We answer the most commonly asked questions when it comes to working with us and our website design and development services.
Why should I get a website for my business?
When running a business, you devote energy and resources to your marketing material to generate more business. You'll have nice business cards designed to impress prospective clients. You'll place brilliant ads in area newspapers. Perhaps you'll even use Television or radio. Combinations of these items have helped businesses succeed for years.
However, none of these items are nearly as effective at conveying information about your business through a website. A business card can only hold basic details. Same thing with a printed ad. Space is both a limited commodity and rather expensive.
A website can tell the whole story about your business, your goals, your services and offer contact information. A website can act as a salesperson for your business, displaying available products and even allowing for the purchasing of them on the site.
Why should I hire Sites by Joe?
There are many web designers and developers around the world with various skill levels and price tags, but when it comes to knowledge and experience across all portions of web design and development, it's very tough to match my skill set.
I stand behind every website I've ever made, no two have ever been the same, and each one has been careful created by hand using the latest recommended techniques available.
What techniques do you use?
I builds sites that conform to W3C recommended standards. All sites are built with strict (X)HTML for content, CSS for presentation, Javascript for interactivity and a variety of PHP, ASP or even Ruby for data operations.
The combination named above offers the most flexible and forward compatible websites possible today. Websites that work on any browser, any operating system, any mobile device and, to top it off, even print nicely with the superfluous navigation and other unnecessary elements automatically removed.
Do you use FrontPage or Web Design Programs?
While my visual designs are usually created in Photoshop, all web pages are coded by hand using a text editor, though Dreamweaver is often used for file transfers and site file organization. This ensures well written and easily maintained code.
What about ecommerce ?
Sure thing. Chances are if you can think of it, I can make it.
How about Blogs, Photo Galleries etc ?
Being strong at both design and development enables me to build anything you can think of. If a better tool exists that we can use freely or for a minimal fee, I won't hesitate to recommend it. For blogging, I now recommend Wordpress, though my own custom blog engine is pretty darn good!. For shopping carts, I recommend ZenCart and for photo galleries there are always plenty of options including my own. Both are mature, stable, free to use (I'd certainly want to modify them to your needs) and save alot of time and money everytime.
I saw that I can get a website for $19.95, why not do that?
Go for it. You get what you pay for. Your visitors will know that you are using a $19.95 website too. The web is far too important to your business to waste time and money not doing it right.
My cousin is studying to become a web designer, how about that?
Go for it. Just be sure to ask your cousin if he/she tests their sites on all browsers and systems, makes sure their code is standards-compliant and takes steps to make sure your page is search engine friendly and flexible enough to look good to those using most any internet device. Being able to do the above takes years of experience, making every mistake along the way and being the wiser for it. Don't let your website be someone's mistake.
How much do you charge for a website?
Website prices are based on the complexity / size of the site, though this is not necessarily measured by the number of pages. Some sites are very simple to design and build, and require little in the way of maintenance. Other sites will contain information that must be continuously updated to remain relevant, in in these cases, often a custom content management system is put in place to serve the direct needs of the site. If you really want a number, websites start at $1500 and go up from there. Thats pretty cheap for the quality you get.
What other expenses will I face in owning a website?
Other expenses you can expect are domain name registration fees and hosting charges. Domain name registration fees are annual (unless paid in bulk) and can be as expensive as $35 per year. Hosting charges vary greatly, but typically fall in the $20 per month range.
How long does it take to build a website?
Timelines are determined by the complexity / size of the project at hand. I've produced sites in a couple days, and there have been sites that have taken a good 6 months or more to build. Chances are, your site would take a length of time that falls somewhere between the two.
What is the typical construction process?
The first step is to identify your needs and goals. Once a clear concept is established, a written proposal outlining everything included in the site and cost is delivered to you. Having a formal agreement in place, the design phase begins. This involves taking the information that will be contained in the site and organizing it to be most easily accessible through the website. A visual design mockup is then created around the information, and posted online for review.
Once a visual design is accepted, the actual construction begins. This involves taking the visual design that was created and coding it into a working page, then constructing the additional pages of the site, any client side / server side programming work needed plus database planning and construction.
During the construction process, you are able to visit a special web address you would be provided to check in on the construction at any time. This keeps dialog open throughout construction and also removes most surprises that could spring up and delay completion of the site.
Once the site is finished, reviewed, tested and accepted, launch time arrives. This involves putting the website files onto a public web server so the world can view the site at any time. The web server hosts the web files for you, hence the term hosting.
Get one for yourself
