http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/ http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=11
By Alison Swersky (Business reporter, BBC News)

As far as web-literate consumers are concerned, internet search engines generally offer the best way to track down a local plumber or find out where the local pet shop is based.

After all, a reputable company will have its own website, right?

Wrong.

In a world where e-trading has become as mainstream as microwaved ready meals, it comes as a shock to many to discover that no more than half of Britain's small to medium-sized businesses have a web presence.

But those are the facts, according to the Federation of Small Businesses, which represents about 210,000 firms.

After a flurry of activity a few years ago, when a steady stream of its members flocked into cyberspace, demand has stagnated.

Which is a shame, according to the Federation's IT chairman, Peter Scargill, who insist companies must "keep up or lose out".

This is more than ever the case in today's business climate as many companies struggle to grasp the impact of the next wave of internet technology.

So-called web 2.0, blogs, wikis and web-on-your-mobile are giving ever greater power and choice to the consumer.

Many shrewd players are racing to adapt and respond to compete in both the offline and online market place.

Does this mean that those existing only in the real world are being left behind?

No web presence

Not so, says entrepreneur Lorrain Corrance, a qualified carer from Barrow-in-Furness who she set up a company to look after sick and disabled people.


Priorities will differ from business to business but the web will be integral to a business plan on some level
George Derbyshire, head of the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies

Driven by disgruntlement, after feeling disappointed with a former employer's attitude to care, Ms Corrance's set up One to One Personal Care.

The company now has one full-time employee, one part-time cover and five clients, and so far all her clients have come through social services or recommendations.

"I don't feel like I need a website," Ms Corrance says.

"The whole point of my business is that each client will have one dedicated carer who will offer a high standard of care.

"I don't want my business to grow more quickly than I can handle because I don't want to have to let people down if I don't have the staff to provide the services."

Vital tool?

James Pople, who runs a building contractor firm in Tunbridge Wells, is not convinced that a website is an essential tool for business success.

Nine months after his website went live, he insists it has not generated a single phone call from a customer.

Instead, his website functions as a catalogue of his work.

It was for this reason alone, after repeated requests from potential customers, that Mr Pople says he even bothered to launch a website at all.

"Perhaps it is just useful for giving clients peace of mind before making enquiries," he says.

But this view of the internet as an afterthought must change as new technologies fundamentally alter consumer behaviour, according to the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies.

"Priorities will differ from business to business but the web will be integral to a business plan on some level, whether it forms part of your communications and marketing strategy, part of your supply or customer chain, or whether you use it to trade," says the group's chief executive, George Derbyshire.

Fully engaged

Heather Gorringe, chairman and founder of Wiggly Wigglers, could not agree more. Offline companies are truly missing a trick, she believes, having experienced the power of the web for herself.

When the internet was still in its infancy, she saw its potential to expand her worm composting kit enterprise well beyond the village where it is based and the firm's website went live in 1995.

"We are based on a farm in a village of 63 people in rural Herefordshire," she says. "The passing trade is virtually nil."

The site was adapted for e-commerce in the white heat of the tech boom in 1999, when turnover surged from £6,000 in 1995 to £200,000.

And the dot.com crash did little to dent Wiggly Wigglers' performance. The company's turnover has now reached £2.5m. Its customers come from all over the UK, the Irish Republic and Western Europe and has its own group on social networking site Facebook.

In addition, gardening podcasts, featured regularly and downloadable from the website, have boosted the company's profile with a fan base from the US to New Zealand and China.

"Growing a brand globally has helped sales locally," Heather observes.

"Communicating with potential influencers is important for every business, even if you are a local fish and chip shop".

Disappointment.com

The reason why so many companies are disappointed with their website's performance is that they have failed to maximise their potential, believes Mr Scargill.

"A website is a passive device," he says.

"Unless you have a well recognised brand name you need to have some way for people to find your site.

"If you haven't marketed it properly, it's like taking a bunch of brochures, putting them in a cupboard and then wondering why sales aren't going up."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/7096900.stm
Published: 2007/11/21 00:06:42 GMT
© BBC MMVII
]]> Internet and Technology http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=11 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:13:38 +0000 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=10
One of the incentives for visitors to take the effort to add a post is that they can add a link to their own site within it (thus potentially boosting their site's google ranking). This small reward for posting comments has been sadly (but inevitably) exploited/abused by the spammers who post comments including links to literally hundreds of different porn/viagra/gambling websites - with the effect of annoying genuine site visitors, lowering the blog site's ranking (due to the massive increase in outbound links) and ultimately driving traffic away from the the blog.There are several ways to deal with this:

1. Use a blogging tool that provides a comment filtering tool (or has one available as a plug-in)
2. Manually review all comments before they are published (or soon after)
3. Restrict comment posting to registered members (and use some means of identifying these as real people rather than one of a legion of zombie PCs out there)
4. Turn off comments
5. Bury your head in a bucket of sand and hope the spammers leave you alone!

