known as shared web hosting. Such websites need a dedicated web server. Shared web hosting is gaining popularity as most webmasters look for affordable hosting plans to host their websites.
These sites need a dedicated Web server, either provided by a Web hosting service or maintained in-house. Shared web hosting make possible to host websites on a powerful server at reduced cost, that's why it's the most popular among webmasters. Shared web hosting also has its own advantages over other web hosting plans
Shared web hosting provides uptime and fast connectivity. It's the most time saving hosting plan a webmaster can opt for hosting his/her website. It does not require the webmasters to have more advanced technical knowledge about the hosting plans. Shared web hosting always come with multiple domains, multiple email addresses and usually a number of one click software installs.
The most striking feature of shared hosting is its cost, shared web hosting come up with low cost. The cost of maintaining a server is divided among all the webmasters sharing the same server. Therefore the particular amount paid by an individual reduces at certain level.
Shared web hosting plan is convenient to execute. It requires least website setup time as well as fastest activation. A standard shared web hosting package usually includes disk storage space, the ability to transfer a certain amount of data, the ability to forward your emails and a file transfer protocol service.
Shared web hosting plans are fully managed, the company providing you web hosting services is responsible for the maintenance and updates as well as the technical assistance for your website.
Control panel for shared web hosting come in several ways like CPanel, H-sphere or some other name. No such hurdles come your way. Shared web hosting with control panel has several other advantages.
John is a web hosting user for best web hosting reseller & cheap web hosting reseller visit: Resellers Hosting b4u India
When the service provider serves pages for multiple Web sites, each having its own Internet domain name, from a single Web server, it is known as shared web hosting. Such websites need a dedicated web server. Shared web hosting is gaining popularity as most webmasters look for affordable hosting plans to host their websites.
These sites need a dedicated Web server, either provided by a Web hosting service or maintained in-house. Shared web hosting make possible to host websites on a powerful server at reduced cost, that's why it's the most popular among webmasters. Shared web hosting also has its own advantages over other web hosting plans
Shared web hosting provides uptime and fast connectivity. It's the most time saving hosting plan a webmaster can opt for hosting his/her website. It does not require the webmasters to have more advanced technical knowledge about the hosting plans. Shared web hosting always come with multiple domains, multiple email addresses and usually a number of one click software installs.
The most striking feature of shared hosting is its cost, shared web hosting come up with low cost. The cost of maintaining a server is divided among all the webmasters sharing the same server. Therefore the particular amount paid by an individual reduces at certain level.
Shared web hosting plan is convenient to execute. It requires least website setup time as well as fastest activation. A standard shared web hosting package usually includes disk storage space, the ability to transfer a certain amount of data, the ability to forward your emails and a file transfer protocol service.
Shared web hosting plans are fully managed, the company providing you web hosting services is responsible for the maintenance and updates as well as the technical assistance for your website.
Control panel for shared web hosting come in several ways like CPanel, H-sphere or some other name. No such hurdles come your way. Shared web hosting with control panel has several other advantages.
John is a web hosting user for best web hosting reseller & cheap web hosting reseller visit: Resellers Hosting b4u India
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Comprehensive guide on Indian service provider!
- By: Kirthy V, 2008-07-17
Countries abroad are on a look out for Indian service providers, has outsourced work comes at a lower price than ever. Expand your business easily without having to do every thing on your own. Most of the countries abroad make use of Indian service providers to attend to customer requests and deal with product related complaints, such Indian service providers work out cheaper for you.
In case of having an in house call centre service, an entrepreneur will have to think about his mandatory employee benefits along with the salary expenses. Cut down on your monthly expenses by outsourcing it to the Indian service provider. It saves hidden cost like training, overheads and saves infrastructure cost which can eat up your investment. Organizations don't have to spend on setting up the right kind of technology and later maintaining it.
In India, one can find a competitive supply of educated workers who are skilled and fluent in English. By making use of outsource services, one can save huge expenses such as work space and freeing the space for other activities and you can easily leave the personnel department of the third party company to handle recruitment costs. In countries, where there’s not enough population who can speak English well, and your business requires English as a mode of communication, then, in such a case you can use the Indian service providers.
Indian professionals have proved their mature, prosper and build core capabilities in order to establish their name and fame in the whole world. Obtain a readily available supply of skilled and semi skilled workers that can minimize your costs by removing the need to provide training from scratch. India is the major provider of outsourcing services to global clients.
With the onset of globalization and liberalization, outsourcing work from different countries has become easy now. Indian service providers are cost effective and the energy of business can be directed at the competencies of a particular business. It is also beneficial in terms of making more efficient use of labor, capital, technology and resources. This was further strengthened by the growth in Indian information technology. With IT India proved its worth and expertise by producing thousands of professionals in this arena and ever since there has been a constant increase in demand of their service. Utilize Indian service provider directory to gain an insight into the service providers and compare their rates before you decide on the right Indian service provider.
Platinum author, Get all your tips related to Indian export import business advice from: Indian export import directory
Countries abroad are on a look out for Indian service providers, has outsourced work comes at a lower price than ever. Expand your business easily without having to do every thing on your own. Most of the countries abroad make use of Indian service providers to attend to customer requests and deal with product related complaints, such Indian service providers work out cheaper for you.
