answers

1) What makes a successful website?
A successful website is one that is not only designed well, but is also properly coded and search engine optimized (SEO).

2) Why does my company need a website?
This is a great question! You may decide that the web is not for you, however, the globe is a fast and growing computer-centric world. Millions of people go online everyday, which makes the need for websites even more valuable!

3) What's the difference between a template based design, and a custom based design?
The main difference between a template based design and a custom based design is that templates provide cookie-cutter alternatives--meaning that when you go online and purchase a template, you are getting an exact "cookie cutter" layout that sometimes cannot be changed! With custom based designs, the client gets a tailored design to meet their needs. The layout can also be easily changed with CSS.

4) How much will my website cost?
This is a very common question, and the answer always remains the same: it depends. It depends upon the needs of each client, and what they want to achieve with a website. For example, a business owner that wants to increase revenue through an online business is going to have a different need than someone who wants to showcase their rock collection. Thus, price dictates the needs of each client. The more complicated the website, the more expensive it will become.

Please check my rates page for hourly rates! If at first glance, you find those rates scary, please rest assured, these are very competitive and affordable rates for this line of business! It's important to understand that a website is a powerful marketing tool that takes a great deal of time and labor to design/build. However, I do understand that sometimes we have certain budgets that we can't exceed. I will do my best to accommodate your budget with reasonable expectation.

5) How much will it cost to keep my website maintained?
I offer affordable updates/re-design at $40.00/hr. If, at any point, you need an update or re-design, please contact me and I'll gadly help!

6) How long does it take to build a website?
This depends on a number of different things: how complicated the website is (i.e. is this purely an informational website, or will you need a full e-commerce website to sell products?), how many web pages are needed, and finally, how quickly the client can get all of the materials (images, content, etc...) to the designers/developers. Generally speaking, a 5-10 page basic informational website takes about 2 weeks (give or take a few days) to design and code.

7) Why do I need professional photography?
The old saying: "A picture is worth a thousand words" couldn't be more accurate! It's important that your website have professional looking photography in order to gain respect of your future and re-occurring clients. After all, who would want to purchase or visit your website with bad photography?

8) What is SEO, and why does my website need it?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. When you go online to Yahoo, for example, and put in "Orange County Dog Kennel" you are probably going to get a number of results! This search directly relates to "keywords" and "meta-tags" that are inserted into the <head> document of these dog kennel websites! Serach engines, like Yahoo, Google, etc... pick up these keywords in your webpages, thus having a well performed SEO website.

There are numerous SEO campaigns and additional methods that can be used to drive traffic to your website, and I'll happily discuss some practical methods with you.

9) What is web hosting and domain name?
A domain is a unique name/web address where customers will find your online business. An example of a domain name would be: http://yahoo.com
People type in this domain in the URL and are taken to Yahoo's website.

Web hosting is when companies provide space on their server that they own (or lease) to store your website.