Top Questions to Ask a Web Design Agency

Choosing a web design agency to create and develop your website is a massive decision which requires a lot of trust on your behalf. Unfortunately there are many disreputable companies out there who may try to take advantage of you particularly if you're new to promoting your business online. There also are many great companies out there who will be only too happy to create a stunning website tailored to your business requirements and online image. How can you ensure you make the right choice though? A good place to start is to ask them these questions below.

What do you know about my business?

If you speak to a website design company who are already familiar with the industry you work in then this can be a huge advantage as they will be aware of your target audience. Some website companies do a lot of work in specific industries or specialise in certain types of websites such as the health industry or ecommerce websites. When you approach a design company they should ask you plenty of questions about your business so they can decide what they can offer you and if they can fulfil your requirements.

Who will maintain the website?

Some design companies create content management systems which allow you to change content or images to keep your website fresh. Other designers will maintain the website for you and will usually charge for this service. Some people prefer to have their designers deal with the maintenance of the website but sometimes if you want to make a quick text change for example you could be waiting for your designer to be free to make the change for you for a while. If they do offer a content management system then check to see if this is included in the price of the design.

What previous work have you done?

Ask to see examples of past websites they've completed - most designers have links to completed projects on their website. See how versatile and unique the designs are and if you like their style. Some designers will be more artistic than others so decide which style is right for your website. A good catalogue of previous work can also increase the trustworthiness of a website company as they'll be well established with plenty of satisfied customers.

Can you work to my budget?

It's likely that you'll have a specific budget to create your website. When you've narrowed your search down to three or four agencies, let them know the size of your budget so you can see what you can get for your money. If you have a smaller budget then it might not stretch to hand drawn images or interactive features for example. Once you agree on a budget and a design then make sure you stick to it and don't be tempted to agree to extra features which could increase the total price of the website.

Will we get on?

You don't necessarily have to ask a web design agency this directly but it's definitely something to consider as you narrow your search. See how they interact with you in emails, phone calls or in person if you meet them. Also note how available they are to speak to and if they return your messages. There's no point choosing a company who you don't feel comfortable with as you'll be unlikely to get the end result you desire.

Source: ezinearticles

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Micro-Blogging for Business

As more and more people flock to these strangely addictive platforms, businesses are looking for ways in which they can participate, as well. Clearly, the most obvious opportunity for micro-blogging in business is public relations, but I’ll be offering up a few other applications as well.

1. Public Relations

The list of PR applications in micro-blogging is growing every day as more and more organizations are looking for creative ways to engage their target markets. The easiest way to utilize micro-blogging for public relations is to simply sign up and start having conversations.
Add people that are most likely interested with what you offer to your network and reply to their post when its appropriate.

This is also a great way to respond to negative press and defend your brand. Take advantage of the personalized nature of micro-blogs to present a genuine defense and reinforce your organizations sincerity.

Another way you might consider connecting with your customers is by setting up a micro-blog for customer support. Use it to announce service interruptions, encourage followers to report bugs, and post status updates.

2. Promotions

Another micro-blogging application that many e-commerce businesses have already taken up is promotional offerings. Amazon, Dell and Woot are just a few organizations already in the mix. These companies use micro-blogs to post special deals for their followers and inform them of time-sensitive sales.

3. Product Announcements

Similarly, you could use micro-blogging to provide your followers with product announcements, updates, and status reports. WordPress uses Twitter to announce updates of their software, while Twitterific includes outage reports, tips, and tricks in addition to product announcements.

4. Networking

For the same reasons that micro-blogging is perfect for public relations, it is also a perfect networking tool. This is a great way to find potential employees, contractors, and of course, prospective clients and customers.

5. Internal Affairs

Why not use micro-blogging internally? Not only can you strengthen employee-management relationships, but micro-blogging can be used for organizational purposes as well. Try setting up a micro-blog for project members to arrange meetings, post status updates, or inform other members about project specifics or ToDo items.

You could also utilize micro-blogging for time management purposes. Encourage employees to record their progress both to keep others up to date and to ensure productivity.

~ source: meta spring

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Helpful Firefox Add-on for your Linkbuilding

This is a great firexfox add-on to know whether the site you are submitting your link to has a "NoFollow" tag or none.

A NoFollow tag is basically an HTML attribute that tells the search engines that the hyperlink should not influence the link's target ranking in the search engine's index, in short don't score this link. This is basically intended to reduce the effectiveness of certain types of search engine spam, thereby improving the quality of search engine results and preventing spamdexing from occurring.

