- Do
you need a web site?
- If your competition doesn't
have one, if your customers do not use the Internet, if you don't
need to market your products and services, if your potential or
existing customers do not need to see an image enhancing, positive
and professional on line presence, then you probably don't need
a web site... today. If your competition changes or your customers'
expectations change or you would like to get your site up ahead
of your competition, then you should probably be thinking about
getting a site pretty soon.
- How
long will it take?
- Usually, a small 5 page marketing
site can be up and running on the web within a matter of weeks
assuming you have a clear idea of what you want and you have all
the information, images, graphics, logos and other things that
go into your site (collectively referred to as "Content").
If you need an e-commerce site with shopping carts, numerous
products, the ability to process credit cards on line and or integrated
with your company's inventory management software, it will take
quite a bit longer and will be more expensive. The best way to
get a ball park estimate of the time needed is to give us a call
(248-676-9062) so we can better
understand your needs and assess what information you have and
when the rest will be available.
- How
much will it cost?
- Since we design each site to your
needs and since we want you to be happy with your site, we will
spend time getting to know your business and your needs. We
will also spend a fair amount of time making changes to the
site as you begin to see it develop. We expect that you will
play an active role in reviewing and editing your site as well
as making suggestions for refinements or enhancements. What
we are getting to is that a lot of folks don't know exactly
what they want. They
need to look at something and then they can begin to tweak it,
change it, add to it or trim it. We refer to this as iterative
development. While this type of development is not as cheap as
getting everything 90% specified and fleshed out from the start,
it (iterative development) is more likely to result in a site
you are happy with. Anyway, sorry for the long answer, a ballpark idea
for a 5 page site is
about $900 plus
the cost of hosting and a domain name (approximately $125/ year).
Some sites can cost less, 100 page web sites with a great deal
of animation and graphics can cost quite a bit more.
- Do
you use cookie cutter web sites?
- No. Don't be tempted by prebuilt template
sites. They exclude many important features and will be neither
unique nor tailored to your needs. If price is the only issue
in your buying decision then we recommend that you use on online
service after you have selected one of their standard sites.
I can't speak to their willingness to make changes, optimize
keywords and META tags, submit your site to major search engines
or to help you craft your important messages, and they are likely
to cost you less and cost you in terms of lost customers.
- Can
you integrate our logo? - Yes,
in fact it's quite important that your logo appear throughout
your site in order to reinforce your business identity. If you
do not have a logo we can 1) coordinate with your preferred graphics
artist, 2) design one for you, or 3) recommend a graphics artist.
- What
can you do to increase our ranking in search engines?
- As
part of our services we will create relevant META tag keywords
and descriptions utilized by many search engines to classify
your site. We'll also coordinate descriptive page titles, alternative
text for images and text content to enhance your site's appeal.
We will also submit your site to a number of major search engines
including Google®. If you have cross linking requests
with other sites we will be happy to include them in your site.
Search engine algorithms change frequently so we cannot guarantee
your site will obtain or maintain a high ranking, but we will
use our experience and knowledge to position your site in a
positive light for search engine robots and spiders. If it is
imperative that your site obtain a high ranking you may need
to pay applicable search engine(s) marketing and or ranking
fees.
- How
do we get started? - Click
here or give us a call (248-933-5043) to arrange a time
we can meet. At that meeting we will talk about your site, your
messages, different types of navigation, delivery of text, graphics,
logos, images, color schemes, anticipated number of pages for
your site, other site definition needs, availability of domain
names, costs for web site server hosting, timing and pricing.
- How
easy is it to make changes to the site?
- It's
important to put your best foot forward so we expect changes
and refinements. Generally text changes are easy. If you want
to change the site interface or navigation after the site is
underway, then we will pretty much be starting over. Updates
to your site by way of new free standing images, or text shouldn't
be a problem. Adding new pages can
be done easily,
so
long as the overall navigation scheme is not affected.
- Can
I build this site myself?
- Yes,
we have a 25 page document on how you can build a web site,
the software and books you will need, some general considerations
regarding site design and the general steps required to build
a functioning web site. It includes a list of languages you
will need to become familiar with including HTML, CSS and a
little bit of JavaScript. It will be important for you to become
adept with a graphics or image editing program such as Photoshop
and for you to learn how to optimize .GIF and JPEG images for
quick downloads. There are also tips on building the HTML tables
to reassemble and hold your sliced and optimized images so your
site interface holds together. While building your own site
can be very rewarding, it can be expensive to buy the needed
software and can take a great deal of time and effort. Remember,
you are designing your site for not only different browsers but
different versions of each. If you are serious about building
your own site, we can provide you these copyrighted materials
for $25. These materials will save you a tremendous amount of
time and frustration. Also, we are available for web design consultation
on an hourly basis (see
Estimates).
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