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A: Having a web presence is an important part of a company's image. Apart from freeing up valuable time spent on the 'phone by allowing your customers to find information online, it says that the company has an eye on the future. It also allows the company to do business 24/7 and gives the company a global presence. This can lead to increased profits and continued success.
Q: What do I need on my website?
A: Despite the size and scope of a website, all websites should have certain basic features such as: contact information, company information, hours of operation and location information. If the website includes a means to purchase products or services, a page explaining payment and shipping options, refunds and specials and detailed products information should also be included.
Q: O.K. I want a website - now what do I do?
A: Congratulations! That is an important decision for the future of the company. Firstly, decide what you want your website to say about you/your company. A website geared towards children, parties or clown school can have bright colors and bold graphics. A website for a funeral home or an insurance company would be doomed from the start with the same colors and graphics. Colors like blue, white, green, grey and black (depending on how they are used) say professional, contemporary, serious. Colors like red and black could exude an impression of danger or anger.
Secondly, decide on how much of a web presence you want to start with. A common path is to start with an informational website. If that is successful the next step is to add a few products. This could be extended into an e-commerce site i.e. allowing customers to buy and pay for products online. Finally, a website can be integrated with your existing programs and systems (for example, your inventory is automatically adjusted every time a customer buys a product. The website could also show "real time" information about what is in stock.)
Thirdly, choose a domain name (i.e. www.mycompanyname.com) and a hosting plan. (The web designer can take care of this aspect for you.) Put down in writing what you want, what you expect and how certain things are to be handled (i.e. Are updates free? How much do you charge per hour for additional work?) Pick a date that you would like to see your website go live.
Q: Why is having an easy-to-navigate website so important?
A: The World Wide Web is a huge, quickly evolving staple of our lives. As computers get faster, users get more impatient. Unless your product is really incredible, visitors to your website will simply leave if the page takes to long to load (they say that surfers start getting impatient after about 2 seconds) or if finding something is too confusing. I know that I have often come across websites that just take too much effort to figure out how to get around them and I leave. Suffice it to say that I don't even remember what companies those websites represented!
Q. What are your fees?
A. My fees are reasonable and depend on a number of factors - how many pages that need to be coded, the complexity of the website, whether it will include a shopping cart or other payment mechanism, etc. (For a free quote, click here to go to the form.) My policy is to take 50% of the payment upfront and 50% when the work is complete.