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Is Your Web Designer Ripping You Off?

Nobody likes being ripped off – especially if they’re in business.

Yet most businesses are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to their web designer for shoddy, substandard work. Are you?

Luckily, there’s a quick and easy way to find out.

Go to:http://validator.w3.org, type in your website address and click on the “Check” button.

If the page you see says “failed validation” in red writing, you might need to speak to your web designer – especially if there are more than a handful of errors.

Is your web designer one of the cowboys?

Unless you own a cattle ranch, you probably don’t want to employ cowboys. You certainly wouldn’t put up with substandard work from a builder or electrician, would you? What about an accountant that didn’t understand tax laws, would you want them handing your finances?

Well, most web designers produce websites that are shoddy and substandard – and worst of all they don’t even know it.

How can I tell if my site isn’t up to standard?

Many professions and industries have standards. With some professions, like medicine or law, you need a qualification before you even start doing it. Other industries, like food processing or construction, aren’t so strict about academic qualifications, but they do have standards that have to be met – like health and safety or food hygiene standards.

There’s no academic qualification you need in order to become a web designer. All you need is a computer with internet access and the confidence (or in some cases arrogance) to call yourself a web designer.

However, although many people (and most web designers) don’t know it – there are standards for websites.

What’s more – it’s really easy to test your website to see if it’s up to standard. All you need to do is visit a website (http://validator.w3.org/) and you can test your site.

What are Web Standards?

Websites are programmed using a computer language called HTML. There’s a right way to program HTML and there’s a wrong way. The right way to program HTML is called “Web Standards,” anything else is the wrong way.

The difference between the right and wrong way to program a website is technical – so if you’re a business owner you don’t need to understand the details.

However, you do need to understand that if your web designer hasn’t used Web Standards it means:

Your site will do worse in Search Engines – so you’ll get less visitors
It will take longer to download – so you’ll lose more of the visitors you do get
It could cost you more to maintain the website
It’s harder (and more expensive) to make changes to the website
Up to 40% of people might not be able to see your website properly because they use different type of computer or web browser than your web designer.
Your site is probably not going to be accessible to people with disabilities – which could mean you could fall foul of your local disability discrimination laws

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7 Must-Learn Principles About Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point

The food service industry faces a range of challenges that can impact their organizations’ overall operations. To retain their competitive edge, managers are always on the lookout for better strategies to run a hotel, bakery, cafe or restaurant.

From conceptualizing the right menu, addressing staffing concerns, improving customer engagement and marketing, and increasing cash flows to sustain the business operations, business owners will find themselves adjusting from time to time to stay afloat.

One important aspect both owners and managers must have a complete understanding of is the international standard on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), which is focused on risk reduction of food safety hazards.
Identification and control of potential hazards are important steps under an HAACP system and may include the following hazards: physical, biological or chemical.

Companies engaged in the food production sector and whose operations involve manufacturing, processing or handling can turn to HAACP to eliminate possibilities of food product contamination.

The heart of HAACP lies on its seven basic principles.

1. Implementation of a Hazard Analysis

Companies must start evaluating their activities and pinpoint hazard-prone areas. As stated, hazards may exist in physical conditions (such as metal contamination), biological conditions (such as viral or bacterial exposure products), or chemical (such as possible product exposure to toxins at various development stages).

Hiring a third-party expert who can help food production organizations arrive at an objective hazard evaluation will be a big help. It would be ideal if there is an internal team who can handle this, otherwise, tapping external service provider will save the company precious time in identifying the hazards and evaluating the hazards. After which, identifying critical control points come in.

2. Identification of Critical Control Points(CCP)

This stage refers to steps that need to be taken to control the hazards or an assessment whether such hazard pose immediate risk to end user. Also, this step will involve the deployment of minimum or maximum cap for processing characters (i.e. pH, chlorine levels salt, temperature) level, time, etc.) to contain the hazard. Such CCP limit will determine the subsequent steps to be implemented, with the end goal of controlling impact on the product.

3. Establishment of Critical Limits

Setting benchmark for every CCP should be the next stage. Parameters need to be identified and established, including minimum temperature and other factors. The team must be aware also of limits set by regulatory authorities covering the control point.

