FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How long will it take to create my site?
2. How will my site be updated? Will I do that or will you?
3. Can I use some of my own photos?
4. Why don't you list your prices for web site design? Other sites list $100 a page or something like that.
5. Why should I pay you to create my site when I can do it myself using Front Page® or some other web authoring software?
6. Will you guarantee that my site will be listed at the top of search engines like Google® ?
7. I just called and got an estimate for my new web site. Why are your prices so much lower than everybody else I have talked to? What's the "catch"? Where are the hidden costs?
8. Do you still offer free designs to churches and non-profit organizations?
9. How many items can I sell online?
10. Do I need anything else to sell products online?

1. How long will it take to create my site?
   It will depend on several factors. Complex sites that require a database and a lot of data entry take several weeks to develop once the initial site design is completed. Like most other businesses web site design has it's slow and also it's really busy times. Obviously during the slow times more time can be committed to the development of your site than during busy times. The single biggest factor that stalls the design process is lack of timely information from the client. The majority of our sites are designed, developed, tested and go live within 4 weeks of contract approval. You will be given a time frame when you request a quote. (Top)
   
2. How will my site be updated? Will I do that or will you?
   We can do it either way. Some of our clients do not want anything to do with updating the web site other than emailing us the information needing updating. Other clients want to be able to change anything on any page at anytime. Most clients fit somewhere in between, wanting to update some pages and leave other pages to us. We will design the site the way you want it. (Top)
   
3. Can I use some of my own photos?
   Yes. We encourage you to do so. You can email us digital photos or send us regular photographs and we will scan them and return them to you. (Top)
   
4. Why don't you list your prices for web site design? Other sites list $100 a page or something like that.
   The bottom line is that we charge for the time it takes us to develop your site and some sites take longer to develop than others. Imagine the difference in time it takes to create a page that has one paragraph of text and one photograph and one that has 6 paragraphs of text, 20 pictures, a script to run a shopping cart as well as a Flash® presentation. We have built pages that cost as little as $65 and some that cost as much as $2500. There is just not any way to say that 1 page will cost $100 dollars without putting your site into a cookie cutter template and making it look exactly like a million other sites. Custom design and custom programming takes more time and cost more money but we feel it is worth it to our customers. Why not call a few of our customers and ask them what they think? (Top)
   
5. Why should I pay you to create my site when I can do it myself using Front Page® or some other web authoring software?
   It's all about time. Despite what some other web designers want you to think, web design is NOT rocket science. Just about anyone can build a good site using some of the popular web authoring tools such as Front Page® or Dreamweaver® . But do you have the time to teach yourself web design? Do you have the time to learn a new software program, learn about the proper use of colors, develop an understanding of successful site navigation and the number of other processes that go into making a successful web site? If you have the time to do so, we encourage you to create your own site. It is an extremely rewarding experience and we are happy to give you pointers along the way. We have quite a bit of experience and have learned a lot from our successes and from our occasional flops. But if you do not have the spare time to devote to such an undertaking, save yourself the trouble and worry and hire someone you can trust to get the job done right! (Top)
   
6. Will you guarantee that my site will be listed at the top of search engines like Google® ?
   NO! We cannot make that promise. We will promise to work hard during the design phase to make your site search engine friendly. We will promise to regularly submit your site to the top search engines. But we are not a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company. There are companies that specialize in this and only this and we can refer you to one if you desire. We have some sites that do very well on the search engines and we have some that do not. Search engines regularly change the algorithms they use to rank pages and we keep up with the latest developments but we cannot promise that you will be at the top of Goggle and honestly we do not believe that anyone can realistically make that promise. (Top)
   
7. I just called and got an estimate for my new web site. Why are your prices so much lower than everybody else I have talked to? What's the "catch"? Where are the hidden costs?
   We hear this one a lot. We are not sure why some companies charge so much. It may be they have a lot of employees and office expenses that must be paid. Maybe they charge a lot because they know some people will pay a lot for a web site. If you look hard enough you might even find companies who charge less than we do but we are committed to giving you the lowest price we can and still stay in business. We are not looking to get rich, just to provide a quality product at a fair price. And there are no "catches" or hidden costs. Every charge you will pay is outlined in your estimate and contract. (Top)
   
8. Do you still offer free designs to churches and non-profit organizations?
   While we no longer advertise it, we still offer free designs to churches and non-profit organizations. The only cost involved are the monthly hosting fees. We had such a great response to the offer, we had to discontinue advertising it but we are glad to still be able to help these organizations. (Top)
   
9. How many items can I sell online?
   As many as you want. For less than 20 items that will not need to be updated very often we recommend a static web site, that is one that is not driven by a database. For 20 - 2000 items we recommend a CGI shopping cart that is driven by a simple flat file database. For over 2000 items, we recommend a PHP shopping cart driven by a MySQL database. There really is no limit on how few or how many items you can offer for sale. (Top)
   
10. Do I need anything else to sell products online?
    Technically, no. Realistically there are other things to consider. If you will be selling products to customers using a credit card you will need either a merchants account or a third party source such as PayPal®. If you have a merchants account and will want the credit cards accepted (or declined) in real time, you will need a payment gateway such as Authorizenet®. For smaller volume shops it is perfectly acceptable to collect the credit card information securely, have it stored temporarily on our secure server and then access the information to process the credit card off line. (Top)