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How to get the Website that you really want.

Websites can be designed, developed, redesigned and maintained to fit within most budgets. The factors that effect the cost of a website design are based mostly on time involved. The time a web technician spends on a website is dedicated time.  The  clients who have taken the time to plan and be prepared for their meetings with their web designer have a better control over their costs, and the end result.

The effectiveness of a website is only partially based on its design, but more importantly on how well the web designer understands the client's needs, where their website fits into their marketing mix, their goals and their overall vision.

I work with a team of independent website professionals to create a design team with the most capabilities. No one person can know everything about the websites and internet marketing. The playing field changes daily. We stay as current as possible, attending training seminars with the industry giants and software leaders.
 
Every website developed by my team and me is a unique design. Throughout the website creation and development process, we research the industry; our clients' competition; receive Google alerts, and related news stories. We use these findings to support our clients website business and marketing plan.

From the beginning of the project, I provide my clients all the log in and passwords for their web accounts. My clients receive backup disks throughout the process anytime significant changes are made to their website. I believes that working together with this level of trust is also a show of confidence in the service I and my team deliver to each client.
 

To begin with, the following questions assist us in designing the website to best meet your needs:

1. What is the purpose of your web site? For example:

    a.  A Simple site that contains basic information and a brief introduction to your company
    b.  An educational and informational website that gives you an outlet to express your views, educate your
            customers and give more detailed information about your company
    c.  A site that entertains and amuses and provides only limited information about you and your company
    d.  A social network site for the purpose of connecting your customers to each other
    e.  An online store to mirror the brick and mortar store you already have
    f.   An ecommerce site selling your products as well as affiliate links
    g.  A membership only site with secure log ins and passwords
    h.  A marketing site for the purposes of promotion other peoples product or services

2. To help you narrow down the goals of your website, which of the following would you like your website to do for you?

     ●   Educate the public on my field of expertise with content and articles
     ●   Keep up with my competition
     ●   Conduct online webinars
     ●   Conduct online surveys and poll
     ●   Sell my products
     ●   Create an income from affiliates
     ●   Provide general and/or product information
     ●   Keep up with the changing times
     ●   Build customer loyalty
     ●   Make announcements
     ●   Brand my business in my field
     ●   Develop a list of qualified prospects
     ●   Build my opt in mailing list
     ●   Encourage clients/customers to contact me
     ●   Make money
     ●   Create an online networking environment
     ●   Make my presence known on the web
     ●   Other __________________________________

My team and I offer our clients three options in planning their website plan and budget.

When you have a clearly defined vision and goals, getting your website to that goal should be clear and simple. For clients who answer specific questions based on your vision and your strategic plan, we are able to provide creative solutions that fit your vision, rather than an out-of-the-box or a template that would be offered to everyone else.

When you are starting out or are not sure of what you want we offer start up packages and templates.

When a simple website that you can update on your own is your preference, we have templates and recommendations for you

Contact me today to discuss your specific website needs. CONTACT SUMNER

Option One– Defined Vision & Goals
Option Two - A la Carte
Option Three - Templates

OPTION ONE – DEFINED VISION AND GOALS

For this solution, the answers to the following questions is required. Most of these answers should be derived from your business or marketing plan.

1. What are your top 3 short term goals of your website?

By Date __________  Goal __________________________________________________________

2. What are your top 3 long term goals of your website?

Benchmark _____________________ Goal ____________________________________________

3. How will you measure (ROI) the effectiveness of your website in meeting these goals? Will it be graded on the number of visitors, new customers, products sold, revenue produced?  

4. Write a short, clear and concise description of your business: what you offer, to whom you offer it and why they should choose you. What exactly does your company do? What are the features and benefits of your products and/or services? What is your geographic focus: Do you want to only appeal to customers locally; or do you want to international exposure and appeal?

5. The layout, colors, style and information that will be seen on your website should be based on the characteristics of your target customer base. Who is your target market? Be specific.

6. What is your marketing strategy plan for your website? How does this fit into your overall marketing plan?

7. Do you have design elements in mind that portray your goals and your image as you see yourself, and how you want your visitors to perceive you?

