How much does a website cost?

How do I get started on a business web site?

What is involved in an e-commerce store?

What is an ISP and why do I need one?

How will people find my site?

The cost of a web site depends upon what you wish to accomplish with it. Many companies benefit from a standard information site, while the current business trend in site development encompasses database back-end applications and e-commerce. We will set up a meeting with you to discuss your goals, and provide you with an estimate and a development schedule.

Decide what you want to accomplish with your website. Do you want to reach new customers? Do you want to provide additional services for your existing customers? Gather all the information possible regarding your products or services. This will become the resource for developing your Internet presence. Contact us and describe your business needs. We will then be able to give you all of the information that you require to build a budget and timeline for your web site project.

E-commerce capability can be added to any site. Most factors involved in a traditional brick and mortar store are required to build your e-commerce store. The major difference is that your sales process is created through your Internet web site. Product information and pricing particulars are generally kept in a database within your site, and can be maintained by your staff or web design firm. A shopping cart maintains a "shopping session" which allows your customer to browse and add items to the cart. Once customers decide that they want to buy from you, they are directed through a purchase process which uses an encrypted secure connection, safeguarding their confidential information. There are several options available to you for processing payments from web site sales. Online payment gateways process your transaction for a fee. Some businesses may already process credit card information in-house. If so, you can have the credit card data sent securely to your sales staff, who can then process the credit card sale at your business as usual. This option alleviates the additional online payment gateway fee.

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) hosts your web site. Generally also maintain and house your "web server" on their premises. Additionally provide services such as e-mail management and site security. We can handle all that for you, please check out our full hosting packages here, or we can meet with you and discuss all issues of hosting.

Meta data consists of key words and phrases in the code of your web pages which describe your web site content. Popular search engines generally will read these keywords and decide if your site satisfies the search criteria. If it does, the user will be provided with a link which will take them to the appropriate web page. Either automated submission or hand submission of your site will keep your site and keywords current with the search engines. Printed materials, newspaper, television ads, and other types of marketing which include your web site address, will guide customers to your site. An easy to remember domain name seems to work best.