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General Introduction
What
will my web site consist of? How much will it cost?
- The answer to these question is "It all depends on
what you require and what your budget allows." We
will custom-design your Internet solution to
accommodate the unique requirements of your
particular organisation. Normally, the cost of a
website, consisting of a number of web pages, will
be established after the planning process. Our
standard charge is 55 per page depending with the
size of your site. The cost is subject to the
complexity of the site, the graphics that are
involved in its development as well as other
variables and factors which will surface and be
discussed during the planning stage.
An
average commercial site can comprise of between
15-20 web pages, while a small organisation will
usually require a site with 5-10 web pages. Sites
normally contain a Home Page, About Us Page,
Contacts Page and Feedback Forms, again this being
dictated by the nature of the business and your
wishes.
As a standard, our
website will include:
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Page design &
layout |
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Illustrations,
image maps and photographs |
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Logos, banners
and navigation tool bars |
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Bullets, bars,
buttons and backgrounds |
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Special type
styles, fonts and faces |
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Additional
optional design features include: |
Animation
- image, slide shows, flash, swish, etc.
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Online
questionnaire / e-form / feedback
document, etc.
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Visitor
monitoring devices, other utilities,
etc.
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Web
page design is a complex combination of HTML
language, design, graphic manipulation and
marketing. It is not simple, as some would make out.
It requires planning and consultation.
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Design
Thought about a colour scheme?
We
will build you an outstanding site which is
aesthetically pleasing, functional, interactive,
provides value, is easy to navigate and loads
quickly. Your site should be "fresh", so that
visitors are compelled to bookmark it and return
often to find new and updated content. Images and
graphical elements should be integrated to be
appealing to the viewer and optimised for fast
browser downloading. As all our clients needs vary,
each website is quoted on an individual basis.
Site Marketing
Compared to the cost of press advertising and
printed promotional materials, running a website
gives you excellent value for your hard-earned
money. If initially you can only afford to invest in
a small website with basic design features, this
does not present a problem, as we can incorporate
additional pages and features at a later date.
More
fascinating, however, is the unique flexibility that
comes with marketing your products and services on
the World Wide Web. Unlike printed materials, you
can change and update the content of your web site
whenever you want.
So
What Makes A Great Web Site?
These
suggestions will help you understand some of the
requirements that contribute to a well designed,
appealing and successful website. Together they can
be used as the basis for a plan of action.
Make
Your Visitors Feel Welcome
A successful website is one that makes your
visitors feel welcome. By making your site
"customer orientated" not "company orientated",
you acknowledge the visitor's presence and
empower the visitor to willingly participate.
Have
A Well Organized Home Page
A home page should not only be your "front
door" or "shop window," but should also provide
a "table of contents" to your site. It should
provide an opportunity for your visitors to
become customers by gently guiding them along
the sales path.
Make
It Easy to Navigate Your Site
Make options available so that your visitors
can move easily between pages. Provide an
explanation of where the link will take them.
Make it easy to explore your site, yet always
have access to home and featured pages readily
available. Navigation tool bars and other
linking icons and graphics should always have
text alternatives.
Actively Involve Your Visitors
A successful website actively involves the
visitor in meaningful interactive activities.
Provide two-way e-mail, forms and other
interactive features. Feedback is essential!
This also gives the customer a sense of
participation and allows them to be part of the
process. Link visitors to specific key people in
your company, rather than some anonymous "companyname
@ wherever". The great appeal of the Internet
over most types of media is this unique
interactive feature. Use It!
Virtual Communities with Your Customers and
Suppliers
Successful websites use community
effectively. Be a responsible net citizen and
understand the total community of your wesite.
It goes beyond the traditional customer
relationship of advertising. Carve out a lead
role in that community.
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Administration & Maintenance
Maintaining a web site and keeping the content
'fresh' for returning visitors can be a time
consuming process. Additionally, as the standards
for Internet protocol are continually revised with
the increasing advances in technology, it is
important to keep abreast of, and be knowledgeable
in, these new developments. If you don't want to
worry about HTML coding, updates, enhancements,
general positioning review and content changes let
us administer and take care of your site for you,
leaving you free to run your business!
Click here for our basic maintenance fees.
If you need further assistance, please contact us.
Hosting, Servers & Domain
Name Registration
Questions & Answers
Your
web site needs to be on a fast web server that is
close to the Internet's backbone and connected with
large, fast, redundant connections. The servers
should be reliable with a minimum of down time for
repair and maintenance, and operational at an
optimum level 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The
web server should be accessible for updates and
changes to the sites content anytime of the day or
week and expert technical assistance should be
readily available should the need arise. We have
close alliances with reliable, professional hosting
and service providers that meet the above test. We
can recommend one of these providers and deal
directly with them to get you on-line fast.
Basic
services offered by a service provider should
include the following:
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Internet Dial-Up Accounts (separate from the
hosting services).
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Secured Server
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Email accounts
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Various hosting packages geared to your specific
needs
Statistics should be available to assist your
company track online trends and develop future
marketing strategies. These can include (but are not
limited to):
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the number of visitors,
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their origin,
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the time of day they visited,
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and which pages were visited.
If
you are unsure about what is meant by a domain name,
we have provided answers to some of the more
commonly asked questions
click here.
Promoting & Positioning
Having a web site is not enough. It is important to
continually promote your site to reach your selected
target audience and the growing millions of online
users worldwide who use a varying degree of Internet
search tools. As the Internet grows and more web
sites are available, how your site can be found
becomes the most important aspect.
In
our approach we:
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Develop keywords and descriptions in
consultation with you, the client.
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Keep the highest level of communication with
you, the client.
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Ensure we are results oriented – your money will
be well spent.
For
our clients' web sites we offer FREE first-time
generic submission to the five major Internet search
engines & directories. Advanced promotional programs
such as site promotion, doorway page development,
banner ads, reciprocal links, search engine
positioning, position monitoring, site positioning
enhancement and upgrade, etc. are also available.
Please contact us for more information
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Some
things you need to think about:
The Purpose of your website - normally it
will be to tell the world who you are, where you are
and what you do. but unless it is a general interest
site you will have specific themes that you will
wish to emphasise - think about these.
Your potential audience - this will depend on
its purpose, friends and family, the business
community or people with the same interests. There
are also some technical issues. Not all of your
visitors will have the high speed access provided by
broad band nor will they all use the same screen
resolutions on their monitors
Design issues - you should think about the
image you wish to create which ought to reflect your
business or organisation.
Keep
it simple
make
it easy to read
leave plenty of "white space" - not necessarily
white - it gives the site a more professional look
and feel
use
photographs sparingly - they make pages longer to
down load
some
moving graphics can make the site more interesting
but to many detract from the important stuff
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