Large organisations like the BBC (which allows readers to post comments on news stories etc) apply a combination of these approaches - using a filter to remove the obvious spam or offensive material, and a team of editors to review the rest before it is published. Bulletin boards with an active community of regular users typically have a few users that are granted moderators who can remove unwanted posts and ban serial offenders.

However, for smaller organisations the safest option is "4. Turn off comments". Having just deleted over 500 spam comments on this website, it is with regret that we have to inform you that you will no longer be able to comment on Salty's Nuts (... maybe that's a good thing!)]]> Internet and Technology http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=10 Sat, 28 Oct 2006 22:14:21 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=8
ACCESS DENIED - THIS SITE HAS BEEN CLASSIFIED AS PORNOGRAPHY

... in bright red letters in 48 point so that everyone in the office can see what a perv you are?

If so your company has a proxy server with an internet filter. Yes Big Brother is watching you - but don't worry, you are unlikely to receive a disciplinary for accidental hits (you meant "chain mail" for your medieval re-enactment society costume, not "chained male" right?)

So you've now left Big Brother plc, and set up on your own, hired a few staff and doing pretty well. But what are your staff doing while you are out of the office?

Whatever side of the the debate you are on regarding porn etc in general, if your staff are accessing it whilst your back is turned they are not helping your bottom-line - in fact, they could be exposing you to a whole heap of legal fees.

But internet filters are expensive/complicated aren't they? I can't afford/don't know how to run a proxy server. Maybe - but for smaller organisations (with less than 10 PCs) there is a simpler solution...

There are many programs out there designed for home use (search for "parental control") to block children's access to porn/illegal download sites etc. These can equally be installed on your office PCs too, offer free trial periods, and often offer discounts on multiple seat purchases!

Some of the better known examples include:

CyberSitter
NetNanny
Cyber Patrol

If your organisation has more than 10 PC's then it may be more more cost effective to run a gateway server with a product such as Cyblock or SurfControl.





]]> Internet and Technology http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=8 Mon, 15 May 2006 23:21:38 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=7
In the future we hope to bring some interesting articles to help small business owners in general, and those based in the Sale and Altrincham areas in particular, but for now here are a few links that may be of use:

Business Link
SmallBusiness.co.uk
Federation of Small Businesses
bCentral from Microsoft
is4profit.com]]> Business http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=7 Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:45:50 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=6 www.pimpmysnack.com - where people post images of their attempts to create supersized versions of their favourite snacks.

It certainly helped break the tedium of a another day in the office, and after we spent a few minutes digging around the site we got back to work with renewed vigour (although I did have this strange craving for Jaffa cakes afterwards!)

Its ludicrous and anarchic websites like this that makes internet surfing so much fun, but recent research shows that we are increasingly reliant on a smaller number of 'supersites' - in order to attract repeat visitors to your website you need to provide a compelling reason to keep coming back. This might be a great interface, regularly updated content, originality, breadth of features.

So have a think - could your rusty old Cortina of a website do with losing the furry dice and go-faster stripes, and instead get some slick chromed alloys, body kit and a paint job?

]]> Internet and Technology http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=6 Wed, 26 Apr 2006 22:39:12 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=5 SaltyWeb Search]]> Internet and Technology http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=5 Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:38:35 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=4 your-company-name.saltyweb.co.uk)?

For a one-off fee of £50 you can have a single page microsite with one logo and up to 3 other images, plus text which you can use either as an online business card, or as a link to your main website (thus helping your own sites search engine ranking).

We'll even put the webpage together if you like - all you have to do is submit the text and any images you want to us.

Phone now on 0161 408 2222.]]> Sale and Altrincham http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=4 Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:28:59 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=3
Can potential customers find your site through Google without knowing your company name or your URL?

Lets say you own a furniture store in Sale - your site probably won't come up if someone typed in "furniture sale" - the big problem faced by any organisation in the area is that sale has another meaning, and much larger companies can afford to throw money at getting their site optimised to top the list.

Of course, your potential local customer base is familiar with this problem, and will probably use the Sale postcode (e.g. "furniture m33") to try to find you.

Try M33 with a keyword for your business - did you turn up on the first page? Or at all?

Search Engine Optimisation - the art of getting your website as close to the top of the results list - is not the black art that some IT consultancies would have you believe (so they can part you from large chunks of your earnings!), but the search engines need to know you exist to begin with.

