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People have many common questions that
they ask when it comes to hiring a web designer and the
process of website design in general. Below are some of the
most frequently asked questions.
Q:
How much does
a website cost?
A:
Website costs vary, depending on a number of variables such
as site size (number of pages), graphical content, and
purpose of the web site. It is really difficult to put a
price just on "a site" as there are so many variables that
can make a site cost more or cost less.
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Q: How do I get my website onto
the Internet so that people can see it?
A: Once
your website has been built, all files in it will be
uploaded to a "host computer". This host computer is called
a "server" and is set up for you when you purchase an
account with a Web Host. When a someone types in your
address in their browser, it looks up the address and will
find it on one of these server/host computers, which assign
your website a special numerical address. Once the address
has been found the server computer makes the files in that
account available to the browser, displaying your web site
as it interprets the site's HTML code. The browser is simply
a program designed to read HTML code (and a number of other
computer related web languages) and then display the page
into a format similar to Word. You don't see the HTML code,
just the result of the browser's interpretation of the code
which tells it what type of font is being used, what images
to show and where to show them and how to format the page
for your screen.
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Q: Do you assist with selecting
and setting up a web host and how much do they cost?
A: Yes. I
know a couple of web host companies that are competitively priced. Costs vary
depending on the type of account that you will need for your
website. If it is a large, e-commerce type site with lots of
product images you will pay more for a plan that gives your
more space for your files on the host's computer. Other
variables include certain web host services such as mailing
lists, sub-domains, spam filters, secure/password protected
pages, etc. And no, I am not
affiliated with any web host or other service that I might
recommend. I also am able to setup the entire account and
create all necessary directories for your files to be
uploaded to.
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Q: What else do I have to spend
money on after I get a website and a web host?
A:
With my clients, the next purchase involves submitting their
website to the search engines. When considering traditional
advertising costs, this cost is minimal but very effective.
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Q: What about my website's name?
Can you get me the .com or .com.pk name for it?
A: Yes.
This is called your "domain name" and once purchased
(registered) it cannot be altered. I will consult with
you about an appropriate domain name if you don't already
have one selected. Once you have decided on one I will
perform a search to verify that the domain name is in fact
available. If available we then go ahead and register it in
your name. If it is not available, say the yoursite.com
version, then we have the option of looking at the others,
such as yoursite.net., yoursite.org,
yoursite.biz.,
yoursite.family, etc. Generally , registration of
domain names is done in one, two, three, five and ten year
time periods. The name, once registered, is yours to hold
and keep for as long as you keep your registration fees up
to date. I can monitor your domain name for you and will
notify you when it is about to expire. Afterall, you have a
business to run and this one small detail that you don't
want to forget about - it could cost you your domain name.
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Q: Why do these search engines
need to know where my website is?
A: Search
engines are an integral part of the Internet, as you will
likely know if you've ever searched for anything on the web.
When you go through the process of having a website designed
and then uploaded to the Internet you want people to be able
to find it. Your friends and business acquaintances will be
able to find it because you might have emailed them the
website's address or it might be on your business card. But
what if someone is searching for your particular service or
product and all that comes up is your competition?
Certainly, no sales or leads to be had there. When your site
is submitted to the search engines, they give it a rank that
determines what page it will be listed on when someone
searches for what you are offering. You could be ranked on
page 1 or you could be ranked on page 1,220,340. It all
depends on how well your site is set up, how well it is
optimized and whether or not it has been submitted either
manually or through a submission service.
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Q: Do you take care of the
website after it is finished?
A: I tend to look at websites as "never being finished".
To stay current and up-to-date, websites need to remain
fluid with the ability to change and modify as the need
arises. I take care of all maintenance related issues long
after the site has been built. These issues might include
changing the photo images on a site to freshen it up or
possibly to add a new page/s that would enhance the
functionality of the site and to benefit visitors in one way
or another. Other modifications to a
website during its post-build, or maintenance stage, include
edits to the text (adding / removing text, fixing typos,
changing a telephone number, rewording a sentence or
paragraph, changing the colour of a font, etc.) as requested
by the client. All maintenance is charged on an hourly
basis.
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Q: How do I hire you to do my
website?
A: If you
like my work and have decided to hire me as your designer I
would proceed to send you (regular mail or email) a Service
Agreement that will contain your estimate, all of the design
related specifics of the website build and any additional
items that might have arisen. Agreement must be signed and the original
copy returned to me with a deposit covering 50% of my quote
before work begins. Upon completion of the website, I upload
all files to a private test server where you can view your
new product and then inform me of any changes or
modifications that you would like completed. Once we have
final approval and all looks ready to go I require full
payment of the remainder of the balance as will be indicated
on the Service Agreement. Upon receiving this payment I will
then proceed to upload the entire site to your web host
account/server where it will then become "live" and viewable
on the Internet.
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Q: I already have a website but
I want it redone. Do you do that?
A: Yes. If you send me the address (URL) of your current
website I'd be more than happy to take a look at it and then
supply you with an estimate on what I would charge to
re-design it. These types of designs are often much cheaper
than the "built from scratch" websites as most of the
content is already present and all other items such as
domain name registration, web host setup, etc are already in
place.
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