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What is a Domain Name? A domain name is your
web site address, such as yourname.com. It can end in .com, .biz, .net, .us, .edu, .org, or
any number of the new extensions that are coming out almost daily.
When you choose a domain name, I will run a search to be sure someone
else does not currently own that domain. This is why it is recommended
that you have a few names in mind as quite often the most obvious
names are already owned by someone out there in cyber space. You
can purchase a domain name and secure it as yours for the next year,
and then it will need to be renewed, or it goes back into the "pot"
and someone else can purchase it. I charge $30 to register your
domain name for one year, however if you currently own a domain
name or if you choose to register it yourself all I will need is
the company you registered it through and the username and password
for your domain account.
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What is Hosting? Your Host account is the space
on the world wide web where your website sits. If you think of your
domain as the address, then the host would be your appartment, where
your web site and all of its contents live. The hosting fee is actually
the charge for space on a great big server (somewhere) that allows
the entire internet to access your web. Boiled down, you are paying
for server space. I charge $150.00 per year for
hosting. If you prefer to set up hosting yourself (be sure your
nameservers are set correctly to recognize your domain name), all
i will need from you are the comapny you set up hosting through,
your username and password for your hosting account.
What is Maintenance? Maintenance is when you
need changes or updates once your site is complete and live on the
world wide web. Some companies or organizations need very little,
if any, maintenance, where some companies, such as realtors or those
with a virtual store, may require a large amount. Again, you may
choose to do your own maintenance, however I do not highly recommend
it unless you have some knowledge of the back end of your site and
of html.
I decided to get a site, now what do I do? Once
you decide to get a site created, I will need a signed copy of your
quote along with a 50% down payment. The next step is for you to
figure out what you want to say on your site. That information will
need to be provided by you, because honestly, noone knows your business
the way you do. I know computers, and chances are, I know nothing
about your business. So what comes next is CONTENT. The single most
important part of your site. I can create the worlds most wonderful
graphics, but what it all comes down to is what you have
to say. Once I have all of your information I will draw
up a "sketch". This is usually just one page at first,
to establish the layout or "look" of your site. Once we
agree on a layout I will begin to plug in photos and text and link
various pages, etc., until everything is put together to your satisfaction.
With your final approval and payment of the remaining 50%, we put
your site live and you are good to go!
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I do not have any quality photos of my company / business to put
up on my site. Can you help? Absolutely! For
a minimal fee Edie will be more than happy to come out to your location
and shoot photos for your web. Just call or email and we can set
up a time.
My site has been created, now how will people find me? A
very common misconception is that once a site has been created and
made live on the web that it is done, and that people will just
find it. The fact is it takes time, committment, promoting, optimization,
monthly submissions, and lets face it, a whole lot of work, to get
your site anywhere close to the first few pages of a major search
engine like GOOGLE. When I create your site I do optimize it to
make it search engine friendly, including keywords and meta tags
where appropriate, and I also include the initial search engine
submission in all of my quotes. There are many places on line that
you can go to that will submit your site regularly for a fee. Some
search engines use paid inclusion, which guarantees your search
placement. GOOGLE has a pretty affordable pay per click program,
but all of these methods require $$. I always tell my clients that
the best way for you to start getting hits to your site (which will
up your ranking in the search engines) is to aggressively promote
it. Put your web address everywhere you put your business info.
Business cards, ads, newspaper articles, all corresponance including
email, list your business with any and all web site directories
that apply, you may even want to consider link exchanging with other
applicable web sites.
I
need an ad created. Do you do Graphic Design? Yes. If you need brochures, a logo, an Ad created, etc., I can help
you out. I (Amy) do web design as well as Graphic Design and custom
illustration, and Edie does primarily print design and photography-
so between the two of us I'm sure we can meet your design needs,
whatever they might be. Just contact me today and let me know what you have in mind!
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