FAQ
The internet is a place that should be enjoyed. There can always be subjects and words that not everyone can comprehend. Our mission is to keep things simple for you so that you enjoy your experience, whether you are developing your own website or just browsing the internet. The following is a list of questions and answers that may help you to learn more about the web.
General Questions
What are the costs for an Internet web site?
What are the right reasons to get on the Web?
How much information can I have online? Do Web sites have a size limit?
Can I start small and then expand my web site later?
How is a site kept up-to-date? Can we do the updates in-house?
Why does my web site look funny on AOL?
What types of graphic files do you accept?
How do I know if I’m on a secure page?
Search Engine Questions
What are search engine robots?
How do search engine robots list a site?
Will my site be in any search engines? If so, which ones, and how long does it take?
What do search engines do with the information?
Are there any web components that don’t work with the search engines? Why?
Can’t I just resubmit my web site every month to ensure good search engine rankings?
General Questions
The World Wide Web (commonly abbreviated as the "Web") is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a Web browser, one can view Web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them using hyperlinks.
A browser is a program that allows you to view the Internet. Currently the two most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorere and Mozilla Firefox. There are others, such as Opera.
A shopping cart, also known as a virtual shopping cart, is a computer program designed for a customer to make purchases from you site. These carts can offer a variety of "attributes" which allow the shopper to choose size, color, style, etc. When the customer places the products in her "cart", she then procedes to check out. She then creates an account, payment method and shipping methods. The online retailer then gets the order and can begin processing it.
What are the costs for an Internet web site?
This is a very broad question because of all the variables that can go into building a site. There are many different technologies involved in making a site come to life. It also depends on what you’re looking for. The first thing to do is to lay out a goal and then structure a plan. Full information is available on our Web Site Prices page, but most sites we have built average $200 per page–so a 5-page web site would cost you $1000. This is a one-time charge. Beyond that, you would pay us, or the company of your choice, a monthly fee to keep the site up on the Internet. This called web hosting.
Contact us to make arrangements for a quote. Tell us what your needs are, and, based on that, we will submit a proposal to you. Pending approval of our quote, we will draw up a contract and receive a 50% deposit. Then, you submit to us all text, pictures, links, and other content that will be applied to your web site and any marketing materials that are to be used as a guide for the web site’s design. We then work on the design and layout. We generally upload work in progress to a private area of web site where you’ll be able to see it take shape and have us make any adjustments and refinements that may be necessary. From that point we’ll finish up the details and get your site running.
- To support your traditional advertising by adding to it ("For more info, check out our web site at …").
- To increase the visibility of your company and its products and services.
- On the Internet, your company can be as big as the largest company in your industry. It’s the great "equalizer," where you can compete right alongside the big guys.
- It’s a great way to communicate to potential clients or customers–24/7!
- To increase the visibility of your company and its products and services.
- To increase and improve customer services.
- To take advantage of the interactivity of the Internet.
- To set your company apart from your competitors. Note: As more and more companies get on the web, this will cease to be a benefit so ACT NOW!
- Web sites can be made far more attractive than Yellow Page ads and can be changed at a moments notice. When was the last time you heard someone say: "Wow! That’s a really cool Yellow Page ad!"
- People who are searching the Internet for your product or service are already qualified as "interested"–traditional promotion can’t guarantee that.
The Internet is fast becoming the new "Yellow Pages." More and more people use it everyday, and its growth shows no signs of stopping, or even slowing. Shouldn’t you be there?
There are currently millions of Internet users around the world! Many are right here in the United States. If you’re not on the web, they’ll go to your competitor!
What are the right reasons to get on the Web?
- Revenue Generation – While there is a definitely a chance for increased sales and revenue due to your increased visibility, web development is a long-term business development move, so don’t expect a windfall overnight. However, that said, we get testimonials regularly from customers who maintain that having a web site has improved their business volume.
- Expense Reduction – You can now sell your product directly from your site and have the payment and shipping all handled from your site–so it’s like having an extra location at a fraction of the cost. Plus, it’s open 24 hours a day, and you don’t have to worry about paying overtime! Also, you can save a lot of time and money by not having your sales staff tied up answering questions about your company or its products and services–you can provide most of that information on your site.
- Enhanced Customer Relations – The most successful business web sites put the customer first. They do this by providing detailed and up-to-date information about products and services. In a way, you are creating "self-educated" buyers, and a self-educated buyer is a happier buyer.
How much information can I have online? Do Web sites have a size limit?
Web sites can be as small as a single page or as large as is needed. There are sites on the Internet that have thousands of pages. Some hosting companies have a limit, however, or they may charge extra over a certain amount.
Can I start small and then expand my web site later?
Absolutely–and depending on the circumstances and on your particular needs, we will sometimes recommend this. A web site can be begin as an online brochure, for example, and gradually expand.
How is a site kept up to date? Can we do the updates in house?
We can update it for you for a fee that is based on how often you want to update the site and on how complex the updates are. In some circumstances, we can set up specific pages so that they may be updated by the client with no special knowledge required.
Why does my web site look different on AOL?
