Getting Started
Advice, Before you talk to me, and Quotes
Know what you want your website to say, and to whom you want to say it. If you are doing a personal website or a blog, or your profession is artistic, then the emphasis will be on how you express yourself. If you are working on a business website, then the emphasis has to be on attracting the people likely to engage your services, and appealing to them. If you happen to part of a larger company, you might want to pore over their materials, and make certain that your look and feel is compatible with the image they want to project. I’ve designed web sites for artists and sculptors, arborists, real estate agents, visionaries and clairvoyants, town governments, motels, rock bands (including one you’ve actually heard of!), retailers, event promoters and even a Saint. I’ve designed some personal sites, some of which simply defy description. So chances are I can accommodate your needs. Before you even call me, it’s a good idea to sit down and gather all the text and pictures you think you’ll need to get started. If you can put them on a disk or a flash drive, that saves me the time of typing or scanning, and that saves you money. Consider such things as what colors you want to predominate, and if there is a theme that you would like me to employ. If you’ve seen another website you really like, jot down the address. I can’t copy it (that’s not allowed) but it gives me a better idea of what you are seeking. Think about how many pages you would like to begin (most sites start with five or six) and whether you might need to grow. It’s also a good idea to sit down with Google or some other search engine, and pretend you are a customer or visitor, and consider what they might type in that noncommittal little box that might lead them to you. Save the list of words you come up with, and bring them in. They are your keywords, and will be important to the success of your website. Think about who you might want to link to, and pay particular attention to sites that are likely to reciprocate. Some search engines are influenced by such connections. Think about cash transactions. Designing a shopping cart can be a time-consuming and tedious process, but fortunately, there are outfits such as Paypal and SecurePay that, once you have an account set up, I can add to your website in minutes. If you consider these items, I can give you a pretty solid quote to begin with. That makes it easier for both of us. But the site you’re reading this one, to begin with, would cost about $200 - $250, not counting domain name (about $10 a year) and hosting (which ranges from free to $50 a month, depending on your needs).
