FAQs about getting a web site

Here are some of our Frequently Asked Questions.  They are meant to educate you about what involves in having a web site, how do you get started, what do you need to know and have to get it going, and to quide you with some technical concerns such as what types of files you can send us for your content, how to send us the files, and so on and so forth.  Please browse through the following FAQs.

What are the steps to get started on having a web site?

  • The first step would be to provide us as much information as you can about the nature of your business and your goals/objectives for having a web site, so we can help you identify your specific needs, and determine a strategy to establish your web presence.  Is the web site for informational purposes only or is it to sell products and services?  If the web site were for personal use, you would still need to tell us the reason, purpose, and what you want to provide for your future visitors.  To take this step and get a free quote, please fill out this form.  We will review all the information that you would submit to us.  We will then set up a meeting either by telephone or in person to discuss about your web site.  After the interview, we will put together a project proposal describing a solution that would best meet your needs.  If everything meets your expectations based on your specific needs, your expected time of delivery, and estimated cost we provide you, we will then sign a contract to proceed onto the process of web design and development.  We require a 50% downpayment to start the project, and the remaining 50% will need to be paid at the launching of the web site.
  • Now that you are ready to move on to your web site project, you must make sure you have an Internet Connection.  If not, you should contact your local Internet Service Provider such as Comcast, Verizon, EarthLink, etc.
  • You must get a domain name.  Do you already have any ideas of the possible domain names?  Not sure what a domain name is?  Think of it simply as the address of your web site; it is how users can visit or locate your web site.  For further explanation about a domain name, click here.
  • Here are some tips on selecting a domain name.  Keep it simple, easy to remember, easy to read, and easy to spell.  Make sure it contains at least a term or keyword that relates to your industry.  A domain name doesn’t have to be really long.  A short one is good, so users won’t have too many characters to type, and it is easy to remember.  However, a long one might be beneficial if it contained a keyword.
  • There are different types of domain names.  They are .com, .net, or .biz for commercial sites, .edu for educational site, .gov for government sites, and others are .us, .info and more.  If you are going to have a business web site, the .com is usually the most popular form of domain name.
  • Where would I register a domain name?  There are many domain name registrars out there.  Do a search on the Internet, and you will find a listing of providers.  However, we do offer this service for your convenience.  Find out more about our domain name registration service.
  • Get a web-hosting server.  It is the space where you can save all your web site files such as .html, images, videos, sounds, scripts, and web applications.  For further explanation about web hosting, click here.   For your convenience, we do offer a web-hosting service.  Find out more.
  • If your web site is to sell products or services, there are other requirements you will need in order to establish an online storefront.  To have a secure shopping cart, you will need an SSL Certificate, a dedicated IP address, and a payment gateway.  Please read about our e-commerce web site design and development service to learn more.

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How much does it cost to have a web site?

Our web site cost ranges from $400.00 to $10,000.00, and depending on the requirements of the project it can cost as much as $30,000.  That is why it is important that you provide us as much information about your project needs, so we can give you a proper quote for a web solution that best fits your business goals and marketing strategy.

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Are there any monthly costs to have a web site?

Once your web site is finished and launched, the only monthly fees or annual fees you need to pay are if you obtained or signed up with the following services from us.

  • Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration: They are necessary to keep your web site live on the Internet.
  • SSL certificate and IP address: Necessary to keep a secure e-commerce web site
  • If you subscribed to use our web photo gallery application, there is a monthly fee.
  • If you signed up for a web site maintenance contract with us to keep your web site fresh with new content each month, that will incur a monthly fee.
  • If you signed up for a search engine submission service that will schedule to submit your site each month to the search engines and directories, that will incur a monthly fee.

Otherwise, there are no monthly fees pertaining to your web site itself.

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Where can I get ideas about the kind of web site I want?

First, you must do some research.  Browse the Internet and look for web sites relating to your industry.  If you found the ones that you like, think about what you like about each one of them.  Do you like their design, content organization, presentation, and functionality?  Find the best in each one.  Do you think you can exceed them?  Provide us the URL address of those web sites, so we can have a better idea of the kind of web site you have in mind.  We will help you exceed the quality of those other web sites.  It is not advisable to copy other’s web site.  It is important you have your own identity or branding.

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How can I send you the content for my web site?

Gather all of your content (text and images), save them on a CD-Rom, and send it to us through postal mail or bring to us by dropping by our office.  Another option is to email us all your content in a zip file.  You can also fax them to us.  However, we will charge an extra fee for text content that we have to spend time typing them.  That would be $35.00 per half an hour minimum.  Another method is to upload your content to your web-hosting server, where we have access, because that is where all your web site files will reside.  We will provide you proper instruction in uploading content to a server.

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What types of source material can I use and provide you for my web site?

Source materials can be photographs, any printed art work, slides, transparencies, graphic images such as if you already have an existing logo and other vector type of images that are non-photographic images, and anything from your brochure, books, or magazines.  However, electronic source material is the best for online publication.  Print source materials will need to be scanned to convert them to digital files.

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Can I scan my own printed material?

Yes, you can scan photographs and other printed materials.  However, keep in mind that photographs should be scanned and saved to 150 dpi in Photoshop or other photo editing software.  Decreasing the size file decreases the upload time, especially, when you upload images to your server, and you can also transmit your files easily through email.   That will give us enough resolution to work with for manipulating, resizing, and optimizing them for online publishing.  We optimize images between 72 dpi to 96 dpi, which is the appropriate resolution for Internet publication.

Please do not scan images and save them as word documents, because they would not be usable for us.  The images would not be of good quality for the main part.

You must save scanned photographic images to high quality .jpeg files.  If they are vector drawing graphic files, please save them either as .gif or bmp type files.

If you have files from a print graphic designer, they are mostly going to be in .eps format.  Whatever you have from your designer, send them to us, and we will optimize them for online display.

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Can you scan our images?

Yes, we can scan your images for $60.00 an hour.  The cost will include any corrections we need to make, cropping, enhancing, and optimizing them to produce high quality images.

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What program should I use for my text content before sending them to you?

You can place your content on the email body as long as you title it, so we know to which web page it belongs.  This is only good for short content.

If you were going to send us text content for each of your web pages, I wouldn’t recommend typing them on the body of your email.  Saving your text content on a text program such as Microsoft Word (.doc), Notepad (.txt), and WordPad (.rtf, .txt) for PC computer would be best.  Please name each of the text files to a name that relates to your web page.  We will organize your content for easy management.  Of all the text editors or programs, we highly recommend using Microsoft Word, because it is compatible with both PC and Mac computers.  However, you can choose to send us .txt files.  When you use Notepad for PC computers or Simple Text for Mac computers, save your file to a .txt format.

You can then send us all your text content via email in a zip file for good compression and fast transmission.  You can also choose to save all your text files on a CD-Rom, mail it to us via postal mail, or bring it to us by dropping by our office, or upload them to your hosting server where we have access.

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After my web site is completed and launched, how can people find my web site?

The final step now is to optimize your web pages and content for the proper keywords.  Find the keywords relating to your site content, and then make sure the keywords do not have high competitive rate and have very low competitive rate.  You have to be very specific.  Use a keyword generator tool to find those keywords.  After you have gathered your keywords, provide us the Meta tags that we will embed onto your web site.  After embedding the Meta tags, with a fee we will then submit your web site to the search engines and directories.  You can also choose to submit your site yourself.  Refer to our Search Engine Submission page to learn more.

Promoting your web site is an ongoing task; optimizing and submitting to the search engines are the initial steps into enhancing your site’s visibility.


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