When It’s Time to Upgrade phpCOIN

February 9th, 2010

Do you provide a service that you need to bill for over the internet? Many times, service providers of all types find that the free phpCOIN solution works very well for their needs. The COIN in phpCOIN stands for Clients, Orders, Invoices and Notes. The point of the system is to allow those who bill for services to be able to do so easily. When you can take orders online and use your a customer management system like this to make the whole process easier, you will find that you make quite a bit more money because you have just done the one thing that will help any service provider make more money faster: you have made things easier. Customers are always going to be fond of simple ways to order products and if you can decrease the amount of effort they have to go through to order your services, then you are far more likely to achieve higher order rates.

Since there are so many different types of services out there, those who provide them are going to need different looks to suit their service. With the right phpCOIN templates, you can create a look that suits the rest of your site. Whether you are a graphic designer, online mentor, astrology chart reader or even a lawyer, phpCOIN themes abound that will help you customize the look of your site. You can even consider having a custom phpCOIN theme created specifically for your site to make sure that you get exactly the appearance you need in order to sell far more of your service than you ever have before.

It is definitely important to make sure that you are using the latest version of this script. You will want to be positive you are using the most recent incarnation because as with any software package, phpCOIN makes use of regular updates to tighten any security flaws and create a smoother experience for both you and your customers. Upgrading phpCOIN is very simple no matter which version you are currently using, here are the steps you must take to upgrade this invaluable script:

1) Backup your phpCOIN installation. Do this before you do anything else because there is nothing more frustrating that ruining your own script!

2) Download the latest version of phpCOIN and uncompress the file onto your computer.

3) Open the config.php file within the phpCOIN package you just uncompressed. Use a text editor such as Notepad2 to enter your MySQL database name, user name and password. Save and close this file once you are through.

4) Using an FTP client of your choice upload all of the files, including the config.php file that you edited, to your server and be sure you have the new files overwrite the previously existing files.

5) Use your web browser to navigate to your phpCOIN installation. This is generally a subdirectory on your site so that it would like this:

http://www.YourDomainName.com/phpcoin

6) Since phpCOIN automatically recognizes that is being updated, all you need to do is follow the onscreen directions to set it up once again.

That’s all there is to upgrading phpCOIN

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Install Crafty Syntax Live Help by Yourself

February 7th, 2010

Websites are constantly growing more competitive, no matter which particular field a given website is in. Surfers continue to demand new and better features, expect more interaction on the part of the site admin and flock to sites that are able to meet their needs most effectively. If you have been thinking about expanding the power of your own site, particularly if you run an online store or other ecommerce type site, then Crafty Syntax Live Help is definitely something you want to look into. This is a script designed by Crafty Syntax, of course, that gives you a very quick and efficient way to interact with visitors to your site who might otherwise simply get frustrated and leave. Imagine the change in sales and return visits you are going to experience once you have genuine live help available by chat for anyone who wants it and you will be on the right track to understanding why Crafty Syntax Live is such a well respected addition to the webmaster tools community.

If you are worried about getting it all set up yourself, you really should not be because it is quite easy to do and we’re going to walk you through the process. Even if you have never installed anything like the Crafty Syntax Help system before, you are going to find that it is a breeze to set up and even easier to use once you have it going. Those who can chat online already know everything they need to know about how to use the software once it is set up, too. You will be able to chat with multiple customers at once through a handy tabbed system, record all of the keywords mentioned in the chats to see what the visitor’s biggest concerns are and even save transcripts of the chats for later review. Very handy if you plan to employ someone to offer professional help on your site for you.

First off, you will of course need to download the latest version of Crafty Syntax. The best idea is to grab the installation package from their site since you know that is going to be the most up to date and also that it won’t contain any malicious programs.

Once you have the download package, simply uncompress it and take a little time reading the documentation provided to familiarize yourself with any key things that you might need to know. After that, send the files to your web host account for the domain name you want the script installed on and then open up this line in whatever web browser you prefer:

http://www.YourOwnDomainName.com/livehelp/setup.php (www.YourOwnDomainName.com will of course need to be replaced with your actual domain name that you own)

After this, the rest of the installation takes place in your web browser, a real help for those of us who like to keep things simple. You’ll choose your language, name your live help section and create an opening message to welcome users into the system.

That’s all you have to do in order to have live help right on your own site

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Get PHP Support Tickets Set Up On Your Site

February 6th, 2010

These days, it is not enough to merely provide a service over the web, especially if you are in the online software business. If you provide any kind of product or service, your customers are going to expect to be able to report issues and have them dealt with as quickly as possible. That is a lot of what has made the PHP Support Ticket system so invaluable to so many websites. One thing that is true about this script package is it is not crammed with all sorts of features that most sites will never use. Instead, with PHP Support Ticket, you get what you need to efficiently resolve any sort of service questions or problems that arise.

Since support tickets have become industry standard for so many different businesses, it is certainly a wise move to install this script on your site. It beats the hassle of trying to decipher confusing emails and your tech support or customer service team members are going to be able to work a lot more efficiently if they have this kind of tool available to them. Since customer retention is the name of the game when it comes to business these days, support tickets are a crucial factor that take your company from amateur to truly professional. The best part about the PHP Support Tickets script is that it’s a breeze to install so even if you aren’t a technology expert by trade, you won’t have trouble getting it up and running on your site.