4. Establishment of Control Plans

Processes need to be measured at the CCP and must be duly recorded to establish the fact that critical controls have been established. Decision makers need to ask themselves if round-the-clock monitoring of the CCP is required or what measurements must be put in place to reach a confidence level that everything is being supervised. Such monitoring will determine the success of the HAACP system and can either be done through physical quantification or observations, which will guide in the decision-making process when things go awry.

5. Establishment of Corrective Steps

Steps must be established way ahead in anticipation of non-compliance to critical limit. The goal is to ensure the probability of releasing an unsafe product is eliminated. A process evaluation will establish the main source of the problem and its subsequent elimination. The approach is two-pronged: control of products that failed oversight, and elimination of the nonconformity and prevention of a repeating occurrence.

6. Establishment of Verification Plans

Validating the HAACP plan is the focus of this step. This will also involve checking the system if it is being implement according to the agreed plan, such as calibrating instruments as well conducting CCP audit, product testing, and prior shipment review. Also, these activities will exclude monitoring.

7. Establishment of Reporting and Certification Plans

Recording information to establish that there is indeed production of safe product is an instrumental element of the HAACP system. Details of the recording include the HAACP plan itself, the personnel behind the plan, hazard assessments, flow charts, monitoring plan, critical limits, actions taken, procedures, and verification steps.

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The Essentials of – The Basics

When you plan to settle with the best company in the market you must be ready to put more effort in your search. This is because landing on the best will consume much of your time because you must evaluate it and check whether it meets your standard. When you are done doing that then you are assured that in deed that is the best selection that will help you get high quality services. Below are the things you need to look into before settling with the best company.
Experience is the first thing to consider when selecting a company. Whenever a client has to choose a company for service provision it’s important to check the experience it has. Some of the companies in the market has little experience, and they end up providing poor quality services which will not meet clients expectations. One can avoid such instance by not choosing companies that are newly established in the market. Therefore, when looking for a company that is experienced it’s important to choose the one that has a minimum of ten years’ experience. Such company will have established itself in the market.it also becomes easier to track the working experience of a company if it has many years of operation in the market. One can also check on the number of tasks completed by that company in order to determine the experience it has. If the tasks done are successful then the company is reliable to choose.

The other aspect to look into keenly is the customer service a company has before doing selection. Every client desire to get a company that will give the best customer service. Customer service is portrayed by a company through listening and acting immediately on clients issues. Thus, the company should always put customer service as the first priority in order to satisfy clients need. Some of the companies have poor customer services thus they end up disappointing their clients. Such companies will not listen and understand clients’ needs and will end up not delivering exactly what client needed. Good customer service is portrayed by staffs who have skills and good communication skills. Thus, when in need to look for a company to hire make sure you choose the one that has excellent customer services for your needs to be met.

In addition, it’s very important to consider the quality of services before making a decision to choose a company. Clients want to associate themselves with a company that always have quality services. Having a contract with a company that provides quality services makes one feel contented. Clients therefore should visit the company’s website and look at the descriptions of the services they offer and how they deliver them to clients. Also, one can inquire from other clients about the quality of services they get from that company in order to know whether they will meet your desires. It’s also important to research on previous tasks completed in order to evaluate the quality of work done. When you examine the completed tasks and know they have been successful then one can opt to choose that company.

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6 Facts About Everyone Thinks Are True

Guidelines for Choosing Certified Public Accountants

The success of any project depends on the kind of work that is invested into it. Finding the best fit for the project means you have to spend time to secure upfront experts to hire. A quality certified public accountant that perfectly fits the project needs is not so simple to find. The process of looking for one is long and time-consuming. To avoid a lot of headaches in the process you should know the guidelines to take into account so that informed decisions can be made. Most people only consider the quoted price of the entire project when selecting professional certified public accountants. While the price tag on the task is and should be an imperative rudiment when choosing the service providers, it should not be the only thing that matters. There are numerous other critical facets to take into account for you to settle for the services of a certified public accountant. This vital piece enunciates on some of the ones that atter the most.

The first aspect that you should take into account is the scope of the project. You should know what the task at hand entails. When you know what it is about, making the next move on the type of professional to hire becomes easier. You will base your selections on the qualifications of the certified public accountants that you find. That is because you will align the set of skills that the candidates you will find have at the requirements to the project to see if it is a perfect match. Besides asking about the outstanding capabilities that the experts have that make them different from the rest of the contenders will enable you to determine if they are the right professionals to choose. Also, inquire about the former projects on which the certified public accountant was in charge to determine their similarities or differences from your work.