In case of having an in house call centre service, an entrepreneur will have to think about his mandatory employee benefits along with the salary expenses. Cut down on your monthly expenses by outsourcing it to the Indian service provider. It saves hidden cost like training, overheads and saves infrastructure cost which can eat up your investment. Organizations don't have to spend on setting up the right kind of technology and later maintaining it.
In India, one can find a competitive supply of educated workers who are skilled and fluent in English. By making use of outsource services, one can save huge expenses such as work space and freeing the space for other activities and you can easily leave the personnel department of the third party company to handle recruitment costs. In countries, where there’s not enough population who can speak English well, and your business requires English as a mode of communication, then, in such a case you can use the Indian service providers.
Indian professionals have proved their mature, prosper and build core capabilities in order to establish their name and fame in the whole world. Obtain a readily available supply of skilled and semi skilled workers that can minimize your costs by removing the need to provide training from scratch. India is the major provider of outsourcing services to global clients.
With the onset of globalization and liberalization, outsourcing work from different countries has become easy now. Indian service providers are cost effective and the energy of business can be directed at the competencies of a particular business. It is also beneficial in terms of making more efficient use of labor, capital, technology and resources. This was further strengthened by the growth in Indian information technology. With IT India proved its worth and expertise by producing thousands of professionals in this arena and ever since there has been a constant increase in demand of their service. Utilize Indian service provider directory to gain an insight into the service providers and compare their rates before you decide on the right Indian service provider.
Platinum author, Get all your tips related to Indian export import business advice from: Indian export import directory
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Hiring Full time dedicated offshore PHP/Asp.net/Flash/Java developers/programmers in India.
- By: Mahendra Sharma, 2008-07-09
Many of the western countries have explored India as an offshore software development destination using one or more company services. The most common model of working is on fixed cost project to project basis work and delivery model. Here the buyer seeks guidance on a software project, the software developers/programmers in India have delivered the solution and that ends one cycle of transaction. Very few have explored the possibility of Hiring Full time offshore software developer PHp/ASP.net/Flash/Java developer/programmer in India, which has more benefits than its predecessor model.
Lets discuss where and how it useful to the companies seeking offshore software development services in India. This is suitable under various circumstances as follows.
Maintenance Projects: The projects which are complete or major phase is complete goes in the maintenance phase. Here the software requires changes in the process or screens or some business logic changes are required by the buyer. Such changes are necessity but the clarity on changes might not be there. In such case having a full time dedicated offshore team of PHP/ASP.net/Java/Flash developers/programmers is essential. That keeps the things going without charging for every single change and the project goes live in phases for various features.
A long term Project: The projects requiring ASP.net/Java/PHP Developers /Programmers for longer duration from 6-12 months of time or higher. Here the full time dedicated team of Offshore PHP/ASP.net/Java developers comes as handy resources. The long term projects are developed in phases, various modules are developed by different programmers and then integrated with each other. Its quite possible and advisable to have some people onsite for integration because of time difference of two countries. But still that reduces the cost having everyone onsite, the offshore software programmers or ASP.net/PHP/Java/Flash developers comes on cheaper rate while giving the similar kind of output like onsite resource.
Cost Advantage: the first and foremost advantage which is seen in offshore software developers and PHP/Asp.net/Java/Flash programmers in India is the Cost. While you hire an average programmer of 1-2 years experience in any western country for about 3000-4000 USD, here its available for only $1000/month or above. This can boost the project profit by 300% if you are a subcontractor and if you are a direct buyer you are saving the big cost hiring full time dedicated PHP/ASP.net/Java/Flash Programmer in India.
Offshore Software Development
Many of the western countries have explored India as an offshore software development destination using one or more company services. The most common model of working is on fixed cost project to project basis work and delivery model. Here the buyer seeks guidance on a software project, the software developers/programmers in India have delivered the solution and that ends one cycle of transaction. Very few have explored the possibility of Hiring Full time offshore software developer PHp/ASP.net/Flash/Java developer/programmer in India, which has more benefits than its predecessor model.
Lets discuss where and how it useful to the companies seeking offshore software development services in India. This is suitable under various circumstances as follows.
Maintenance Projects: The projects which are complete or major phase is complete goes in the maintenance phase. Here the software requires changes in the process or screens or some business logic changes are required by the buyer. Such changes are necessity but the clarity on changes might not be there. In such case having a full time dedicated offshore team of PHP/ASP.net/Java/Flash developers/programmers is essential. That keeps the things going without charging for every single change and the project goes live in phases for various features.
A long term Project: The projects requiring ASP.net/Java/PHP Developers /Programmers for longer duration from 6-12 months of time or higher. Here the full time dedicated team of Offshore PHP/ASP.net/Java developers comes as handy resources. The long term projects are developed in phases, various modules are developed by different programmers and then integrated with each other. Its quite possible and advisable to have some people onsite for integration because of time difference of two countries. But still that reduces the cost having everyone onsite, the offshore software programmers or ASP.net/PHP/Java/Flash developers comes on cheaper rate while giving the similar kind of output like onsite resource.
Cost Advantage: the first and foremost advantage which is seen in offshore software developers and PHP/Asp.net/Java/Flash programmers in India is the Cost. While you hire an average programmer of 1-2 years experience in any western country for about 3000-4000 USD, here its available for only $1000/month or above. This can boost the project profit by 300% if you are a subcontractor and if you are a direct buyer you are saving the big cost hiring full time dedicated PHP/ASP.net/Java/Flash Programmer in India.