Your best bet is to use Fantastico to install this script and fortunately, this is becoming industry standard for most web hosting services. Log into Fantastico first and then select PHP Support Tickets which is typically categorized beneath the Customer Relationship heading. Of course, New Installation is what you will want to select and then you need to tell Fantastico which domain you want the script installed on. You can leave the Directory option blank if you want PHP Support Tickets to run on the root of your system, which is the option most webmasters will prefer. For username and password, the choices are up to you, but take note that when possible you might want to consider using a name other than ‘admin’ so that potential hackers aren’t immediately able to guess your login name. Your site’s name comes next and then your email address. Instead of simply your domain name, you might consider choosing something such as Company Tech Support, where Company would be the name of your own company.

After you’ve finished filling in your details, click on Install PHP Support Tickets at the bottom of the screen and then, on the next screen, choose Finish Installation.

That’s it, now you should have the script running on your own site.

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Installing LimeSurvey Gives You the Power to Poll

February 5th, 2010

For a long time now, web sites have been making use of surveys to gather ways by which they might improve the quality of their own sites. These surveys are also sometimes used to provide user agreed upon data for marketing companies that are a great way for a popular web site to make some cash to help cover its expenses. No matter what sort of web site you might run, LimeSurvey questions your users in a fun and detailed way to get their opinion on just about anything you would like to ask them. Since you can ask more than just questions and actually show pictures or movies in your questionnaires, a LimeSurvey survey can actually be something of a piece of entertainment for your visitors that they won’t resent taking part in. That is the real key to getting visitors to take part in a customer satisfaction survey questionnaire that gets serious results.

By installing this handy little script you are going to be able to give your site much more insight into your visitor’s tastes and expectations. This is helpful if you are running an online business, of course, but it is just as helpful for the average community or niche interest site that wants to know how to make itself even more popular.

Installing LimeSurvey is incredibly easy. All you need to do is follow these simple steps:

First off, navigate to your web hosting provider’s user panel and sign yourself in. Many times Fantastico will be the installation tool of choice, but other options are available that will depend upon your web hosting provider. You will generally find LimeSurvey to be one of the options beneath a heading titled something like Polls and Surveys. Simply click New Installation and you’re ready to begin.

On the next page you will be asked to choose the domain that you want LimeSurvey installed on, so make sure you pick the right one. Then, below that, you will be asked to choose a directory. You can leave this option blank if you want LimeSurvey located in the root, but this is generally done when you want your domain itself to lead visitors directly to LimeSurvey. For example:

http://www.YourDomainName.comĀ  is where visitors would go if you left the directory setting blank

http://www.YourDomainName.com/survey is where visitors would go to visit your installation of LimeSurvey if you used “survey” as your directory name for the installation.

You will then need to fill out all of the fields provided such as user name, password, site name, etc. Be sure to complete each and read the description of each field thoroughly so that the information you provide is correct.

Finally, hit Install LimeSurvey and there you have it! LimeSurvey is live on your site, waiting for you to configure it to your required specifications. That is all you have left to do and you can be providing your users with a vast array of surveys that incorporate all sorts of fun features. It’s a great way to get your visitors involved with your site and learn more about them and their needs at the same time.

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You Can Easily Upgrade from Joomla 1.0 to Joomla 1.5

February 4th, 2010

Those who know about the CMS (Content Management System) known as Joomla, already know that this is one of the strongest totally free open source solutions for building a website. While Joomla 1 0 was a great build, many of those who want to upgrade to 1.5 aren’t quite sure if the process is going to be tricky. The good news is, upgrading is even easier than following the Joomla 1.0 tutorial for your initial installation ever was. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, either.

Now, you will want to make sure your modules and your Joomla skin are also set to upgrade to to 1.5 because often during upgrades, modules and skins are not updated as frequently as the actual CMS’s they are designed for. This means if you are running Gallery2 Joomla, you need to make sure that you have the latest version of Gallery2 that is going to be compatible with your new version of Joomla. Once you’ve established that your mods will work in the new version, it’s time to get started with this upgrade. Be sure to back up your current installation first, of course.

The first thing you need is the Migrator component, so get that now and then install it so that it appears in the Components menu of your current Joomla installation. Once you find it, click on Create Migration MySQL File at the bottom of the Migrator page. Then you need to select Download so that you can pull the extracted SQL data from your Joomla 1.0.x installation.

Keep in mind that this SQL data file you just downloaded is going to be uploaded to your Joomla 1.5 installation using the Load Migration Script option and the default ‘_jos’ prefix is the one you need to select for this migration to be successful.

Now, you need to have Joomla 1.5 handy to install on your server. You can upload this to its own directory, or wipe everything from your server. Most people place the new installation inside a /dev/ directory on their root, just to be on the safe side. If you have put it in a /dev/ directory, then go here:

http://www.YourDomainName.com/dev/

Otherwise, if it is in the root then go here:

http://www.YourDomainName.com

In both of these cases YourDomainName.com represents your own domain name at which your Joomla website is located. Once you arrive at one of the two destinations above you should be taken to the Joomla 1.5 installation screen. Use your same database user and password to perform the installation. Go through the installation process until you arrive at the Step 6: Configuration screen. You will fill in all the standard information such as your site’s name, your e-mail address and the key to make sure you handle is checking the Load Migration Script option before continuing.

Where it asks for your Old Table Prefix, put in: _jos

You shouldn’t need to make any other changes here, except to select Browse so you can find your SQL data file you downloaded earlier and select it. Next, click “Upload and Execute”.

Now you should be told that the migration was successful and if so, hit Next.

Don’t forget to completely remove the installation directory for Joomla 1.5 to avoid any sort of security issues in the future.

Once you load Joomla 1.5 you should now see all of your old content back in the same familiar places that it was for your Joomla 1.0.x installation!

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