Trivia: The HTML attribute nofollow was designed by Google's head of webspam team Matt Cutts and Jason Shellen from Blogger.com in 2005

To use this clever firefox add-ons:

Once you begin submitting your site, right click on your mouse and tick NoDoFollow to activate this handy linkbuilding tool. All hyperlinks with a blue highlight is Dofollow while all in red have a Nofollow tag. Nofollow tags are very common for blog comment sections such as Wordpress and Blogspot.

You can add this to Firefox by clicking this link.

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2009 Recession and Outsourcing

During the year 2008, the best word to describe the economy is "uncertain". Now, we are officially in a recession. The most apparent impact of this economic downturn is that many companies are looking for ways to cut down cost to avoid any further corporate maelstrom. The necessity for companies to trim down it's programs and projects open viable opportunities for the outsourcing industry.

According to the Forrester Research, IT companies, during the second quarter of 2009, will find it appealing to outsource some of its process procedures to cut down cost. Sales from this branch of outsourcing will only be moderate, owing to trends toward use of lower-cost offshore resources, smaller scale outsourcing deals and the 9-15 month lag from the decision to outsource. One area of growth is likely to be demand for managed network services offerings, which vendors are pushing and clients are increasingly adopting.

Other than Information Technology, the Legal Process Outsourcing industry is set to peak this year as well. Most LPOs employ an eclectic mix of lawyers, paralegal professionals and engineers for various outsourced functions. An Indian company predicts that out from their 500 employees their company will house around 2000 employees by the end of 2010. Numerous foreclosure-related assignments from US banks and law firms have been keeping Indian LPOs occupied, besides the usual assignments like indexing and coding to database maintenance, patent support, contract review and management, litigation support and legal compliance.

Another lucrative outsourcing industry is the graphic and marketing niche. For many business, graphic design or marketing is something they do on a sideline. Although marketing is integral for any business, it usually does not belong in a company's core process unless of course you do marketing for a living. However a business will still need to sell it's brand which makes outsourcing a healthy option than keeping an entire team dedicated for marketing.

Despite President Obama and the Democrats' promise to cut incentives for outsourcing, sending contract work offshore may still remain attractive due to the quality of work and significant cost savings offered by countries such as the Philippines.

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OpenSource: Prestashop

Prestashop is an opensource program that let's aspiring webshop owners operate their very own e-bay without going through all the nitty-gritty details of programming. It is fully customizable with a few simple clicks. You can also review the complete features of Prestashop here.

You can download your very own copy of Prestashop here.

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Commitment, Consistency & Control to Successfully Outsource

Many companies – large and small, local and international, publicly traded and privately held – utilize outsourced relationships to improve their bottom line. Outsourcing service providers routinely extol and deliver the economic benefits of outsourcing: improved operations, lower costs and enhanced shareholder value. Many companies considering using an outsourcer are interested in more than money and the effect of outsourcing on the company balance sheet. These companies realize that while cost containment is critical, customer satisfaction, retention and employee morale are equally important to the bottom line. Too often, however, companies embarking on an outsourcing relationship find themselves reaping the financial benefits but struggling with the day-to-day management of the relationship between itself and the outsourcer.

It is important to know how to structure a successful outsourcing relationship – providing long-term cost savings while effectively dealing with the non-financial aspects of the relationship. Companies can help ensure a smooth running and rewarding outsourcing engagement by focusing on three "Cs" – commitment, consistency and control.

Commitment

Outsourcing is not a routine sub-contracting relationship involving a non-critical task (for instance, the company’s janitorial service). In an outsourcing engagement, the outsourcer assumes mission critical functions that historically the company has handled – information technology (IT), finance and accounting, human resources (HR) and customer relations. And because these operations invariably overlap, it is important when outsourcing a critical function to gain buy-in from all affected constituencies.

Consider the outsourcing of the finance and accounting function within an organization. Whether it is the implementation of a new accounting system or simply access to information, the outsourcer requires collaboration and support from other business units within the company. The person or group responsible for the success of the outsourcing relationship must be vested with the muscle to compel the affected business units within the organization to work together. That is where a vocal and strongly communicated commitment from the organization’s C-level management personnel comes into play. A clear, consistent, forceful message from company management stating the organization is committed to the outsourcing relationship and that the engagement is a priority, translates into cooperation within the organization and goes a long way toward successful outsourcing.

Consistency

Business process outsourcing engagements are typically long-term relationships; depending on the scope of the outsourcing, it is not unusual to have a contractual term of more than 10 years. Because the outsourced business functions are critical to the health of the company and the contracts are normally long-term, it is important to maintain a level of consistency with the key players on both sides of the transaction. The concept of partnering is uniquely apropos in a business process outsourcing relationship. Not only is the outsourcer intimately involved in the company’s critical business functions and interacting with company personnel on a daily basis, but also they are often physically present at the company site for extended time periods. A comfort level needs to develop between outsourcer and company personnel. To prevent the disruptions that invariably result from a continual change in the cast of characters performing the service, the outsourcer should agree that specified key personnel will fill critical service delivery roles for a minimum time period and that replacement of any key players be subject to a sensible transition process that minimizes disruption. Maintaining a consistent team fosters collaboration and trust between the company and the outsourcer.