Offshore Software Development
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Jobs Opportunities in India
- By: Robert Thomson, 2008-07-06
The experts are of the view that India is seemed to be third largest in the world within ten years. The 60% of Indian population depend on agriculture which accounted for 18.9%, whereas, the services rated 54.8% and industrial sector rated 26.3% GDP in fiscal year 2006-07.
The rapid growing software industry, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, the creative industries and financial services is providing solid base to Indian economy and job opportunities to masses. Small business enterprises are prospecting jobs traditionally for non graduates. The formal graduate recruitment is being made in the multinationals which are increasing operations in India. Although, there was trend to ex-pat western managers in multinational, however, now the local staff is being appointed by most of the international companies.
The largest recruiting companies include IBM, Wipro, TCS, Tata Engineering, ITC, State bank of India, and Infosys which recruit 15,000 to 20,000 graduates every year, hence increasing the job opportunities in India.
The organizational culture in India is enormously diverse. Work ethics varies from sector to sector. In local private sector; the work culture is influenced by family life and religion. The public sector is highly bureaucratic whereas, international companies possess quite modern culture. The trend of on job trainings to workforce enhances capabilities and professionalism in the organization.
In the year 2006, average salaries in India were $8,000. However, initial salaries of the graduate from the top universities are more than that. Saturday is often working day in India except in multinationals. The official language of India is English.
Since India has many job opportunities, but still many people, approximately a fifth of population, live in poverty including constant unemployment. One reason of the poverty in India could be 90% of labor forces work without social security and other benefits.
The Author owns Coders2020.com, a jobs website which covers Jobs in India and walkins. The site also provide latest placement papers in the Indian Companies.
The experts are of the view that India is seemed to be third largest in the world within ten years. The 60% of Indian population depend on agriculture which accounted for 18.9%, whereas, the services rated 54.8% and industrial sector rated 26.3% GDP in fiscal year 2006-07.
The rapid growing software industry, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, the creative industries and financial services is providing solid base to Indian economy and job opportunities to masses. Small business enterprises are prospecting jobs traditionally for non graduates. The formal graduate recruitment is being made in the multinationals which are increasing operations in India. Although, there was trend to ex-pat western managers in multinational, however, now the local staff is being appointed by most of the international companies.
The largest recruiting companies include IBM, Wipro, TCS, Tata Engineering, ITC, State bank of India, and Infosys which recruit 15,000 to 20,000 graduates every year, hence increasing the job opportunities in India.
The organizational culture in India is enormously diverse. Work ethics varies from sector to sector. In local private sector; the work culture is influenced by family life and religion. The public sector is highly bureaucratic whereas, international companies possess quite modern culture. The trend of on job trainings to workforce enhances capabilities and professionalism in the organization.
In the year 2006, average salaries in India were $8,000. However, initial salaries of the graduate from the top universities are more than that. Saturday is often working day in India except in multinationals. The official language of India is English.
Since India has many job opportunities, but still many people, approximately a fifth of population, live in poverty including constant unemployment. One reason of the poverty in India could be 90% of labor forces work without social security and other benefits.
The Author owns Coders2020.com, a jobs website which covers Jobs in India and walkins. The site also provide latest placement papers in the Indian Companies.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Offshore Outsourcing Services- why it's essential for today's business to outsource?
- By: Kelly Burby, 2008-06-30
Outsourcing or offshore outsourcing services is a powerful term with multiple meanings. It's no different in marketing than in other industries. Brands outsource marketing to agencies. Agencies outsource pieces of projects to freelancers, smaller agencies and new media companies.
So why does a company choose to have outsourcing or offshore outsourcing services as one of their strategies? Well, it can be categorized into two parts:
I Financial benefits:
• You retire costs of agreement on its self-cost and decrease tax base.
• You don’t pay wage taxes of employees.
• You won’t pay for leaves of employees and suffer manufacturing difficulties of labor power while they are on the deserved rest.
• Every new employee of the company increases running costs. Performer would undertake the costs in case of outsourcing.
II Manufacturing benefits:
• You would concentrate on solution of the main production problems.
• You won’t spend your time on searching the required employee.
• You won’t pay for leaves of employees and suffer manufacturing difficulties of labor power while they are on the deserved rest.
• You save your personal time, not spending it on employee’s control.
• The companies specialized on specific services solve problems faster, more qualitative and safely.
Organizations today are realizing the importance of the holistic approach to IT strategy, where information is regarded as an essential tool for furthering business. However, these skills may not be available in-house. By outsourcing or offshore outsourcing, one can get access to specialized and professional services. You'll find that India is well-equipped with qualified and experienced people to provide IT services and IT enabled services.
The following are a list of services that one can outsource to any outsourcing company in India
• IT and Software Services : Data Entry, Programming
• IT-enabled Services : Call Centers
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
• Back-Office Operations
• Infrastructure
• Communications and Networking
• Media and Entertainment
• Web Development Services
• Operations
• Relationship Management
• Community Management
• Medical Transcription
• On-site Services
Outsourcing and offshore outsourcing are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of offshoring. Offshore outsourcing is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation/company.
