First off we would like to apologize for no posts last week.  Most of our staff was away for the Thanksgiving vacation with family and friends.  So we are going to be starting Script of The Week again today.

This week we would like to feature a script that we have used in the past and still use to this day in some instances.  phplist is an amazing script that allows you to send newsletter emails to your users and subscribers.  This is useful for any website who wishes to send new announcements, promotional offers, or just an important notice to its userbase quick and easy.

So enough with the jibba jabba, here is the official description along with some important links.

phplist is an open-source newsletter manager. phplist is free to download, install and use, and is easy to integrate with any website. phplist is downloaded more than 10 000 times per month and is listed in the top open source projects for vitality score on Freshmeat. phplist is sponsored by tincan.

Homepage: http://www.phplist.com/
Features List: http://www.phplist.com/details/
Download: http://www.phplist.com/download/

Any website who offers services needs to have some method for their users to reach them.  Users may have questions, concerns, or may need support regarding your service.  Email and ticket support is always nice, however having the feeling that someone is directly focusing their attention to you is nice.  With this week’s Script of the Week, we are highlighting a live chat/support script.  We recommend this script to anyone looking to offer a live connection between your staff and your users.

This script offers some of the best features from the paid and commercial scripts at the cost of nothing.  How can you say no to an offer as great as this.  The script is open source which means you may edit it to your own needs at your heart’s desire.  Although Prosoft Studio does not use this script, we know may people who have.  From all the feedback we have heard, this script is nothing but amazing.

Here is a brief description from the official website:

LiveZilla, the Next Generation Live Help / Live Support System connects you to your website visitors. Use LiveZilla to provide Live Chats and monitor your website visitors in real-time. Convert visitors to customers - with LiveZilla!

Homepage: http://www.livezilla.net/
Full Features List: http://www.livezilla.net/livehelp/
Download: http://www.livezilla.net/downloads/

PHPSysInfo is valuable script to all web hosting companies.  This script is open source which means it will not even cost you a penny. What this script does is provide statistics and the current status of the server you are hosted on. It can display information such as, how many processors you have, how much Physical Memory (RAM) you have, how much of the hard drive is being used for each partition, and so much more. It also shows devices connected to your server and the current uptime of your server.

Prosoft Studio has used this script in the past and it was very helpful to us and our clients.  Although we do not use this script anymore, we highly recommend that everyone has at least something similar to it.

Here is the official description for the project page:

PHPSysInfo is a customizable PHP Script that parses /proc, and formats information nicely. It will display information about system facts like Uptime, CPU, Memory, PCI devices, SCSI devices, IDE devices, Network adapters, Disk usage, and more.

Project Page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpsysinfo/
Download: http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=15

Finding a niche in this online world is not an easy task. The internet is growing every second with thousands upon thousands on new sites being made in a single day. You might be thinking how am I going to find something that can attract new users to my website? My best advice, be unique. Don’t copy all of the things other websites already have available to their users. Be unique and try something different, something that is not seen anywhere else.

Yes, finding something to offer that is unique to your website may not come to mind in a few minutes, and it shouldn’t. When brainstorming ideas for something unique that will give you a niche in the market, you should put a good amount of thought into the subject. The best way to find this niche is by using the mentality of a consumer. If you were a potential customer to your website, what would the website need to do to guarantee your purchase?

When putting thought into finding this niche, it should be something that is valuable to your users. No I do not mean cheap prices or low cost when I say valuable, I mean it must have a reason and purpose. If it is something they honest do not need or want, then it is pointless.

A niche does not always have to be something such as a unique product or service. It can be an eye-catching logo, a catchy website name, or even a catchy slogan? If I were to talk about the website GoDaddy to someone, they probably would have no idea what I am talking about. However, if I showed one of the always controversial television commercials, I am sure they will remember what GoDaddy is.

Something as showing an orange checkmark can bring the company Nike to mind. Things as simple as this have played a major role in some companies. This can also be applied for websites whether you are a company or not. Like I have said before, just be unique and try something different, something that is not seen anywhere else.

After some recent thinking, I have decided that this blog is not really needed to provide company news.  Instead, all news related to Prosoft Studio’s products and services will be redirect to our revamped News Center.  With this blog no longer being used to provide news, we are going to use it for another purpose.  Starting shortly, Prosoft Studio will offer articles on topics such as creating a successful website, making profit from a small company, and many other topics.  This blog will be our way of helping our community learn more about online businesses and management of websites.

Our articles will be released most likely on a weekly basis.  Our first article will be available some time next week.  We are excited about this new change because it allows our staff to share their experiences and knowledge in ways for benefit.  These articles will be available to the public at no charge whatsoever.

If you have any topics would like covered, please feel free to submit a comment to this post and we will look into bring that topic up in our next article.