Questions

1. I am a small business owner. What can a website do for me?
2. How much time does it take to build a website?
3. Can I just design a website on my own?
4. How can I promote my website?
5. Can you guarantee my site will be listed in all the search engines?
6. If I build a great website, will they come?
7. What kind of services will I need once the site is completed?
8. How much does a website cost?
9. What is your payment policy?
10. Do you offer some kind of assurance to ensure that my work will be done on time and within specifications?
11. What ingredients should a "good" website have?
12. My relative is learning HTML in college. Why should I hire a developer?
13. How do I choose a web developer?
14. After designing the website, if it needs to be updated what is your maintenance fee to do this?
15. If there are any problems, how are they corrected? Support service?
16. Would we need to use your company to revise and update our website?

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Answers

1. I am a small business owner. What can a website do for me?
A website can offer your business many advantages, including a:
More professional company image Improved branding Increased sales Inexpensive advertising Edge on the competition Better customer relations A website can help your business reach new customers, keep you in closer contact with your current customers, and enable you to respond quickly and efficiently in a rapidly changing market.

2. How much time does it take to build a website?
A website can be completed in as little as a few days to several months. Completion time would depend on several factors: (1) the size of the website and (2) the amount of time it takes the site owner to offer feedback on the web design in progress and to provide relevant content (images, pictures, text, etc.) for the website.

3. Can I just design a website on my own?
Of course! If you like HTML, CSS, SSL, CGI, SSI, XML, PHP, CFM, JSP, ASP, DHTML, SHTML, Flash, Java, .... If you don't want to spend months learning the basic foundations of web design, you might want to let a professional designer develop your site.

4. How can I promote my website?
Optimize your website for search engine and index submission, submit the site to the search engines and indexs, negotiating reciprocal links with other sites, set up affiliate programs, put your URL on all correspondence and marketing materials, e-mail marketing ... and that's just the beginning.

 

We will optimize your site and submit your site to all free search engines and indexes free with a new design or hosting account.

5. Can you guarantee my site will be listed in all the search engines?
No, and no reputable company should make these guarantees! However, all of the sites we design, optimize and submit to the search engines are eventually indexed.

6. If I build a great website, will they come?
If you build it, promote it, nurture it, update it, they will definitely come.  We will submit your completed website to the search engines and indexes that are still accepting free submissions, but we cannot guarantee if and when the search engines will index any website. We can also provide you with other online advertising venues which provide immediate exposure for your site.

7. What kind of services will I need once the site is completed?
Some websites require minimal maintenance while some require daily updates. Be sure to discuss your site's future needs with your web developer.

8. How much does a website cost?
If a Website is not an integral part of your companies marketing campaign now, it will be in the near future. For that reason a website should be one of the best parts of your overall company branding.  In doing so, your website needs to be consistent with, or guide, your current marketing efforts and tie intimately into your business strategy.

 

Because every business is different it is difficult at best for us to present a price list for our designs.  Design companies who have stagnate price lists are providing you with pre-designed templates accepting insertions of your companies information- we believe your business is more important than that.  Take a few minutes to speak with us and we will produce a no cost or obligation proposal for web design services within 1 week. As a first step, we encourage you to take 15-20 minutes and complete our design questionnaire.

 

Our designs, on average, have ranged from $299 to nearly $4,000 or higher for database driven websites.  The difference depends on your business strategy.  Below are some price guidelines.

a. Brochure Sites - Cost Range $299 +

We offer a high level of design features with each of our websites.  The features we build into our designs are not to drive the price up, but features we feel are essential to your success - The List  Our charges for this price range cover custom websites for many small businesses that want to advertise their company effectively over the internet and provide detailed company information possibly with some interaction (forms), but do not necessarily depend on the site to generate revenue directly or act as their companies database.

b. Custom Designed Featured Sites $500 +

Again, we offer a high level of design features with each of our websites.  The features we build into our designs are not to drive the price up, but features we feel are essential to your success - The List  These are websites which, in addition to the basic HTML pages, have added features ranging from Flash, databases, large e-commerce shopping carts, affiliate programs, newsletter programs, message boards, chat forums, interactive search features, content management software, CGI programs and many other web applications and/or software configured and installed. A custom designed website usually starts at around $500 for good CSS template system, search engine optimization, navigational system and graphical design, plus additional pages, content and any other custom web applications which may be needed. It is in both of our best interests for us to interview and provide customized quotes for each custom designed website based on the amount of pages and other applications which you may require

9. What is your payment policy?
Payment policies vary depending on the size and scope of the project. We require a deposit of one-quarter (1/4) of the project price in order to begin development UNLESS WE ARE GOING TO HOST YOUR SITE, THEN NO MONEY DOWN IS NECESSARY! The remaining balance is paid prior to the website being launched.

