"The Desktop Global Marketer" (tm)



   A free on-line newsletter of Sidereal Designs, Inc.,

   for Internet Entrepreneurs, and those who are

   considering becoming one.

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                     June 2001



In this issue: "Dynamic content doesn't have anything 

to do with the impact of your writing style. It refers 

to web page content that can be quickly and easily changed 

in real time, usually by you. "



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"Dynamic content" doesn't have anything to do with the impact of

your writing style. It refers to web page content that can be

quickly and easily changed in real time, usually by you. 



There are many reasons why you might need to do this. Examples

include products or prices which change frequently, dated

promotions and contests, announcements of special events,

schedules of meetings, courses or seminars, and addition of new

written materials to name only a few.



Commerce is dynamic and the web is in principle a much better

medium to reflect this dynamism than print media. How often have

you been stuck with a pile of outdated brochures or other printed

promotions? How often have you wanted to get the word out on

something new faster than you could design, print, and distribute

materials? The web can be changed in real-time if you wish.



The issue is how best to do this. One way is simply to have

someone who can write web code go in and change a static page of

text.  Static web pages are coded in what is called "HTML" code,

and can only be changed in this manner. Most such web page

addresses end in ".html". Such pages are called "static" pages

because they do not change unless they are manually modified.



Dynamic pages on the other hand are designed to change their

content. This may occur either automatically or when the content

of an underlying database or file of text changes. The simplest

situation is one in which something changes without human

intervention; for example a date. This kind of dynamic page is

relatively simple to produce but limited in the kinds of change

that can be accomplished. 



One example might be a restaurant which had a different menu or

special for each day of the week. The page could be set up to get

its content from code that produced a different, fixed, menu

according to the current day of the week, without the page owner

needing to take any action. Such pages often end in ".shtml."



Obviously this is very useful for the right application but it is

too limited and rigid for many applications. The variable content

must be known at the time the page is created. A more complicated

but more versatile method is to use pages that do not exist at

all until they are requested. When the viewer's browser requests

the page it is created on the spot by special programs. These

programs can be built to obtain the content of the page they are

creating, or any portions of it, from a database or other source

of text or images. If the underlying text or image is changed

they will construct the page with the new content the very next

time it's requested.



To take our example of a restaurant menu, any aspect of the menu

such as pricing, specials, or dishes offered could be changed at

any time. Because this can be done in plain text (the program

would write the necessary HTML code to implement it as a web

page) the retuarant owners could do it themselves at will.  In

a typical case the webmaster would create a database with entries

for the menu items and a database management tool that would

allow the restaurant owner to log in with their browser and

change items in a simple, spread-sheet like window in plain text.



Here are two examples. http://bayoupublishing.com is a specialty

publishing house. They need to change the site whenever books are

added, prices are changed, authors are interviewed, special

promotions and contests are announced, and so on. Every page on

this site is generated on the fly from a database which the owner

can change at any time.



http://zeros-subs.com is a franchise restaurant chain which needs

to manage its menu and prices and to announce daily specials for

all its franchise locations, as well as announcing employment

openings. In this case some of the pages are ordinary static

pages and others such as the menu and employment pages are

dynamic. By specifying page numbering and page position, items may

be moved around to reorganize the menu or new menu pages created

on the fly.



What kind of approach is best for your enterprise depends heavily

on the frequency and complexity of the changes you need. If you

only rarely need to update or add material you're probably better

off paying someone by the hour to code static pages. If you need

to modify or add material frequently you should consider dynamic

pages. Dynamic pages will involve a higher up-front cost but will

more than pay for themselves over time in recurring costs to

modify static pages.



A dynamic system might add several thousand dollars to the cost

of a web site, but if you're paying a hundred dollars a month to

have content added or updated you are obviously well-advised to

make the investment. The crossover point occurs when the expected

return on the cost of a dynamic system otherwise invested exceeds

the cost of manually maintaining the site.



You may also consider a dynamic system if you would like to make

changes and additions more frequently to be more responsive to

your clients or to exceed the services and convenience offered by

your competition, but are held back by the cost of paying a

webmaster to do them. Here you will need to make some decisions

about the value to your business of being able to meet your

clients' expectations in a more flexible and aggressive

manner. This is a very subjective marketing decision that only

you can make for your particular situation. The web is a novel

medium with vast possibilities and it pays to reflect on novel

things you might do that are not obvious on first consideration.



In all cases have a consultation with a webmaster and outline

what you would like to be able to do and get an estimate. The

cost of creating a dynamic system may vary considerably with

minor distinctions in the details of how things are handled. Your

webmaster may be able to suggest ways to accomplish a similar

result more cheaply. Be sure to ask if the estimate includes the

cost of providing you with the on-line means of managing and

editing your data as well as the creation of pages from it.



More and more enterprises are moving to dynamic pages for speed

and versatility in marketing. If your business is not static, why

should your web page be? If you have questions on this topic,

give us a call.



Best,



Jamie





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Sidereal Designs, Inc.               "Putting your business on the web"

http://siderealdesigns.com    301-916-5702   info(at)siderealdesigns.com