The experience of the specialist you will choose is elementary. To determine that aspect, you have to inquire about the certified public accountant’s work history. Ask if they have handled such projects on their past practices and for how long that has been taking place. If you find one whose practice in the general contracting industry dates to at least ten years down the line, then you will know that you are on the right track. The experiences attained, the skills and technical know-how acquired from the hundreds of other similar tasks will unquestionably benefit you in this case.

In addition, finding out if the potential service provider that you have under consideration has the necessary resources needed for the project is crucial. That starts from a team of experienced subcontractors that the company networks with to ensure the needs of clients are met. Besides, the communication skills of the expert you select need to be impeccable for you to know that the job will run smoothly to its completion. Their credentials and licenses as well as insurance documents should be provided for you to know that they are credible professionals.

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What Do You Know About

Wedding celebration coordinators are specialists that aid with the planning, management and arrangement of a customer’s wedding event. Wedding events are very vital occasions in the majority of people’s lives and thus, wedding celebrations often call for significant quantity of economic investment for making certain that they are properly arranged. Couples generally attempt to arrange for the most suitable wedding celebration location, dress and also other items for the big day and employing a wedding planner would certainly be valuable for the couple as it enables them to concentrate on various other issues like their honeymoon as well as the function after the wedding celebration. The benefits of using a wedding planner include time management, budgeting, monetary administration and safety precautions etc . A vast choice of wedding celebration organizers are offered online today, that offers services such as pre-scheduling, creating a guest list, getting in touch with wedding event vendors, handling wedding event windows registries, reservations and also visitor invitations as well as a lot more. Many of these on the internet organizers supply a wide variety of solutions beyond these stated. They likewise manage other issues such as reserving places, acquiring dresses and jewelry, picking music, embellishing the venue, selecting the appropriate wedding event suppliers, choosing wedding celebration motifs, producing tailored seating graphes, picking as well as publishing the wedding celebration invitation etc. Wedding planners are also beneficial for those couples that have less time to look after all the elements of their big day. A lot of organizers additionally provide wedding advice and recommendations via e-mails or call. These expert coordinators will aid you in arranging your wedding celebration in an inconvenience cost-free manner without the demand for you to stress over anything else. Wedding planning can be a challenging task specifically if you have little or no experience in this. Nevertheless, there are lots of organizers who give different sorts of appointment such as full service wedding preparing to assistance with wedding preparation. There are event coordinators that function particularly with couples. While some are full-service event coordinators, many occasion organizers offer consultatory solutions with budget friendly costs. These planners might not provide you with a personal examination, nevertheless they do offer you with all the resources as well as details that you call for. There are lots of wedding event planners who supply a personal consultation to aid the involved couples. The examination is typically performed over a duration of one to 2 weeks. This allows the planner to evaluate the level of interaction as well as commitment of the couple as well as therefore recommend the suitable solutions as well as bundles to them. Some event coordinators can additionally provide bridal experts for the engaged couples. These wedding experts have the abilities to combine all the necessary elements of the wedding such as the vendors, the event caterers, the professional photographers, florists, etc, as well as for this reason have the ability to give all the needed aspects for the wedding reception. Wedding celebration organizers typically work with suppliers for wedding celebrations. While some wedding celebration organizers work solely with specific suppliers, some of them work with multiple suppliers for wedding celebrations. These suppliers are accountable for all the facets of the weddings such as the preparation of the locations, the catering, the design, the enjoyment, as well as the presents for visitors to be presented at the wedding party. In fact, many of the wedding celebration planners are also skilled at the office out the monetary elements of the wedding events. They handle vendors that provide the most effective deals as well as costs as well as for this reason have the ability to offer the engaged pairs with the very best offers. This in turn helps reduce the expenditures incurred by the engaged pair. The over 3 groups of wedding event planners collaborate with lots of wedding event organizers working with the exact same event. There are also event coordinators and wedding coordinators who focus on different other fields such as location wedding event preparation for the handicapped, army households, and more. Whatever be the field, most of the occasion organizers will have the ability to supply the above discussed services and plans to their customers.