How To Create a Website Like

Facebook, Friendster, Google, [insert competitor website here]

In the website design industry, this is one of the common questions brought up by a Malaysia client. Yes, I say Malaysia client because out of all the international enquiries I’ve read which were sent to Simpleet, the ones who ask this question are normally, Malaysian.

What is most irritating about this scenario isn’t the fact they posed the question. Because, it’s not a stupid question – not really.

It’s the embarassment of not wanting to use our intellectual minds fully.

Normally, whenever a potential client ask us this question, we’d ask them in return, “what are the features/functions they’d like to see in this project?” This is the defining moment where you can tell if a client knows what they want or don’t have a clue. If they said…

I’d like to be able to connect to friends and colleagues as a group. And, there has to be personal messaging or group messaging. But the selling point of my social network is…

Ladies and gentlemen, if the client could describe this to you. They can still be saved and their project could be a success. However, if they were to say…

Like Facebook or Friendster-lor. What they have, I also want…

Stop! I’m sure you can see a difference already. One knows the vision and one is still blurry of their own vision.

Whenever this happens, it shows the client haven’t done their own research of their idea. However, all of this can be omitted with the right amount of funds – sometimes. If you’re a website designer or developer in Malaysia, you’d know what’s coming.

The client who has the vision will carefully weigh the providers budget, knowledge and experience – some, working relationship. The other would jump out of his seat, all bug-eyed and comment on the budget really required for such an idea.

This, my dear readers, is the classic case of “how to create a website like…” in Malaysia.

Data Mining is Not Mining for Gold

In case you haven’t heard the term data mining, a simple example is when you subscribe to an email newsletter. The form you fill in with your name and your email is the most common method of data mining. This is the most common method of data mining.

Now, even when you download a free white paper it’s in exchange for the common personal details. Except for WordPress, that is.

Anyway, data mining isn’t mining for gold. Meaning you shouldn’t dig too deep or on the Internet, force your users to give too much personal detail for a single download. Unless, it’s for say the location map to the fountain of youth.

The example above is what made me want to publish this article. I filled up the form out of curiousity and evaluated if the offered white paper was truly worth my personal details. Simple answer, not really.

Put it simply, you shouldn’t dig too deep if your offering isn’t the weight or value of gold. Hence, always ask yourself if you’d exchange the requested personal details in exchange for the offering you are giving your users.

I’ve consulted clients on this before. The smart ones understand and ask for suggestions, whereas the insistent ones later find out not a lot of visitors are subscribing to their offer. Don’t make the same mistake!

What are the most common details you have given in exchange for information?

Create an Effective Website Under Construction Homepage

Ideas are everywhere! And I found Modal’s website not long ago when doing some research for a client. They were featured in one of the CSS galleries for their new website landing page. Or, I’d say their functional under construction page.

Who said under construction pages always needed the “Men at Work” signage or the yellow-black bar barrier with a huge message telling visitors your website is still under construction.

Think out of the box whenever you’ve a website undergoing maintenance, construction (new website) or even, when webpage errors arise.

Have some fun and stop being a stick.

Easy Error 404 page Creation Using Google Webmaster Tools

The error 404 page is the webpage you’ll normally see when you can’t find the article or item you were looking for in an author’s website. Here’s a quick example of my error 404 page I tuned up.

Now, because the error 404 terminology is commonly understood by tech-savvy users, it’s approach has been made to be more user-friendly. Such as the error 404 page example you saw when you clicked the link.

From simple functional error 404 pages, other designers and developers with strong beliefs in web standards have made entertaining error 404 pages. Here’s an example from Abduzeedo.

This has been done to lessen tension and the immediate confusion of a non tech-savvy user through humour. Plus, it makes planning and designing error pages for users now more fun.

If you’d like to create a simple error 404 page as the one I did, you’re going to need Google webmaster tools. It’s free and all you’ll need is a Google account.

Does your website have a user-friendly or humorous error page yet?

Basic Search Engine Optimization Tips

A friend of mine showed me his new website pending launch on Tuesday. It was done by another Malaysia website design company and not us at Simpleet Solutions. He was rather concerned about the position of his company website in search engines – who isn’t today. So I agreed to have a quick assessment of his website.

I was surprised to find not even the basic of search engine optimization (SEO) steps were done for his website. So, here are 10 basic search engine optimization techniques you can tell your provider.

Continue reading Basic Search Engine Optimization Tips