8. Do you have a Logo? Will you be using this same logo throughout your website, or do you have product logos as well? Are your company colors and your product colors consistent? What are your color choices?

9. Do you have a slogan or catch phrase for your business?

10. What is the most important message you wish to convey to your visitors? 

11. If you want an e-commerce site, what type of e-commerce solution do you have in mind?

    ■  Non-interactive. Visitors must print or phone order in. 
    ■  Single order form with secure automated payment processing, confirmation email to customer and purchase
             alert to you
    ■  Multi-page secure order form with shopping cart, automated payment processing, confirmation email to
             customer and purchase alert to you. Visitors can pick multiple products while continuing to shop your site;
             options for visitors to change their order, preview order and submit on-line. Product or service ordered can
             be sent in an e-mail or downloaded via FTP from a secure page on your server
    ■  Full e-commerce shopping cart with automated real time credit card processing, integrated with backend
             database.
    ■  What are your payment options?
    ■  Will type of security do you need for your web pages?
    ■  What is your customer service policy?
    ■  How many total products do you plan of offering? Will this increase or decrease over time?

12. How often do you foresee your site needing updates and additions?  

13. Do you conduct business in other ways (direct mail, brick and mortar, conferences) that you need to advertise or incorporate into your website?

14. What are 3 of your favorite websites (other than your own). And what do you like and dislike about each of these

15. What makes you unique and different than your competition? What do you offer that is not offered elsewhere? Why should someone use your site or purchase from you instead of someone else?

16. Make a list of 10 words that describe you.

17.Make a list of 10 words that describe your business.  

18. Make a list of 10 words that describe each of your products.

19. What type of information do you want to gather from the visitors to your site:

    ○ Survey and polls
    ○ Webinar, workshop, teleclass sign ups
    ○ Email for opt in e-zine and announcements
    ○ Browser and computer stats
    ○ Location
    ○ Other ____________________

20. What domains do you currently own?

21. Where is your website currently hosted? What specific services do you require from a web host?

22. What types of graphic files will you be providing. What types of custom graphics do you foresee needing to be created for your website?

23. How much content will you be providing. How much content will you rely upon us to create?

With this information we can work with you to create a web site that is unique to you and your business and focused on your goals.

OPTION TWO – A LA CARTE

There are countless available options for website design. For some clients who simply want to add to or tweak their existing websites, an ala carte approach may be a flexible option for them. For other clients ordering their website ala carte, just like any meal at a distinguished restaurant, the costs may not stay within their original budget ideas. We offer the following range of general pricing for consideration.

Basic web presence, set up; domain and Host, up to 5 pages
 HTML Web pages tested in numerous browsers; No complex illustrations, forms or ecommerce features;

 
$500-$1500
Depends on complexity of design and volume of webpage content.
Advanced web presence, up to 15 pages
       limited custom features available including animated navigation
       buttons, drop down menus, contact/comment form with auto response;
       stock graphics; product order page; selected other available features
   $1500 +
Additional pages   $99 - $150 each
Edit content into existing Web page
       Time effected by condition of information received, number of content and/or
       graphic edits
  $68 per hour
Database Design/coordination with server/software   $125 hour
Coordinating with existing template    $68 hour
Flash Intro from template     $499
Flash intro or custom flash pages    $720-$1500 each page
Flash site   custom quote
Live chat feature
    
* Host may charge additional for usage
  Set up $199, plus usage *
Web blog – on website
     *
Host may charge additional for usage
  Set up $199, plus usage *
Web blog on Google platform , WordPress or similar  
     Additional fees for updating content, or moving existing Wordpress blog
  Set up $55, plus maintenance
Audio or Video created       custom quote
Audio or Video added to site   $55-150 depends on file received
Convert files to web video   custom quote
Additional prototype demos over the initial 2 (two)     $100 to $500 each
Utilize Google interactive map on map link   included
Submission to major search engines
         
additional fees for future submissions; included with monthly maintenance programs
  included in initial design
Basic optimization per Google webmaster guidelines  

included initial design

Analytics, tracking set up   included initial design
Analytics, tracking monthly reporting and analysis   depends on website size; quote
Basic Shopping Cart, set up
        