With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction between outsourcing and offshore outsourcing will become less clear over time. This is evident in the increasing presence of Indian outsourcing companies in the US and UK. The globalization of outsourcing operating models has resulted in new outsourcing companies in India and terms such as nearshoring, noshoring, and rightshoring. This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian outsourcing companies in the U.S. and UK.
Cathy Brown is a well known writer for custom software solutions for an offshore outsource company in India, which includes outsourcing of web solutions and offshore mobile solutions and much more.
Outsourcing or offshore outsourcing services is a powerful term with multiple meanings. It's no different in marketing than in other industries. Brands outsource marketing to agencies. Agencies outsource pieces of projects to freelancers, smaller agencies and new media companies.
So why does a company choose to have outsourcing or offshore outsourcing services as one of their strategies? Well, it can be categorized into two parts:
I Financial benefits:
• You retire costs of agreement on its self-cost and decrease tax base.
• You don’t pay wage taxes of employees.
• You won’t pay for leaves of employees and suffer manufacturing difficulties of labor power while they are on the deserved rest.
• Every new employee of the company increases running costs. Performer would undertake the costs in case of outsourcing.
II Manufacturing benefits:
• You would concentrate on solution of the main production problems.
• You won’t spend your time on searching the required employee.
• You won’t pay for leaves of employees and suffer manufacturing difficulties of labor power while they are on the deserved rest.
• You save your personal time, not spending it on employee’s control.
• The companies specialized on specific services solve problems faster, more qualitative and safely.
Organizations today are realizing the importance of the holistic approach to IT strategy, where information is regarded as an essential tool for furthering business. However, these skills may not be available in-house. By outsourcing or offshore outsourcing, one can get access to specialized and professional services. You'll find that India is well-equipped with qualified and experienced people to provide IT services and IT enabled services.
The following are a list of services that one can outsource to any outsourcing company in India
• IT and Software Services : Data Entry, Programming
• IT-enabled Services : Call Centers
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
• Back-Office Operations
• Infrastructure
• Communications and Networking
• Media and Entertainment
• Web Development Services
• Operations
• Relationship Management
• Community Management
• Medical Transcription
• On-site Services
Outsourcing and offshore outsourcing are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of offshoring. Offshore outsourcing is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation/company.
With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction between outsourcing and offshore outsourcing will become less clear over time. This is evident in the increasing presence of Indian outsourcing companies in the US and UK. The globalization of outsourcing operating models has resulted in new outsourcing companies in India and terms such as nearshoring, noshoring, and rightshoring. This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian outsourcing companies in the U.S. and UK.
Cathy Brown is a well known writer for custom software solutions for an offshore outsource company in India, which includes outsourcing of web solutions and offshore mobile solutions and much more.
SEO Prices – Realities and Myths
- By: Christopher Carter, 2008-06-30
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the service, and SEO, what you actually get, unfortunately are all too often mutually exclusive to each other. The primary reason for this is confusion in the marketplace of what you are actually paying for. We all understand numbers. But the buyer, the website owner, does not understand what to expect:
• What is included in the service and what is not? In other words, what is the detailed description of the service associated with the SEO Price?
• Does the description include all of what may or may not be necessary to achieve the desired result?
• Are you being guaranteed or promised a measureable result? If so, buyers please beware!
• What are your responsibilities to the Search Engine Marketing Company?
• How long will it take to achieve the desired results?
• How are results tracked and reported to monitor performance?
• Is the SEO pricing a flat fee or is it tied to actual performance i.e. rankings and conversion?
If you don’t know the answers to the above questions, you haven’t yet scratched the surface towards understanding what it is you are buying and the SEO price you receive in a simple number is flat out meaningless.
Plain Talk about SEO and SEO Pricing
1. SEO is not inexpensive. REAL SEO, GOOD SEO will range from $18,000 – $35,000 or more. Anyone offering you a “link farming program” or a “press release program” or a “content management program” or “submissions program” is not providing you SEO; they are selling you packages which by themselves are just SEO tactics and not true SEO. These packages should be ignored because they do not individually achieve SEO performance. These packages often run between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on the package and are not results-based … rather they are service-based meaning the SEO Price is established by calculating the time it takes to do the work. What this means ultimately is that you pay the full fee regardless of the result.
2. SEO takes time. Anyone telling you or even promising a Google page 1 ranking for a competitive keyword in a matter of a few months either doesn’t understand SEO or is inexperienced in SEO or is just deluding you or themselves or both. Competitive keywords and phrases can take as much as 6-12 months before positive, visible and measurable results are achieved. It can occur more quickly however many factors need to be in place at the outset. This is rarely the case. Those already on Google Page 1 are not there due to some accident or good fortune. They are there based on the fact that Google has ranked them as the most relevant for that keyword. As such, they are there because they have successfully implemented a good many of the services and skills that are required for optimum SEO.
3. SEO requires research. Search Engine Optimization involves intense and sophisticated Keyword Research to determine the universal scope of keywords that are relevant to the website. Keyword Research is at the core of any credible SEO service or process. It’s not just about taking the client’s top 25 or 100 keywords. They must all be researched in depth to determine all of the keywords that directly relate to these keywords (derivatives, variations, patterns, etc) and to determine the popularity of those keywords. For instance, what good is a keyword if it isn’t being searched? SEO Pricing is prohibitively expensive without knowing this information. Moreover, the universe of keywords needs to be researched to identify the competition; those already ranking high. We need to know how high the bar is and what needs to be done to compete effectively with the best in the business for that / those keywords.