The browser that AOL uses is lacking in a number of areas, and, consequently, you don’t get a true picture of the Web. We, and other professional web design companies, edit our images and graphics to make them as small a file size as possible so that they won’t slow down the opening up of the web page. This is called "compression." Unfortunately, AOL’s browser compresses them again! This causes the images to look "fuzzy" or to have "holes" in them, and they just generally look substandard. Also, AOL’s browser doesn’t allow as many degrees of color as the other browsers, so the web sites often don’t look as attractive and vibrant as they should. If you are an AOL user, to get the true picture, here’s what we recommend: When you dial-up with AOL, you can just minimize their browser once you’re online (click the little hash mark in the upper right-hand corner) and then open another browser, like Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the vividness of the Internet!
What types of graphic files do you accept?
We can accept any graphics file format that is Windows compatible. Apple users should covert files to a multiplatform format prior to sending them to us to ensure the best possible conversion. Our preferred format would be the original file that was created (Photoshop Document, Portable Network Graphic, Tiff) as those are editable, but JPEGs and GIFs are acceptable as long as they are good quality–we can’t make a silk purse out of sow’s ear! We can also work with high-quality photographs, as we can scan them and create graphic files out of them. If you are local, we can meet with you and get everything we need. If you aren’t local, it’s no problem, as you can always e-mail graphics files to us or mail photographs.
Though no method is completely foolproof, there is a method of purchasing across the Internet that is very safe. Order forms that are on a secure server encrypt all data before sending it across the Internet for processing. Encryption is a method of jumbling the data so that only your computer and the secure server can read it. This greatly reduces the probability of your credit card information and precious data being viewed by unwelcome eyes. An insecure transaction is basically an "open" transaction that can be seen by anyone who knows how–which could mean that your credit card information could be captured and used. Always make sure the web design company and host you use makes order form pages secure. You should see a little locked padlock in the bottom left-hand corner of your browser, as well on the toolbar of your browser. If the padlock is open, it means that the page is not secure and that there is a risk of a third party accessing your information.
How do I know if I’m on a secure page?
While on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked, as opposed to unlocked, or open.
Search Engine Questions
Basically, search engines are web sites where you can type in words and phrases called "key words" to help you find what you’re looking for on the Internet. It’s important to be indexed on as many search engines as possible. We advise getting it professionally done, rather than attempting it yourself. Some search engines offer this as a free service, but more and more of them are now starting to charge fees.
What are search engine robots?
There are two ways a search engine will look at a web site that has been submitted. Yahoo!, for example, uses human beings to view the site to determine whether or not it matches their criteria for listing. Google uses a "spider," which is an automated means of "crawling" all over the site, looking for the necessary elements it expects to find on a web page. The automated search engines are generally referred to as "robotic," since the sites are not viewed by human beings.
How do search engine robots list a site?
Think about a visit from the eyes of a robot. He finds a site, usually from links on other web pages, then records the text from the page or saves the page. He extracts just the text from the page without the HTML coding, including the title. He uses a mathematical equation to catalog all the words on the site (this is called an algorithm). He follows the links on your site and retrieves any information he finds. All of this information is then stored. Now he knows how many pages you have, how significant your site is for a given keyword, and how many "outside" links your site has, and he can give your site a "score" based on how it is set up. This is how your site ends up being ranked high or low. He then travels the links that leave your web site and visits new web sites.
Will my site be in any search engines? If so, which ones, and how long does it take?
We have a Search Engine Maintenance program available on a monthly basis. For complete information, visit our Search Engines page. We hand-submit your site to all of the major search engines. Each engine is its own independent company, so the time it takes will vary. It can be anywhere from one to eight weeks. Yahoo offers an Express Submit service for a one-time fee of $299. This fee guarantees that your web site will be viewed and considered for listing within 7 business days.
What do search engines do with the information?
When someone searches for a phrase or keyword, another search program takes over, using the information the robot found. A person types in the keywords, and the search program returns the thousands of pages matching their keywords. They also consider the following: How large is the web site? Was it properly constructed? How many other web sites link to this web sites?
Are there any web components that don’t work with the search engines? Why?
Yes–Macromedia Flash. You’ve probably seen web sites that open with music, moving images, moving text, etc., and they look very visually exciting and certainly attract attention once you get to them. These are created with Macromedia Flash. However, some web developers don’t understand that search engines don’t read Flash movies. Search engines use "crawlers" or "robots" to record your web site in their databases. These crawlers read the text on your web site. Flash is used to produce spectacular graphics. However, these graphics require significant load time, and load time is a key component for search engines. Some search engines will ignore web sites that use Flash. So, it’s more than likely that these web sites won’t do well in these search engines.
Can’t I just resubmit my web site every month to ensure good search engine rankings?
Quite emphatically: "NO!" Resubmitting over and over is no help at all, and, if it is required, it could be a symptom of a much deeper problem with your web site. The search engines are designed to index web sites and then keep them in their index. It can take 4-6 months to truly move up the search engine rankings. The only way you need to resubmit every month is if you are getting kicked out of the search engines. If you are getting kicked out of the search engines, resubmitting the same exact web site won’t help you. Plus, if you are getting kicked out of the search engines, then you’re being told that there is something wrong with your site that needs to be corrected before the engines will accept it. In addition, search engine submission programs are useless. Constant repeated submissions overburden the search engines, and your requests are eventually just ignored. If someone tries to sell you search engine submission services, ask them the following questions: Why do we have to keep resubmitting my site?
How does this help me in the search engines?
Can you give me examples of clients that have been "significantly" successful doing this?
Can my URL get banned from search engines for doing this? (See the answer to this directly below).
NOTE: Repeatedly resubmitting to the search engines can get your URL banned from many of the search engines.