BF Internet - Established 1996

Why upgrade your browser?

April 7th, 2009, by Chris Ward

To coincide with the new release of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) this month, this article provides an overview as to what a browser is, and why you should upgrade to the latest version.

The Browser

A browser is a piece of software designed to view information on the internet, in the same way that Microsoft Outlook is designed to receive emails and Microsoft Word is designed to help create documents.

Statistics show that at the moment Internet Explorer 6 (released in 2002 and no longer supported by Microsoft) and is still used by 34% of people accessing the Internet (Feb 09, www.thecounter.com).

This is mainly because Microsoft includes Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows XP and Vista.

How to find out which browser you are running

If you aren’t sure which browser you are currently using, you can click this link to find out which browser you are running

Reasons to upgrade your browser

Now that you know which browser you are running you might be thinking why should I change, or why do I need to update my browser? The simple answer is that you should always update on a regular basis. Some of the reasons are described below: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Browser, Firefox, Google Chrome, IE, IE8, Opera, Safari, Upgrade Browser
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Who’s visiting your site? And what do they look at?

April 6th, 2009, by Chris Ward

Wouldn’t you like to know in more detail how people found your web site, on what pages they entered and exited, and how they moved around when they were there? Wouldn’t it be great to follow trends, compare this week to last, and automatically generate reports on how your website is performing?

One of the clearest ways to analyse website traffic and visitor behaviour is by using Google Analytics. (Click here for a video walkthough). Google Analytics can be set up on any website by inserting the special tracking code into every web page and template. We can do this for you for a one-off charge of £50 + VAT, after which there are no ongoing costs for using the service, contact us now to arrange set up.
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Tags: google analytics, website reports, website statistics
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Building your website

March 2nd, 2009, by Chris Ward

The process has started and the creation of your website has begun, but you may have a few questions. Below are a selection of the questions most frequently asked when we build a website.

What happens next? What’s the plan?

Once your deposit has been received, our designers will start by making a mock-up of your site. This is usually in the form of a static image, showing the proposed graphical style of the site and how it will be laid out. Once any amendments have been made, you are happy and the ‘proof’ has been signed off (this should be done either in writing or via e-mail), our developers will move on to constructing the site. This next step will involve the hand-coding of individual pages into HTML and any bespoke programming that is necessary.

At this stage we are ready to accept content for your site, including any photography and copy, so that it can be built into the site. There is more on how to supply content later on in this guide.
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Taking Payments Online: The Options

February 24th, 2009, by Chris Ward

For many years BF Internet have offered clients the option of taking credit card payments via through PGP encrypted emails. This allowed shoppers to submit their credit card details through a secure form to be processed in-store and offered reduced operating costs, whilst not requiring an internet merchant account.

The card payment industry has changed massively over the last few years, with greater focus on online security and fraud prevention through the introduction of CV2 numbers, 3D-secure authentication and extra layers of fraud checking. These advances have meant that other payment processing options (e.g. PayPal, Protx..) have become superior to PGP, offering improved PCI-compliant fraud protection for the merchant whilst widespread implementation has minimised costs.

This article looks at 3 options available to you to as an alternative to upgrade/replace the PGP service:

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Tags: credit card, online, payment, pgp, secure
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3 ideas to improve your presence online

February 10th, 2009, by Chris Ward

Every company, no matter what size, could benefit from a little more activity on their website. Here are 3 ideas to improve your web presence and generate more website traffic:

• Email marketing: If you’re reading this, then it must be worth doing.
• Update your homepage: Give people a reason to look again.
• Start a blog: Give people a reason to look frequently.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: blog, company blogging, email marketing
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