4. SEO is not PPC. All too often folks that contact us are confused about SEO to the point that they don’t understand the difference between SEO and PPC. SEO refers to the organic listings on a search page. Generally there are 10 listings with a white background. PPC is simply advertising that appears just above and to the right of the organic SEO listings. Google’s PPC is called Google Adwords. While PPC can be very useful as part of an overall Internet Marketing Strategy, it is not SEO nor should it be considered a long term singular approach to Online Marketing.
5. Content. This is probably the most under-emphasized component of SEO and must be considered in any evaluation of SEO and SEO Pricing. Any SEO Company not emphasizing this at the outset and making this requirement as clear as day is doing you and their company a great disservice. Search Engine Optimization simply cannot succeed without a complete commitment by all parties to a steady stream of fresh, unique and relevant content. Whether you are capable providing the content or you hire the SEO Company or a copywriter to provide this content, it is an absolute must. The Reason: Content is what Google is looking for. Relevance, as rated by the Google Spiders, is measured largely by active and relevant content implemented on the site and reflected in the site map, and, even more importantly, published through any of the thousands of online publishing portals available to interested readers. It is content, textual content that create backlinks … the point getters of Internet Marketing.
What to look for in hiring an SEO Firm or SEO Professional
1. SEO Pricing that is results-based.
2. Performance-Based Fees
3. Emphasis in Organic SEO.
4. Plain Speak about Search Engine Marketing and Internet Marketing.
5. Strong Research Process
6. Strong Requirement for Content
7. The Sub-Specialties included in the SEO Price
a. SEO Copywriting Services
b. Search Engine Consulting
c. Ecommerce SEO
d. Directory Indexing
e. Sitemap Indexing
f. Blogging
g. Conversion Strategies
h. Multimedia content strategies (Podcasting, Video casting, etc)
i. Local Search Strategies
What to avoid when hiring an SEO Firm or SEO Professional
1. SEO Pricing that is service based or paid for by the hour with no performance component.
2. Individually Package-priced services like link farming, submissions programs, and press release programs.
3. Companies that emphasize just the “techie things” like Meta tags, title tags, site maps, etc.
4. Companies that are not upfront about price and reasonable expectations.
5. Companies who cannot give you competitive keywords of their clients that are ranking the way you would want to be ranked for your keywords.
In brief, SEO pricing is poorly understood. It is expensive. However, it is most expensive when you buy what you don’t understand and you end up with poor results. It is called wasting money and that is the most expensive thing you can do.
Optimum7.com is a search engine advertising company with primary focus on Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Optimum7.com offers a rich consultative approach that our clients find refreshing. We actually listen to our clients to learn exactly what their problems and objectives are. SEO Prices – Realities and Myths.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the service, and SEO, what you actually get, unfortunately are all too often mutually exclusive to each other. The primary reason for this is confusion in the marketplace of what you are actually paying for. We all understand numbers. But the buyer, the website owner, does not understand what to expect:
• What is included in the service and what is not? In other words, what is the detailed description of the service associated with the SEO Price?
• Does the description include all of what may or may not be necessary to achieve the desired result?
• Are you being guaranteed or promised a measureable result? If so, buyers please beware!
• What are your responsibilities to the Search Engine Marketing Company?
• How long will it take to achieve the desired results?
• How are results tracked and reported to monitor performance?
• Is the SEO pricing a flat fee or is it tied to actual performance i.e. rankings and conversion?
If you don’t know the answers to the above questions, you haven’t yet scratched the surface towards understanding what it is you are buying and the SEO price you receive in a simple number is flat out meaningless.
Plain Talk about SEO and SEO Pricing
1. SEO is not inexpensive. REAL SEO, GOOD SEO will range from $18,000 – $35,000 or more. Anyone offering you a “link farming program” or a “press release program” or a “content management program” or “submissions program” is not providing you SEO; they are selling you packages which by themselves are just SEO tactics and not true SEO. These packages should be ignored because they do not individually achieve SEO performance. These packages often run between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on the package and are not results-based … rather they are service-based meaning the SEO Price is established by calculating the time it takes to do the work. What this means ultimately is that you pay the full fee regardless of the result.
2. SEO takes time. Anyone telling you or even promising a Google page 1 ranking for a competitive keyword in a matter of a few months either doesn’t understand SEO or is inexperienced in SEO or is just deluding you or themselves or both. Competitive keywords and phrases can take as much as 6-12 months before positive, visible and measurable results are achieved. It can occur more quickly however many factors need to be in place at the outset. This is rarely the case. Those already on Google Page 1 are not there due to some accident or good fortune. They are there based on the fact that Google has ranked them as the most relevant for that keyword. As such, they are there because they have successfully implemented a good many of the services and skills that are required for optimum SEO.
