Tag: web site

Categories
software

ZenCart or osCommerce?

Elaborating on the previous post (WordPress or Joomla?), next often asked question that we at Zealus Web Design see is which shopping cart should one use?This one is just one notch easier. First – we already know that customer wants a shopping cart solution. Second – he is aware that whatever choice he makes is going to affect him in the future. Uploading or entering inventory is a time consuming task and not many people have time to experiment with that. But the ultimate question remains the same – what kind of problem the customer has? What is he/she selling and in which quantities?

Speaking from experience, I’ve seen customers who’s only reasonable solution would be an eBay. Some people can use quick shopping cart options, like PayPal’s shopping cart or even CafePress. Some could benefit from ZenCart, osCommerce, VirtuMart or peers. Sometimes company grows out of bunch of Excel spreadsheet and starts using CRM, sales and inventory tracking systems, such as RegKeeper, some flavor of QuickBooks or other platforms.

Using full-blown shopping system if you only need to sell two flavors of your widget is unwise. Using PayPal for web store with thousands of clients may cost you significant percentage of your business. Each tool has its own (limited) scope of use.

Categories
video web

Social TV On The Web – Or Social Web On TV?

Social media gets more diverse every time someone uploads the video on YouTube. It gets more popular every time someone watches that video. And, obviously it gets more social when you pass a link to or embed a video into your blog or web site. It’s hard to say who exactly came up with this idea (I think it is instinctive thing), but “do as I do” routine almost never fails.So every time some creative video gets out there, some other people think “hey, I can do that too”. And they try to.

Forget the reality shows your parents used to watch. WWF is a good stunt work. Next generation reality shows are going to be different. Studios still casting people who look good on TV, but that’s about to change. In the world where everybody can become his own video producer for less money than cost of a semester in a decent private college, next TV would be whole home-made. People increasingly watch videos online instead of regular TV. Ubiquitous broadband (including high-speed mobile), YouTube on your mobile device (hello, iPhone) and next-gen TVs with network hook-up will let you watch your favorite web site in your favorite cafe, in the comfort of your living room, on the go. Or upload your footage just as easy.

Just make sure you get that lens cap off before you start shooting.

Categories
business zealus.com

WordPress or Joomla?

When choosing a Content Management system for your web site it is usually a good idea to ask yourself – what is the problem you are trying to solve?

Most people (as I noticed on several message boards) make same mistake – they try to figure out what software they need to make money online. “I want to create a community, what software do I need?”. First of all – what kind of community is it going to be? Writers? Photographers? Make-up artists? Everyone has a different requirement, and different level of knowledge. Photographers are a little easier to please, as they are used to complicated and cumbersome camera controls, but try to cater same interface to a community of models and make-up artists (same industry, after all) and you will be hit with an outcry for mercy.

Management 101: Before offering a service think – what is the problem the service is going to solve. If you have the answer to this question – you will find tools in no time.