Custom Website Application Development: PHP & MySQL Databases Can Automate Your Small Business

Having a website for your small business can help customers learn about your business and make contact with you, but did you know having a website can also improve the efficiency of your business? One powerful way to do this is to take advantage of server-side languages like PHP and database languages like MySQL to automate some of your manual business processes. It is truly like having a virtual assistant!

Here are some examples of the type of custom website application development I've done for my clients:

• Database of Seattle Dogs Looking For Playmates (Public).
  Client wanted a database of dogs in Seattle who needed to find playmates of similar age, weight, and play style. People self-register their dogs online and can also perform searches of the database. One of the unique features of this custom database application is that each dog in the database ages with time so that people can match their own dog's current age with the prospective playmate's age.
  
  
• Class Registration System and Database (Private).
  Client was thinking of hiring assistant to manually process of student registrations but decided to implement custom website application instead. This web-based registration system determines whether classes are full or open, puts client into into a client database and registers client into appropriate class. This web based application automatically sends new clients email instructions for their class. The application also has a complete business owner web based interface that allows modifications of client data, class registration data, and up to the minute class rosters. Finally, this custom application was required to interface with an online payment processing system as part of the registration process.
  
  
• Contractor Payment Tracking Database With User/Password Privileges (Private).
  Client wanted a custom web application developed that she could input payments made to her contractors and that would allow each contractor to log in online and retrieve their payment records. Each contractor needed to be able to view their own records, but be prevent from viewing the records of other contractors.
  
  

If you're curious about how PHP works to accomplish all these tasks, please read on.
(Warning To Technophobes: some technical jargon is used below!)

Let me first explain how a website works. The actual code lives on a server. This is what is called "hosting". If your host is DreamHost, for example, DreamHost has a server, a computer somewhere on the planet that has the code for your website's pages. When a client enter your website's address in their browser (such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari), the server sends (or "downloads") the code to their browser. Their browser reads the code (written in "HTML") and like magic, the website appears on your client's computer screen.

But servers can do much more than simply deliver HTML code to browsers. There are computer languages, like PHP, which run on the server (they're called "server-side scripts") and they can perform behind-the-scenes activities, like stagehands that run around behind the curtains during scene changes of a play.

PHP is amazingly versatile. I created the diagram below to help clients understand some of the power of harnessing PHP. PHP scripts can "talk" to databases using a database language called "MySQL". Databases can store any kind of information you might need to run your small business. PHP works with MySQL to put data into the database and retrieve it when needed. PHP can be used to pass data between pages of a website, generate HTML for dynamic webpages, or even interface with ecommerce systems such as PayPal. The interface to you or your clients is HTML, the standard web page language, which means you or your clients simply fill out forms on your website and hit a button and PHP does the work.

Whew, you made it past the technical jargon part! The good news is that you don't have to worry about what PHP and MySQL are doing or how they are doing it - it's my job to make it all happen behind the scenes in a matter of seconds. You simply need to understand how your current business processes work, and have a desire to automate them.

If you'd like to talk about how adding PHP and MySQL to your website
could help automate your business processes, please contact me.

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