3. SEO requires research. Search Engine Optimization involves intense and sophisticated Keyword Research to determine the universal scope of keywords that are relevant to the website. Keyword Research is at the core of any credible SEO service or process. It’s not just about taking the client’s top 25 or 100 keywords. They must all be researched in depth to determine all of the keywords that directly relate to these keywords (derivatives, variations, patterns, etc) and to determine the popularity of those keywords. For instance, what good is a keyword if it isn’t being searched? SEO Pricing is prohibitively expensive without knowing this information. Moreover, the universe of keywords needs to be researched to identify the competition; those already ranking high. We need to know how high the bar is and what needs to be done to compete effectively with the best in the business for that / those keywords.
4. SEO is not PPC. All too often folks that contact us are confused about SEO to the point that they don’t understand the difference between SEO and PPC. SEO refers to the organic listings on a search page. Generally there are 10 listings with a white background. PPC is simply advertising that appears just above and to the right of the organic SEO listings. Google’s PPC is called Google Adwords. While PPC can be very useful as part of an overall Internet Marketing Strategy, it is not SEO nor should it be considered a long term singular approach to Online Marketing.
5. Content. This is probably the most under-emphasized component of SEO and must be considered in any evaluation of SEO and SEO Pricing. Any SEO Company not emphasizing this at the outset and making this requirement as clear as day is doing you and their company a great disservice. Search Engine Optimization simply cannot succeed without a complete commitment by all parties to a steady stream of fresh, unique and relevant content. Whether you are capable providing the content or you hire the SEO Company or a copywriter to provide this content, it is an absolute must. The Reason: Content is what Google is looking for. Relevance, as rated by the Google Spiders, is measured largely by active and relevant content implemented on the site and reflected in the site map, and, even more importantly, published through any of the thousands of online publishing portals available to interested readers. It is content, textual content that create backlinks … the point getters of Internet Marketing.
What to look for in hiring an SEO Firm or SEO Professional
1. SEO Pricing that is results-based.
2. Performance-Based Fees
3. Emphasis in Organic SEO.
4. Plain Speak about Search Engine Marketing and Internet Marketing.
5. Strong Research Process
6. Strong Requirement for Content
7. The Sub-Specialties included in the SEO Price
a. SEO Copywriting Services
b. Search Engine Consulting
c. Ecommerce SEO
d. Directory Indexing
e. Sitemap Indexing
f. Blogging
g. Conversion Strategies
h. Multimedia content strategies (Podcasting, Video casting, etc)
i. Local Search Strategies
What to avoid when hiring an SEO Firm or SEO Professional
1. SEO Pricing that is service based or paid for by the hour with no performance component.
2. Individually Package-priced services like link farming, submissions programs, and press release programs.
3. Companies that emphasize just the “techie things” like Meta tags, title tags, site maps, etc.
4. Companies that are not upfront about price and reasonable expectations.
5. Companies who cannot give you competitive keywords of their clients that are ranking the way you would want to be ranked for your keywords.
In brief, SEO pricing is poorly understood. It is expensive. However, it is most expensive when you buy what you don’t understand and you end up with poor results. It is called wasting money and that is the most expensive thing you can do.
Optimum7.com is a search engine advertising company with primary focus on Small and Mid-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Optimum7.com offers a rich consultative approach that our clients find refreshing. We actually listen to our clients to learn exactly what their problems and objectives are. SEO Prices – Realities and Myths.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Why Should a Website Have Live Help?
- By: Maya Gupta, 2008-05-31
In today’s tech savvy world, the Internet is a godsend for many people. They log on to make purchases, payments, do business, and even take classes. And since nothing is infallible, customer support is needed for all aspects of online transactions.
So, let’s say that you have a state of the art call center that will allow customers to call in to get help with their online transactions. Most customers want instant gratification, so talking to someone right away while they are in the throes of panic is important to them – although the panic is often self-induced and unfounded. However needy they are, your business (and potential future business) depends upon their happiness. Now, let’s say that your call center has ten support specialists and they are all on the phone, so your eleventh panic stricken customer is on hold (or worse yet – getting a busy signal) and all the time cursing your existence.
However what if you had a simple little feature on your web site that says “Live Help?” What if clicking that button put your customer into an instant queue and told them that a customer service representative would be right with them? No hold queue, no busy signal – just a pop-up window that says “You are important to us” and “Someone will be right with you.” Live Help is quickly replacing support call centers.
The benefits of Live Help for online businesses far outweigh the costs associated with it. For one, if you use Live Help instead of toll-free telephone lines, you can save the costs of those special lines and for each call that comes in. You already have the cost of computers and Internet obviously because of your online business, so saving a few extra dollars is a good thing.
Live Help is also beneficial for sales. What is a potential customer has a question about a product? Wouldn’t it be nice if they could ask it on the spot – like they would in a brick-and-mortar store – and be convinced that it’s a good purchase? Unanswered questions tend to drive consumers to other places where they CAN get answers immediately.
Live Help has been known to increase the trust of visitors, if they can get information on the spot. These visitors can become customers and their satisfaction and loyalty can be increased by offering this service. And if they are happy, they can spread the word to other potential customers.
Live Help is an easy program to install and maintain and would be worth the investment for future business successes. It operates much like an instant messaging program, which a majority of computer users are already familiar with and comfortable using.
In addition to all of the benefits listed here, Live Help shows your customers (and visitors) that you are up-to-date with technological advances and that you care about your customers enough to give them the instant gratification that they need in order to continue their shopping, business work, studies, and research.