Control

It is not unusual for business functions within a company to overlap. When these functions are performed internally, the overlap is relatively manageable – most companies have a reporting/management structure ensuring these areas work together. Adding a third party outsourcer, or possibly more than one, complicates it even more. Because of this, many companies choosing to outsource multiple business functions as part of their operational model go with multiple vendors. These companies eschew the relative convenience of the one-stop shop approach in favor of the opportunity to receive best-in-class performances from vendors with a more focused approach to individualized service offerings, and have found that managing their outsourcing engagements as a portfolio allows them to share resources when necessary or appropriate. Managing multiple vendors and ensuring cooperation among them – not to mention cooperation between vendors and company personnel in charge of its retained internal business functions – presents a significant challenge.

While gaining collaboration among multiple vendors and internal staff is a challenge, it is not insurmountable. First, the agreements between the company and the various outsource vendors need to contractually mandate cooperation. Subject to appropriate protections for confidential information and security protocols, each outsource vendor should provide other outsourcing vendors with access to facilities, software and systems, as well as written documentation, etc. necessary for the other vendors to perform the service assigned to them. Secondly, the parties should agree to a comprehensive, robust governance mechanism that recognizes that in a long-term relationship, change is unavoidable. A well-structured, manageable governance procedure, focusing on how the parties will cope with changes throughout the relationship, provides a means for the company and the outsourcer to align business objectives and increase collaboration while effectively dealing with unforeseen events and market developments.

Conclusion

The outsourcer’s central business proposition is that its expertise and experience allow it to perform critical business functions more efficiently and economically than the company itself. Gaining commitment, maintaining consistency and effectively controlling the outsourcing relationship ensures that the outsourcing customer receives the promised benefits of that relationship.

Source: SourcingMag

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About Kirk Outsourcing

Kirk Outsourcing is a Danish outsourcing company that provides varied outsourcing solutions across the multimedia industry. Our main office is located in Copenhagen, Denmark while the production is located at Cebu, Philippines. What started as a 3 person team last 2004 now rapidly grew, and is still growing, to a team of 55 talented individuals working together as an extended arm of your business.

LazyMask is the pioneering graphic outsourcing solution that Kirk made available to the different industries that deal with graphics. Primarily known for its quality clipping path service, LazyMask has now expanded its service to include photo restoration, and among others.

"This is truly a good service. Uploading my unmasked images was really easy and getting my top notch perfectly masked images was just as simple." - Janne Salovaara, Advertising Agency Rautalanka

The remarkable success of LazyMask has caused Kirk’s other ‘LazyBusinesses’ to spring from concept to implementation. LazyMovie, a rotoscoping and chroma keying service provider, sprung into action mid 2006 and is now busily rotoscoping and chroma keying the videos of many well known video post-production company across the globe. A few months right after LazyMovie was launched, a new service niche was again opened focusing on 2d and 3d digital animation, LazyAnimation. Well known for its 3d character modeling and animation as well as its 3d architectural rendering and walk-through, LazyAnimation have been gaining partnerships even before it was officially launched last March 2007. Before the year 2006 could end, Kirk yet again started another business venture that aims to cost effectively answer the needs of the film restoration industry. LazyMovie: Digital Film Restoration is another outsourcing venture that provides film dust-busting and other routine digital film restoration work flow to film laboratories and other film restoration companies.

We are equipped with the right technology needed to carry out your projects. We are powered by high end graphic cards from NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX, with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.46 hz/ 4m6L2) processor, a 4GB Memory for Multi-tasking, an Asus LG775 Chipset, and a 640 GB Hard drive in RAID 0 for a fast file transfer and data capacity.

Clients can bank on a fast turn around time, lower project cost and high quality for all outsourced projects. We also boast that at Kirk Outsourcing Inc. our Filipino team backed by an experienced Scandinavian management ensures minimal linguistic and cultural misunderstanding that has been the common downside of the Asian outsourcing industry. We strive to meet our clients’ needs that’s why we go an extra mile by ensuring quality service at all times.

» Customer service is available 24/7
» A dedicated team of English speaking graphic artists, video editors and animators is available at your dispense
» Services are flexible to accommodate our client’s different needs
» Rigorous triple check quality control
» Timely project completion

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