Ans: If your competitors have a Websites you must first find out how it is identified (it's URL). Use your ISP connection and browser to link to the site you want to know more about. Once at the Website, you will be able to see what your competition is doing and how the business is positioned to take advantage of the Internet.
This is also a great way to see all the various approaches each business has taken to project itself "on the net". Use what you see for ideas. Believe me, some are great and some not so great.

Ans: Answers to this question range from "My business is to SMALL to justify an Internet Website", "the costs of an Internet Website are too high" or "I don't know or care". Others, however, have created a worldwide presence without regard to ROI, believing that if they are not on the net they will be left behind.
The phpshoppy specializes in small to medium sized business owners Web Site development and can personalize and tailor the level of service and effort required based on business size. The resultant development and ongoing costs are always consistent with the business plan and we may agree that the Website cost is high and suggest alternative Website approaches. The ultimate decision resides with the business.

Ans: Search engine optimization is the process whereby web pages are "optimized" so that search engines can find them and index them in their search results.
It involves various methods of coding the html of a web page into a structure that a search engine can read easily. These are optimization methods such as correct page titles, text links, alt tags in images, and semantically correct markup as in h1, h2 tags and above all relevant content.

Ans: Just as you can't expect the world to beat a path to your door if you have an unlisted address, you shouldn't expect them to find your web site if you don't publish it's whereabouts. Although you should be continuously promoting your web site for as long as you have one, it is particularly important to garner as much publicity as possible during your initial launch. That's when your chances of making a big splash are greatest. The bigger the splash, the greater will be the ripple effect that carries news of your site far and wide. Promoting your new web site typically involves several steps. From registering your domain name with various search engines , to notifying the news media (including web magazines that review new sites), to notifying your customers, vendors and other interested parties.

The specific course you adopt in promoting your web site depends largely on the nature of your company and it exists communication programs, as well as your web site itself. Ultimately, you should treat the launch of your web site as you would the launch of an exciting new product or opening an new store -- with a great deal of enthusiasm and fanfare. There are many other forms of marketing and advertising your new web site.

Ans: The need to continuously maintain your web site gives rise to a host of technical considerations. Should you purchase your own web server? If so, who will configure and operate this expensive bit of hardware? And what about security--will opening a web site expose you to breaches of your computer system by hackers or others? If not, on whose web server will you "hang" your company's web pages? With the exception of Fortune 500 firms, most companies are well advised to leave the task of web site maintenance and security to an expert. Usually this will be an Internet service provider or someone with equivalent knowledge and expertise

This is not to say your firm should not take an active role in the supervising the maintenance of its web site. It certainly should! But most of your effort should be directing toward developing rich content for your site. After people make the initial visit, that are likely to return only if you make it worth their while. Perhaps they've come to your site seeking up-to-date information they can use. Give it to them! When it comes to building a successful web site, the importance of satisfying your target audience cannot be overemphasized. Never forget that on the web content is king!

Ans: Search engine optimization for dynamic and ecommerce websites needs to be treated differently to that of a static website. Dynamic websites generate web pages with long urls and these are difficult for search engines to index.
Google in particular makes reference to the fact that it does not include pages with ?id= in their index so we have to deploy more advanced search engine optimization techniques to overcome this so that the search engines can properly index these pages.

Ans: If you see errors like this:

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output started at /webfiles/ipnmonitor/config.php:87) in /webfiles/ipnmonitor/index.php on line 322

then you probably have blank lines or spaces after the final ?> in your config.php file. Sometimes text editors add these so you may have to try a different text editor to remove these spaces or blank lines

I keep getting error messages about session_start
If you see errors like this:

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: open(/tmp\sess_d40f380d37d431fc1516e9a895ad9ce0, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in c:\webfiles\ipnmonitor\setup.php on line 123

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at c:\webfiles\ipnmonitor\setup.php:1) in c:\webfiles\ipnmonitor\setup.php on line 123

These are all related to PHP failing to save "session" files on your hard disk (in a directory called /tmp). Usually the reason is that you don't have a folder called /tmp on your computer. This is often the case with Windows installations.

The solution is to set the PHP setting for this path to point to a real folder. You can do this in your php.ini file:

session.save_path = C:\temp

I have created a php file to test sessions. This is located in the admin folder at :

http://www.yourservername.com/ipnmonitor/admin/a_session_test.php.

I get an open_basedir error message
Your hosting provider or server administrator may have restrictions on which directories can use 'includes'. To check this, log into the administration section of PHP-IPNMonitor and click on 'PHP info' link in the left hand side menu. This will display your site php info page. Find 'open_basedir' and check if the setting is something other than 'no value'. If it is something other than 'no value' then you might have to install PHP-IPNMonitor in the directory shown. Check with your hosting provider.

If a user is getting this error message on the screen when trying to download a file via the Download Link (i.e. after a sale), the open_basedir setting is preventing the PHP script from writing a temporary file that's needed for the download to happen. The solution is to have your server administrator or hosting provider change the open_basedir setting to 'no value'.

Ans: You don't have to create a new database if you don't want to. You could install the tables in an existing database providing that the table names do not clash. In version 4 onwards you can set an optional prefix for table names - this will stop table name clashes.

All of my tables are prefixed with ipn_, so providing none of the existing tables have that prefix, there should be no problem.

How do I backup my whole IPNMonitor site?
There are two things you need to make a copy of : the database with its data and the uploaded files. The IPNMonitor scripts themselves are less important; since you should have the original files and any others you have modified to change the look of your displays.

The database can be easily backed up using the in built back up / restore facility.

Ans: The answer to this question is neither short nor easy. With a little research and thought you can find hundreds of reasons, but there are a few general statements that may help you realize your needs. First a website can reach millions of people that might not otherwise be available. Second, customers can view products, services, or whatever you want to share from the comfort of their own home. No matter what type of business you are in, their are ways to grow and make money on the web for you.

Ans: When you receive a visitor to your site, they will instantly perceive the quality of your services or products. The first impression a customer or potential customer gets depends on the appearance of your website. A visitor will be interested and explore your site if it is appealing and easy to navigate. You are marketing yourself and your business to the world over the Internet and it is important to show your best.

Ans: No, many people overlook the various products, services, or business processes they can include on a website. Any communication or interactions that happen within your business can be made easier and more efficient by the web. Your business will save money and time while appealing to a much greater audience, the world.

Ans: While most businesses view the Internet as an opportunity to expand their sales through traditional e-commerce, few people are aware of the opportunities of increasing efficiency and reducing expenses. Placing business processes, especially those done daily, on the internet is possible for all types of businesses.

Ans: The four easy steps we provide below will guide you in the direction of a professionally designed, developed and marketed Web site.

Step One: Domain Name (URL) Registration -- This is the address people will use to access your Web site (www.yourcompany.com). Once you have determined that the URL you wish to use is available, the cost to register a name is anywhere from $8.00 to $35.00 per year. A domain name needs to be renewed every year.

Step Two: Design of the Web Site -- This is where the look, feel, and content of the Web site are determined and created.

Step Three: Hosting Your Web Site on a Web Server -- This is basically where you rent space on a computer that is always connected to the Internet. Price will vary, depending on the amount of disk space you will have and the connection to the Internet.

Step Four: Marketing Your Web Site -- You should be thinking about the marketing of your Web site as it is being designed. The content of the site needs to reflex the search terms if you want your site to appear on search engines.