Need a Website? What Next?

Prior to Getting your Website Designed...

All websites are designed with your business model in mind, but in saying that there are questions you should ask yourself before starting a web development project: who are your customers, the demographics, the product(s) your selling online,what type of design should my website reflect, and who will be maintaining your website?

Before you get started, you may wish to look at other websites in order to get an idea of what website design styles you like. Subsequently, with your target audience in mind, think about what information would be more important to have on on the website. Think about colors, content, a logo, and photographs that you would like to include. If you are unsure about all that, don't worry, I will guide you through the process, and keep you updated until the website is designed, developed and deployed. You may also want to read an article on Starting a Website.

Some times its better to explain what your looking for via phone, so call me at 425-336-0069, and I will assist you with your website design needs.

Website Design Deposit and Payment

Q: Initial Deposit ? Prior to starting a web site I require an initial deposit of 25%/or minimum of $100 whichever is greater. Final Payment of the website will be requested prior to the website being uploaded to your host. Q.How to make a payment ? Payments are requested via Check, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discovercard. Upon receipt of a payment I will initiate the preliminary analysis of your web site (inlcuding SEO if required). To make a website payment click on the paypal button.

Common Web Design Questions

I need my web site maintained regularly? The turnaround time for basic image and content update is usually completed within a 24 hour period.

I want to maintain my website ? If this is the case, you're website will be developed allowing you to easily maintain it. Once the web site is completed, I am able offer you full training using various tools such as Web Expressions, Flash, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Contribute, or any CMS (Content Management Systems).

Will my website be placed high in the search engines? It all depends how much direct competition exists on the internet. Although there are no guarantees, everything will be done to optimize your website by embedding meta tags and keywords, as well as utilizing alt tags, headers and placing special wording in strategic places on your webpage so that you have a good chance of ranking high in the most popular search engines. Read our website blog on seach engine submission tips. Also read about what you should know as a customer when it comes to SEO.

How do I get a domain name? Your domain name is like a street address. That's what everyone will use to find your webpage. Getting the right domain name is imperative and can be bit challenging You could use www.Google.com to find domain providers. Read about obtaining a website domain.

What Next...

Page Content:This will be determined during the initial consultation, the number pages you will need and whether or not you have existing material to fill those pages.We will expect content in the form of a computerized format.

Artwork: The best possible method for providing graphics is to supply electronic images (i.e. jpg, gif, tif, png etc). Alternatively, you may also provide - brochures, photographs and other printed material, which will be scanned.

Template Approval: The first major milestone is the web site template design and completeion. Visual Webz will design your template in preparation for text and pictures, and will provide you ample opprtunity to review the design, and approve it prior to pursuing with the website development.

Basic Web Terminology

Browser − Often called a Web browser, it is simply a software application used to interpret HTML commands and display page content. The two most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and Netscape Navigator.

Content − A word you'll likely see around a lot is "web content" and by definition, content is the 'stuff' that makes up a web site. This could be words, pictures, images or sounds. In essence however, when we talk about web content, we are essentially referring to content in a textual nature. Content therefore is the 'information' in text form a web site provides.

Domain Name − An unique name that identifies one or more IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs' to identify particular Web sites. Every web site is located by its unique IP address.

Home Page − It is a first page (also referred as an opening page, start page or main page) of a Web site. This would technically be your index page or default page of your directory.

Hosting − Usually refers to a computer (or a network of servers) that stores the files of a web site which has web server software running on it, connected to the Internet. Your site is then said to be Hosted.

Meta Tag − A special HTML tag that provides information about a Web page. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed.

Search Engine − A server (computer) or commonly a collection of servers dedicated to indexing internet web pages, storing the results in a giant database and returning lists of pages which match particular searched queries from within its database. The indexes are normally and automatically generated using spiders.

Database> - A database is an electronic means of storing information and data and is often referred to as a "Db". All Shopping Cart Systems, and or catalogs will always have a database in the back end. The Two common databases used for database driven web sites are MySQL, which is open source, and Microsoft Access.

User-Generated Content - User-generated content keeps your web site dynamic, and improves search engine optimization. Options available for User Generated Content include, Discussion Boards, Blogs, Product Reviews and Rating, and Internet based communities such as Face Book and MySpace. Having such features in any web site will always encourage visitors to return.

Shopping Carts are a way of automating your visitors shopping experience. A shopping cart is a software program that tracks the items your Web site visitors select and remove from their potential purchases. The program also captures their payment details, sales tax and shipping costs for online purchases. Shopping Carts are beneficial and allow you to manage your inventory and transactions. Transactions can be monitored, new products deleted or added via a catalog.

The choice of Shopping Cart depends on the business model, and financial system you may have in place, for example will the Shopping Cart Software integrate with your accounting System and Web Host?

Once you have a Shopping Cart system in place, you will subsequently need to have a Payment Service setup. Basically, the Payment Service is a way for credit cards payments to be accepted online.

Payment System are  Virtual storefront,  Open 24/7,  No physical showroom required,      Customers can place orders from the comfort of their home,and of course this provides the benefit of reducing overheads.

Merchant Account is basically a bank account that accepts credit card payments. The merchant account handles fraud checks and manages the transfer of funds from customers’ credit cards to your account.  Most banks and credit unions offer this service.

SSL Certificate is used to offer secure online credit card payments. Web sites such as banks always have https:// rather than the normal http:// the s refers to a secure connection.

Website Terminology available in PDF format