10. Do you offer some kind of assurance to ensure that my work will be done on time and within specifications?
Yes, we do. To make clear our mutual understanding of the web design project, we do not undertake any project without first preparing and executing a legal Website Development Agreement, which outlines in writing the terms and specifications of the proposed web design project. This Agreement contains the terms (website specifications, delivery time, payment terms, etc.) to which we agreed prior to starting the project.

11. What ingredients should a "good" website have?
Effective design, sound navigation, pertinent content, fast loading pages and lots of attention.

See our design features for details.

12. My relative is learning HTML in college. Why should I hire a professional developer?
There's more to the web than HTML. A web developer will bring expertise, information and knowledge about current technologies and trends and much more to your project.  See our design features for details.

13. How do I choose a web developer?
Finding qualified site designers is a challenge. Due to a shortage of GOOD designers and the large demand for websites, many design groups have waiting lists.

• Start a list of the design groups which somehow get your attention (good design, marketing skills, past performance, etc.) and write them down. Your goal at this point should be to narrow it down to the three most qualified firms. The easiest way I know of to do this is to simply eliminate the bad ones.
• Go through your list by visiting the website of each company. Is their own site well designed? Do they do great work for their clients? Can they help bring publicity to you? These are all questions you need to ask yourself. Start crossing out the companies which you don't have a good feeling about, until you're left with three.
• Contact the best three. At this point you should have some pretty good people on your list. Call or email to let them know that you're interested in having them design a site for you. Tell them in detail what you want and expect from a website. You should not have to wait more than a day or two for a response from each of them. Realize that these companies are now doing work on your behalf for no pay.
• Ask for and check at least 3 references or testimonials. Now check the references of these groups while they're preparing their responses to you. Try to find out what working with them is like. Ask the hard questions. No project ever works out exactly as planned and problems always occur. Find out how they handle adversity. A little bit of homework here can save you a lot of misery later.
• Make the choice. Depending on the quality of the responses you receive and the impressions you get from the references, you should now have a good feeling for who you'd like to work with. Trust your instincts now. Don't make a judgment based on price alone. If you like the most expensive group much more than the others, contact them and see if you can come up with a way to get the costs more in line with what you can afford.

14. After designing the web-site, if it needs to be updated what is your maintenance fee to do this?
We offer free technical support and 30 days free maintenance/updates is provided following site completion, installation and publishing. If you anticipate minor changes/updates on an infrequent basis after the 30 day grace period, website maintenance requests are invoiced at $39.00 per hour in 30 minute increments, after all maintenance requests have been completed to your satisfaction.

• NOTE: UP TO 90 MINUTES OF MONTHLY EDITS/UPDATE TIME IS BUILT INTO OUR HOSTING ACCOUNTS!!

If you need updates to your website, just send us a request via fax or email and it will be completed, normally within 24 hours.

We can also provide you tools which will enable you or your staff to make minor updates to your website via your web browser. This is just another option.

15. If there are any problems, how are they corrected? Support service?
If there are problems with the website's functionality, that would be our responsibility. You are hiring a web designer/developer to not only design your website, but make sure it is functional across all platforms and make sure your users are getting the most benefit from your website. If there is a server related problem, your web designer would interact with the web hosting company to resolve those problems. We have close relationships with several hosting companies and understand how they work and speak their "language."

16. Would we need to use your company to revise and update our website?
You can call on us at any time to revise and update the website. This is an ongoing service we provide to all our clients. Or, in the alternative, you can select any designer of your choice. After we have completed a website, we will provide you with (1) all the source files and code (2) a document which contains all the passwords, usernames, database information and any other information related to the website. Any experienced web designer should be able to follow through.

So, armed with this information, you will be free to choose whomever you wish to revise and update your website.