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Q - How much does
it cost to design and set up a small
business web site? A - Here are the costs
associated with setting up a small business web site:
Domain Name Registration
$9.95 per year. First year may be FREE.
Web Site Hosting
Starting at $11.95 / month.
Web Site Design
Varies based on the size and content of each site. Please
call or email for a FREE estimate.
Maintenance to Existing Sites
$60/hour. Q - What's the
difference between the number of hits and
visitors to a web site?
A - The number of hits consists of the
total number of files that were downloaded
from your site. For example, if one page consists of 5
images and one person accesses this page, the number of hits
equals 6. (5 images plus one page.) Visitor counts
relate simply to the number of times people
access your site. Visitor counts are comprised of unique
and repeat visitors. It is more effective then to track the
number of visitors to your site than the number of hits.
Q - What exactly is a web hosting
company and is that a service you provide?
A - A web host provides you with space
on one of their computers or servers that are
directly connected to the Internet. They install
and maintain all of the software and hardware associated
with keeping your site online and provide fast connections
to the Internet - In other words, they give your site
somewhere to "live", so that people from all over the world
can view it. WebDesign does not provide
hosting services. We do, however, work with the
hosting company to set up your site, email and
domain name.
Q - Does it really matter which hosting company I
choose or should I just select one that offers the
lowest monthly cost?
A - Don't underestimate the importance
of the quality of the web hosting company you
choose. Problems with your hosting company can cost your
business both time and money. Things that can go wrong range
from not being able to access your email, to your web site
being down for prolonged periods, to features of your site
not functioning properly. We will advise you on which web
hosting company to use based on our research and experience.
Q - What's the most important search engine on
the Internet at this point in time?
A - As you probably know, the Internet is changing
all the time... but, right now Google is the leader.
As quoted from the December 9, 2002 edition of the New York
Times, "Think of it as the Google economy." Also in the
February 26, 2003 edition of the Wall Street Journal, "Web
Sites Fight for Prime Real Estate on Google." Why is
Google such an important search engine right now? Google
does a great job of serving up accurate results for web site
searches in a short period of time. A major search engine
itself, Google results also appear in AOL search, Netscape,
Ask, Live Search, Lycos and more... and.. it's still free to
get into.
Q - Are all of the major search engines
still free to get into?
A - Hey, good question... No, they're not
all free, but there are still a significant number of
engines and options to engines that are available at no
charge. We work first with the free search
engines, including Google, to minimize the cost
of each new site.
Q - I've looked at other businesses that
specialize specifically in search engine optimization
and not web design. They are a lot more expensive
than what your business charges which includes both. Do they
do a better job optimizing sites than your company does?
A - No, we don't think so... Most search engine
optimization (SEO) companies cater to medium to larger-sized
businesses. Most focus specifically on optimizing sites
and not on designing them. Our niche is to design and
optimize sites for small businesses and yes we charge
significantly less than most SEO companies charge for just
the optimization part. We feel that in order for a site
to be effective, it should be well-designed AND
optimized.
Q - I've seen a lot of sites on the Internet that
require the Flash plug-in. Just what is Flash and
does your company create "Flash" web sites?
A - Flash is a wonderful product created
by a company called Macromedia and is now owned by
Adobe. It is one software package that enables
web sites to integrate sound, animation, and
interactivity. An entire site can be created
from the Flash software package or
pieces of one or more pages on a site
can include Flash.
We do not create entire sites from Flash because
the sites are more time consuming to create (hence
more expensive) and our customer base is small
businesses with limited budgets. Additionally,
Flash-enabled sites can work against your business
when it comes to being found in the search
engines.
Flash-enabled sites are more costly to
maintain.
Finally, the text on Flash-enabled web sites
often appears blurry and difficult to read.
We can add sound and animation to your
site, but will advise you on which technologies to use.
Q - How long does it usually take to develop a
new site?
A - On average each of our new sites usually takes
about 3 weeks to develop.
Q - Should I select a web designer who
lives nearby?
A - It's really not necessary to select a web
designer that's in the same location as your business. All
communication and exchange of information and images can
take place via email, the phone, fax or
postal mail.
Q - How will I monitor my project's
progress?
A - We will assign you a directory
off of our site for you to review mockups
and the various stages of the site. Depending on
your preference, we'll contact you through either
email or the phone, to let you know when
updates have been made.
Once you have approved the final site,
we move the site to the web hosting
computer and provide you with all of the usernames
and passwords associated with the site.
Have any more questions? If so, please feel free to call us
at 518-478-7845 or email us at
info@518webdesign.com. We're open M-F, 9-5, EST.
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