Here are some simple steps to get started:

1. Register your website with the Open Directory Project (a.k.a. ODP, the Mozilla Directory or DMOZ). This is a free, human maintained, directory used by Yahoo and Google amongst others. Make sure you submit your site to the most appropriate regional category. Here is the one for Sale.
2. Submit your site to Google for addition to the sites they "crawl" periodically.
3. Add your details to SaltyWeb: the Sale and Altrincham Web Directory - this directory site is specifically targetted at the area, and unlike other alternatives (e.g. Yell, TouchLocal etc) it is free to include your website's URL. Register as an advertiser here.

Check back here in the future for more tips.

//James

]]> Sale and Altrincham http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=3 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:28:50 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=2 Test http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=2 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:22:03 +0100 http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=1
We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.Home - nucleuscms.org
Welcome to the world of Nucleus CMS.

In 2001 a set of PHP scripts were let loose on the open Internet. Those scripts, which took user-generated data and used it to dynamically create html pages, contained the ideas and the algorithms that are the core of today’s Nucleus CMS. Though Nucleus CMS 3.2 is far more flexible and powerful than the scripts from which it emerged, it still expresses the values that guided its birth: flexibility, security, and computational elegance.

Thanks to an international community of sophisticated developers and designers, Nucleus CMS remains simple enough for anyone to learn, and expandable enough to allow you to build almost any website you can imagine. Nucleus CMS lets you integrate text, images, and user comments in a seamless package that will make your web presence as serious, professional, personal, or fun as you want it to be.

We hope you enjoy its power.

Documentation - docs.nucleuscms.org
Visit our frequently asked questions page for a quick overview.

The install process places user and developer documentation on the web server for your convenience.

Pop-up help is available throughout the administration area to assist you in maintaining and customizing your site. When in the Nucleus CMS admin area, click on this symbol for context-sensitive help.

Or, if you can’t find the answer you need, visit our community Wiki for user written tips and how-tos.

Support - forum.nucleuscms.org
Should you require assistance, please don't hesitate to join the 1800+ registered users on our forums. With its built-in search capability of the 28,000+ posted articles, your answers are just a few clicks away. Remember: almost any question you think of has already been asked on the forums, and almost anything you want to do with Nucleus has been tried and explained there. Be sure to check them out.

Thanks to all the volunteers at the support forums.
admun - Ottawa, ON, Canada
anand - Bangalore, India
hcgtv - Miami, USA
ikeizer - Maastricht
moraes - Curitiba, Brazil
roel - Rotterdam, The Netherlands
TeRanEX - Ekeren, Antwerp, Belgium
Trent - Alberta, Canada
xiffy - Deventer

Personalization - skins.nucleuscms.org
The combination of multi-weblogs and skins/templates make for a powerful duo in personalizing your site or designing one for a friend, relative or business client. Import new skins to change the look of your website, or create your own skins and share them with the Nucleus community! Help designing or modifying skins is only a few clicks away in the Nucleus forums.

What’s possible with Nucleus CMS:

Nucleus CMS is used on over 700 registered sites. Here are some ideas to get you started thinking about what Nucleus CMS can do for you:

Personal blogs
stanch.net - Stanch's personal weblog
rakaz.nl - Rakaz's personal weblog
beefcake.nl - Beefcake | Nuke the whales!
bloggard.com - The Adventures of Bloggard
sempermagis.be - Webvoer voor de digitale honger. Warm geserveerd

Community blogs
tipos.com.br - Brazilian blogging community

Family pages
maguire.trentadams.ca - Maguire Baby Journal
baruchito.com - Baruchito's homeCage

News sites
printculture.com - Politics, Culture, Academics
americandaily.com - American Daily - News & Commentary

Travel sites
hsbluebird.com - Hot Springs, Montana's Online Resource
groningen-info.de - Neues aus Groningen. Für Leute aus Duitsland.

Business sites
adrenalinsports.nl - Adrenalin sports
c-nes.org - Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research (C-NES)

Nucleus Developer Network - dev.nucleuscms.org
The NUDN is a hub for developer sites and programming resources.

NUDN satellite sites, location and UTC offset:
karma - Izegem +02
hcgtv - Miami -05
admun - Ottawa -04
TeRanEX - Ekeren +02

Sourceforge.net graciously hosts our Open Source project page which contains our software downloads and CVS repository.

Want to play around, test changes or tell a friend or relative about Nucleus CMS? Visit our live demo site.

Looking to add some extra functionality to the base Nucleus CMS package? Our plugin repository gives you plenty of ways to extend and expand what Nucleus CMS can do; your imagination and creativity are the only limit on how Nucleus CMS can work for you.

Donators
We would like to thank these nice people for their support. Thanks all!

Like Nucleus CMS? Vote for us at HotScripts and opensourceCMS.

License
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.]]> Test http://www.saltyweb.co.uk/nucleus/index.php?itemid=1 Tue, 11 Apr 2006 08:34:58 +0100