LivehelpGenie is online chat software by which you can decrease your investment and shorten you sales cycle. This is not enough we also provide customer support tool that must help you in converting your website visitors into clients.
In today’s tech savvy world, the Internet is a godsend for many people. They log on to make purchases, payments, do business, and even take classes. And since nothing is infallible, customer support is needed for all aspects of online transactions.
So, let’s say that you have a state of the art call center that will allow customers to call in to get help with their online transactions. Most customers want instant gratification, so talking to someone right away while they are in the throes of panic is important to them – although the panic is often self-induced and unfounded. However needy they are, your business (and potential future business) depends upon their happiness. Now, let’s say that your call center has ten support specialists and they are all on the phone, so your eleventh panic stricken customer is on hold (or worse yet – getting a busy signal) and all the time cursing your existence.
However what if you had a simple little feature on your web site that says “Live Help?” What if clicking that button put your customer into an instant queue and told them that a customer service representative would be right with them? No hold queue, no busy signal – just a pop-up window that says “You are important to us” and “Someone will be right with you.” Live Help is quickly replacing support call centers.
The benefits of Live Help for online businesses far outweigh the costs associated with it. For one, if you use Live Help instead of toll-free telephone lines, you can save the costs of those special lines and for each call that comes in. You already have the cost of computers and Internet obviously because of your online business, so saving a few extra dollars is a good thing.
Live Help is also beneficial for sales. What is a potential customer has a question about a product? Wouldn’t it be nice if they could ask it on the spot – like they would in a brick-and-mortar store – and be convinced that it’s a good purchase? Unanswered questions tend to drive consumers to other places where they CAN get answers immediately.
Live Help has been known to increase the trust of visitors, if they can get information on the spot. These visitors can become customers and their satisfaction and loyalty can be increased by offering this service. And if they are happy, they can spread the word to other potential customers.
Live Help is an easy program to install and maintain and would be worth the investment for future business successes. It operates much like an instant messaging program, which a majority of computer users are already familiar with and comfortable using.
In addition to all of the benefits listed here, Live Help shows your customers (and visitors) that you are up-to-date with technological advances and that you care about your customers enough to give them the instant gratification that they need in order to continue their shopping, business work, studies, and research.
LivehelpGenie is online chat software by which you can decrease your investment and shorten you sales cycle. This is not enough we also provide customer support tool that must help you in converting your website visitors into clients.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Create Superb Graphics for your Website
- By: Sandra Prior, 2008-05-23
You’ve planned your content, you’ve played with HTML and you’ve selected a color scheme. Now add some graphical spice.
As Internet connections get faster and cheaper, people are beginning to lose their prejudices about web sites that use a lot of graphics. Yet, there are those who will always browse with images turned off, but it is increasingly becoming the case that if you want people to look at your site, then it needs to look good.
There are exceptions, where content is so compelling that design doesn’t matter. Just remember, however good a site looks, it is nothing without quality content.
Ready-Made Graphics
When you decide to add graphics to your site, you have 2 basic options. Either create your own images or make use of the numerous collections of royalty-free web graphics. These can come from many sources, the most popular being direct from the web. If you look at the web graphics section at Yahoo you’ll find a varied selection of free images you can use for your site, including e-mail buttons, background images and horizontal rules. Other popular sources include the clip art collections that come with most graphics packages these days.
There are, however, a couple of caveats. First, the quality of these images can most charitably be described as ‘varied’ – some are pretty good, but some are downright awful. Second, you need to bear in mind that every other novice web designer has access to the very same selection of images, and it does tend to show. On the plus side, the graphics are almost always completely free and you don’t need any artistic skills to use them.
Home-Made Graphics
If you want to create a unique web site, you have to create your own graphics – simple as that. There is an ever-increasing array of software to help you do this, ranging from freeware and shareware to full commercial products. Some of the better packages will cater for every need from start to finish. All you need provide is the talent and imagination.
JPEG Images
Before you start, you need to learn about the two image formats used on the web. First there is the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). This achieves a high level of compression by separating the colors from the details and processing them separately. When they are recombined, you have a color picture. But this is more than you need to know. What is important is that this works very well for graphics with smooth color transitions and few sharp edges – typically photographic images – and looks terrible for line art and blocks of text. The result is that, when used appropriately, a jpeg image will achieve a very small file size alongside a picture with thousands of colors and little noticeable loss in quality.
GIF Images
The alternative is CompuServe’s GIF (Graphics Interchange Format). A huge image has its colors restricted to its own palette, which can contain up to 256 colors. GIF compression works by looking for repeating patterns within an image – hence large areas of a single color will produce a very small file – but GIFs are also ideal for any line or text where it is vital to retain the image’s detail.
GIFs can also be used to tailor an image to a computer that can only display 256 colors. By limiting an image to the standard palette of 256 web-safe colors, you can be almost certain it will appear the same in any browser. In practice, it is preferable to strike a balance between using web-safe colors and achieving the best image quality – then those users with better displays will not be restricted by the lowest common denominator.
The humble GIF has also a few tricks hidden up its sleeve. The first of these is the ability to set one of the colors in the palette to be transparent – which means that whatever this color appears on the image, the background of the web page will show through, allowing you to make the graphics blend in to a much greater extent.