* Some shopping carts require monthly fee; credit card processing fees will be charged by credit card processor; Advanced or extra large online stores Shopping Cart required custom quote
  $99-$550 *
Web Forum/Discussion Group, set up
          *
Plus potential monthly fees from network provider
  $99-$299 *
Affiliates
          Research, gain approval of selections;
          Links added to website up to one Network, 5 affiliates
  $199*
          Monthly management Fee
         
*  depends on number of affiliates  
   $45 – $129 *
Marketing: Google Ad Words/Yahoo Search, Set up fee   
          Basic Monthly management fee
  $99
$58
Merchant/Vendor Affiliates Account [**]
         Set up, create banners and html code for links 
       
 Fees charged by Network, network access fees, depends on network
  $450
Customer/Member Private Network profiles account program,  Set up
          (allows for each individual access and profile page)
         
Server hosted system requires monthly rental/management fee based on usage
   $999
Custom social network  

custom quote

Follow-up Consulting, Graphic design, Copywriting    $68 hour

[**] When Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon.com announced that he was going to sell books via the Internet in 1996, he was mocked. When he then expanded his reach by setting up associate (affiliates) to place ads on their websites in return for commissions, the ridicule continued. For Clients with products/services/webinars/classes, etc to sell, we suggest considering this option as part of your marketing plan.

There are many other web/internet marketing services that we offer our clients, however they can be more effectively discussed in conjunction with a marketing plan.

Ways to control costs:

 Providing one key contact person will keep costs lower. More than one person providing input will increase costs due to additional coordination required.

√  The more follow-up reminders from us to get necessary materials (via phone calls or emails), the more the project cost will increase. 

The optimal time is to complete a website in about a month. If there are long time delays in your reviews of work, then costs will go up due to the need for designers to re-review the relevant issues. A tight timeline will increase costs.

√  Email communications with clear subject header - e.g. "XYZ organization - updates for “specific” page" will minimize designer time

√  Costs can be controlled if you already have electronic images (e.g. pictures, photos, logo, etc.) site and web compatible. Website photos or drawings which will need to be optimized for the web may incur additional graphic design and labor costs.

√  Web site text that is "ready to go" will save in labor costs. Microsoft Word files and MAC files are not considered “ready to go”. Notepad text files are the preferred files. The more we are asked to continually make text changes to "already submitted" text; additional labor costs will be incurred. Note (1) some text will take additional time to process, so make sure your text is in the proper format before submitting, (2) a web page with several photos, animations, graphics and/or complex formatting will take longer to create than a web page with mostly text and basic formatting.

If the Domain Name is changed during the development process, this requires additional time for Domain Name consultation, DNS changes, and changes to server configuration files.

√  Providing us with the hosting company information, including DNS information and passwords at the beginning of the project allows for online access of your prototype files.

All ala carte estimates are created on a per project basis. All estimates are lump-sum totals. Once you receive the estimate you can add, edit, delete items or clarify specific requests, which may also affect the cost of the bottom line.


OPTION THREE – TEMPLATE

We have over 500 templates to choose from. Depending on the type of software being used may limit the selection. Depending on template choice, these templates can be set up and turned over the the client for updating and maintenance.

Templates range from $95 - $299

Set up of Templates price range from $200 - $2700 depending on the complexity of the template design and number of pages.

 

HOSTING/TEMPLATES

Our hosting companies also offer out-of-the-box templates with real time update capabilities. These templates are very useful for the client who wants a simple website with few options and the ability to make immediate and ongoing changes on their own.

These templates can be a great place to start for some businesses, and for a small business who only wants a simple web presence, this may be all they ever need.

For a growing business the templates you will need to keep in mind the limitations of the templates. A little research and planning is necessary to choose the right template. Will it grow as fast and as far as you hope and plan on?  Keep in mind that your time has a value. The time you spend on working on your website, is time you are not growing your business.

Templates range from $99-$699, plus monthly hosting fees

Set up of template with client, charged at $68 per hour.

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