Pondering (FAQs)

How much does it cost to develop a website? It’s not quite as simple as that, but it’s not that difficult, either. There are essentially three factors we consider:

• Extent of the Site (often the total number of pages)
• Complexity of Design (time to create the design)
• Functionality (any behind-the-scenes programming)

It’s similar to building a house. The size of the house (extent of the site), the quality, appearance and configuration of the house (complexity of design), and the amenities included (functionality such as shopping or database applications, flash animations, etc.) all play a part in determining the total cost.

We’ve developed websites ranging from $500 to over $50,000. The majority of the sites we create ~ you’ll find many of them in our portfolio ~ range from $2,000 to $10,000.

  

The time it takes to develop a website depends on the same factors as pricing. Namely:

• Extent of the Site (often the total number of pages)
• Complexity of Design (time to create the design)
• Functionality (any behind-the-scenes programming)

We've completed small sites in as little as a couple of days. Large or complex sites may take up to a month. Two weeks is average for a typical website, once all the images and content are received from the client. Our backlog at the time you engage our services also plays a part. Finally, we await feedback from the client at various stages of development, which can influence total development time.

  

No, that's not a question, but we wanted to bring it to your attention anyway!

Most companies view a website exclusively as an avenue to advertise or sell products and services. It's easy to overlook the information and documentation that can be placed online. It can be made readily available ~ self-serve ~ to employees and customers 24/7. Business applications and processes can be streamlined though web delivery, too.

  

It may not seem fair, but it's a fact: visitors to your website will instantly equate the quality of your site with the quality of your company, your products and your services. This initial impression can have a tremendous influence on whether or not the visitor becomes a customer. Many factors other than simple appearance can add to this impression, and it's important that your design firm be aware of these key elements. Cutting corners in design can cost you... a lot.

  

That is determined after discussing your project and requirements during our free initial consultation. Generally, content items such as images and text that will appear on the site are needed. Keywords are also important if we are performing Search Engine Optimization. Requirements can expand to include product/price data and photos (in the case of an eCommerce website), database information (in the case of a information centered website), video and various documents (such as .pdf images, illustrations and so on).

  

There are several reasons. Flash allows us to:

• Create greater user involvement in the experience
• Combine animation and audio for higher-impact web delivery
• Increase visual appeal
• Deliver multimedia presentations via the web
• Bring a static site to life
• Create a stronger impression for your company

There are reasons you may want to stay away from a Flash site, as well. If you would like to learn more, we'd be happy to discuss the pros and cons with you.

  

As a full-service design firm within an ISP, we provide a broad range of print and multimedia creative services as well as e-commerce hosting, e-mail solutions and broadband internet access. We also offer technology management services, helping large and small businesses create, modify, maintain and safeguard their IT infrastructure.

Since 1995 (that's an eternity in internet time!), we've provided outstanding service to the Twin Cities, Eau Claire and West Central Wisconsin. In an industry where businesses come and go and where impermanence is the rule, it's important for you to know we'll be there when you need us.

  

Websites can be manually submitted to most search engines. This can be a very labor-intensive process; particularly so if you need to submit your site more than once, as is recommended.

A less labor intensive solution is to let us take care of the initial and subsequent submissions for you. Our automated process is a great value, and generally results in your site being submitted to several hundred search engines and web directories. It only stands to reason that the more links there are to your website, the more likely people are to find it. This is also important in increasing your search relevance for Google and other major search engines (many take into account the total number of links to a site throughout the web).

  

We'll begin with a warning: watch out for third party ads that "guarantee" top search engine listings; they are often misleading if not blatantly false. SEO does not ensure a top listing.

That said, SEO is critical for the vast majority of websites. It helps search engines such as Google better "understand" what your website is about, which increases your relevance for pertinent keyword searches. Unless you plan to drive people to your site solely through traditional forms of advertising, visibility on search engines is key to helping people find you.

Search engine positioning is a complex subject and it requires patience, but it can yield very good results over the long term. A lot of time and research goes into achieving a "natural" high search ranking through SEO, and it can be a never-ending process as competing businesses continually jockey for position. 

We can handle this murky area for you, or we can direct you to a number of resources if you feel you'd like to learn more about SEO yourself. An approach that works quite well is for our experts to do the initial SEO work on your website, and then turn it over to you for continuing SEO work.

  

We recommend this option for clients who want:

• a fast-track to a high position
• an assurance of a high position
• a predetermined monthly placement fee

PPC is always worth consideration, and our experts can help you assess your options and costs. In some cases this route can be expensive, but it's often reasonable and allows you to set a limit on what you spend for placement each month.

  

• The first step is to congratulate yourself on a great decision!
• After that, call our office or simply fill out our brief Online Interest Form.
• We'll arrange to meet with you for a free initial consultation (sometimes this can be done by phone), where we'll determine your design, programming and content goals and discuss the various options available to meet your objectives.
• We provide a proposal detailing the project deliverables and associated costs.
• We determine what materials we will need to get from you to complete the project.
• We create and show rough layouts of the site design for your feedback. Generally, we have a good idea of your preferences so only tweaking of the design is required. Occassionally, we will need to go back to the drawing board. This step is repeated until the design fully reflects your preferences.
• After the layout is approved, we create a custom template from the design, which is the basis for further page creation.
• We create the actual pages for your site, inserting and manipulating the content you've provided to your specifications.
• The completed pages are placed online in a private demo location for your review and feedback, and any requested changes are made. This step is also repeated as necessary
• The final site is uploaded and the desired Search Submission, SEO or PPC work is completed

  

Almost all of our shopping cart applications include a content management system to enable quick and easy product and pricing updates from any computer connected to the web. We can also design and implement total CMS solutions that allow creation and editing of the static information on your site while protecting the more sensitive coding.

There is a tradeoff in using a CMS for static information updates, however. The more features that are included in a CMS, the more difficult it is to use. On the other hand, the easier it is to use, the less you can do with it - CMS applications can be very restrictive. A second drawback is that start-up costs are generally higher than a traditional site.

Often, we find that Dreamweaver (or its fewer-featured offspring, Contribute) is the “Content Management System” that works best for our clients. It’s the tool of choice in our profession, and many millions of dollars went into making it the most powerful and intuitive html editor out there. It provides a simple way to update content (a logo, say) sitewide, to make individual page changes, or even to restrict people to making only changes to pages you wish them to.