You can also string a load of images together into one file to create an animated GIF. This means you can have animation on your page without requiring any extra plug-ins. Bear in mind that every frame added to an animation adds to the file’s size, and unless used sparingly, animated GIFS can become very tiresome.
X Marks The Spot
The main use of graphics on any site is usually to form a navigation system. One way to achieve this is to make each option a separate image, but often it can be neater to have your buttons as a single graphic. You can then use an image map to link different areas to different pages. In the past, the only way to do this was to create a server-side image map – the co-ordinates of a mouse click would be sent to the server, which would then redirect you to a specific page. But now any reasonably up-to-date browser supports client-side maps – a few lines of code in the page itself define the hotspots, and the link goes direct to the target page, with no fuss.
PNG Images
Soon you’ll be hearing about another image format – the Portable Network Graphic, or PNG. The file specification was designed with the web in mind, and is already supported by the next generation of browsers. The PNG performs much the same function as a GIF, with two main differences: PNG files are noticeably smaller than GIF, and they can use alpha transparency. In other words, the image can have varying degrees of transparency, so it will blend into any background. But don’t throw away your old tools yet – GIFs will be around for some time to come.
Sandra Prior runs her own websites at USA Computers and http://sacomputers.rr.nu.
You’ve planned your content, you’ve played with HTML and you’ve selected a color scheme. Now add some graphical spice.
As Internet connections get faster and cheaper, people are beginning to lose their prejudices about web sites that use a lot of graphics. Yet, there are those who will always browse with images turned off, but it is increasingly becoming the case that if you want people to look at your site, then it needs to look good.
There are exceptions, where content is so compelling that design doesn’t matter. Just remember, however good a site looks, it is nothing without quality content.
Ready-Made Graphics
When you decide to add graphics to your site, you have 2 basic options. Either create your own images or make use of the numerous collections of royalty-free web graphics. These can come from many sources, the most popular being direct from the web. If you look at the web graphics section at Yahoo you’ll find a varied selection of free images you can use for your site, including e-mail buttons, background images and horizontal rules. Other popular sources include the clip art collections that come with most graphics packages these days.
There are, however, a couple of caveats. First, the quality of these images can most charitably be described as ‘varied’ – some are pretty good, but some are downright awful. Second, you need to bear in mind that every other novice web designer has access to the very same selection of images, and it does tend to show. On the plus side, the graphics are almost always completely free and you don’t need any artistic skills to use them.
Home-Made Graphics
If you want to create a unique web site, you have to create your own graphics – simple as that. There is an ever-increasing array of software to help you do this, ranging from freeware and shareware to full commercial products. Some of the better packages will cater for every need from start to finish. All you need provide is the talent and imagination.
JPEG Images
Before you start, you need to learn about the two image formats used on the web. First there is the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). This achieves a high level of compression by separating the colors from the details and processing them separately. When they are recombined, you have a color picture. But this is more than you need to know. What is important is that this works very well for graphics with smooth color transitions and few sharp edges – typically photographic images – and looks terrible for line art and blocks of text. The result is that, when used appropriately, a jpeg image will achieve a very small file size alongside a picture with thousands of colors and little noticeable loss in quality.
GIF Images
The alternative is CompuServe’s GIF (Graphics Interchange Format). A huge image has its colors restricted to its own palette, which can contain up to 256 colors. GIF compression works by looking for repeating patterns within an image – hence large areas of a single color will produce a very small file – but GIFs are also ideal for any line or text where it is vital to retain the image’s detail.
GIFs can also be used to tailor an image to a computer that can only display 256 colors. By limiting an image to the standard palette of 256 web-safe colors, you can be almost certain it will appear the same in any browser. In practice, it is preferable to strike a balance between using web-safe colors and achieving the best image quality – then those users with better displays will not be restricted by the lowest common denominator.
The humble GIF has also a few tricks hidden up its sleeve. The first of these is the ability to set one of the colors in the palette to be transparent – which means that whatever this color appears on the image, the background of the web page will show through, allowing you to make the graphics blend in to a much greater extent.
You can also string a load of images together into one file to create an animated GIF. This means you can have animation on your page without requiring any extra plug-ins. Bear in mind that every frame added to an animation adds to the file’s size, and unless used sparingly, animated GIFS can become very tiresome.
X Marks The Spot
The main use of graphics on any site is usually to form a navigation system. One way to achieve this is to make each option a separate image, but often it can be neater to have your buttons as a single graphic. You can then use an image map to link different areas to different pages. In the past, the only way to do this was to create a server-side image map – the co-ordinates of a mouse click would be sent to the server, which would then redirect you to a specific page. But now any reasonably up-to-date browser supports client-side maps – a few lines of code in the page itself define the hotspots, and the link goes direct to the target page, with no fuss.
PNG Images
Soon you’ll be hearing about another image format – the Portable Network Graphic, or PNG. The file specification was designed with the web in mind, and is already supported by the next generation of browsers. The PNG performs much the same function as a GIF, with two main differences: PNG files are noticeably smaller than GIF, and they can use alpha transparency. In other words, the image can have varying degrees of transparency, so it will blend into any background. But don’t throw away your old tools yet – GIFs will be around for some time to come.
Sandra Prior runs her own websites at USA Computers and http://sacomputers.rr.nu.
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