Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my business need a website?
Most business, large and small, can benefit in some way from a website. The amount that a business will benefit will greatly depend on the size of the business, what services or products the business offers, and the target market for the business. In some rare cases, quite honestly, the added value of a decent website will not justify the costs. We've found that any business that sells physical products can benefit from a website because the website will open up new customers to you that would not normally be able to purchase your products. Likewise, businesses that offer services that can be rendered from anywhere in the world-such as marketing, publication reprinting, or technical writing, to name a few-can also benefit from the additional exposure that a website provides.
For quite a few businesses the addition of a website is the logical next step. For other businesses, taking advantage of a website may require a make major change in how they do business. Take for example a small mom and pop convenience store. Their clientele are the families that live within a short distance of the store. They may be too small to send orders out and cannot really compete price-wise with major chains such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Why would such a store need a website? Certainly they get most of their business from word of mouth and from the advertising in local newspapers and passers-by can certainly see the sign out front.
To take advantage of a website the owners would need to 1) decide if their clientele have access to the Internet, 2) figure out why people would go to their site, 3) decide if they could be more profitable or serve their clientele better using the website. A forward thinking storeowner may realize that they do have some homebound clientele that call in their weekly orders to a clerk who dutifully copies down the order (during business hours), fulfills the request (again, during business hours), and drives the order to the person's front door (yet again, during business hours). The clerk performing these duties has just been effective unavailable for quite a bit of time. The website could be used to collect the client's order during off-duty hours and then forward the request to the store. The clerk could then fulfill the order at the time of their choosing.
How much does it cost?
Unfortunately there is no 100% solid answer for this. The cost of the website will greatly depend on what business needs the website fulfills and what it looks like. A custom designed brochure website may take as few as 8 hours to complete including consultation, design creation, implementation, cross-browser testing, deployment, and testing. A more complicated website will take more time to plan, implement, and test. Please contact us for a free initial consultation.
What are the fixed and recurring costs?
Generally, the initial build costs are the only one-time fixed costs. The recurring costs for most websites are: the domain name, hosting, and the cost of updating the content and adding new pages (on request). You should expect to spend approximately $100/month for the recurring costs. If you have additional needs such e-Commerce then you will have the recurring costs payable directly to a 3rd party.
| Website Hosting | $20-$50/month |
| Price depends on features required for the website, such as email, SSL and database. | |
| Website Maintenance | $25-$70/month |
| Price depends on on optional website maintenance package. | |
| SSL/HTTPS Certificate | $60/year |
| Payment Gateway | $20/month |
| There is also a $150 setup fee and a transaction fee of $0.10 | |
| Merchant Services Account | $10/month |
| There is also a $50 setup fee and a transaction fee of $0.30 + 2.5% | |