Frequently Asked Questions: Expenses
- Why are websites so expensive?
- Competent copywriters get $35 to $90 an hour, programmers get $50 to $75 an hour.
It can take 10 to 30 hours to custom program a site and as much as 10 hours to research a company,
and write the content in a search engine friendly way. But these are one time charges, not monthly.
Websites as advertising are really quite inexpensive. If you note that half of the buying consumers have replaced their paper Yellow Pages with the on line digital version, the expense of a website is very small, often only one tenth as much as a display ad in the local yellow pages.
Most consumers now days "let the mouse do the walking," instead of "fingers". That makes Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) important. No longer are searches alphabetical by page but specific to the service category and even geographic specific. Consumer are now doing searches related to local shopping. The shopping centers have not promoted themselves in this way yet. (See products: SubIP Stores) It takes time a effort to work out the promotion so your customers can find you.
- My budget is limited, what can I do?
- Choose one of the pre-made template websites. Just supply the logo, artwork and content,
it is the fastest and least expensive way to go for a professional looking website.
There is also our SubIP Domains for inexpensive web presence and SubIP Stores if you are located in a shopping center or mall.
Frequently Asked Questions: Promotion
- How should I use my website?
- For most small businesses, their website serves as a dynamic brochure. It can be as colorful as any printed brochure but updated regularly at little or no expense. This use is perfect for service business like landscapers who don't have showrooms to display their product. This will work for most other service business as well.
- How do I promote my website?
- If your website serves as an on-line brochure or current customer support, you need only direct existing or prospective cutomers to your web address. Your site needs to be optimized enough so typing in your name will bring up your site in search engine results in the first few pages.
- More promotions...
- Promoting your business via the internet is similar to promoting it in the "real world." You have to be seen and known by many businesses and people. Some join a Chamber of Commerce to promote themselves. Joining other related websites has the same effect.
- Networking
- Some business people join networking groups. They form a close working group, taking the
time to get to know each other which leads to an assurance that a business referral handed
to that person will be handled well. Not all networking groups are equal. The original is LeTip:
For more information about LeTip in Florida, Call 727-639-0605 Jim Mazzei
Frequently Asked Questions: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- What is "S.E.O."?
- Search engines continually improve. A search engine friendly website will appear ahead
of poor websites but optimizing a website (SEO) for a better page rank is both a science
and an art. Websites are ranked on the quality of cross-links to similar websites,
the quality of how appropriate is your content to your subject page title and links.
Improving your page rank takes time and effort
Improving your content means a copy review. Each sentence should be crafted to reflect the topic of your website. Each section should contribute to the topic, not veer away into something else. If you own two companies, you do not promote both on the same website. If you have multiple services, you can promote them on the same website but on seperate pages with their own names.
If you have different departments, it would be prudent to establish each department as a sub-domain thus enhancing your internet presence by your company's services listed as multiple but related web-addresses
Quality cross-links take time and relationships to establish. Some have used short cuts such as getting a myspace.com pages and facebook, using their company name for username. Then they accept every spamm "friend" offer, thus spreading their name. It has worked in the past to improve their internet presence but search engines are getting smarter by the month.
There still is no way to beat the system than to play fair and do a good job with your website: related content, well written paragraphs and conservative use of meta tags in the header.
Frequently Asked Questions: e-Commerce
- Is an e-Commerce website expensive?
- E-commerce is not difficult or even expensive. The expense depends on how many
products you have and whether or not you already have photos and descriptions. There are
many processing agents available and invoices can be integrated into the pages on your site.
- Simple e-Commerce Example
- eCommerce can be as simple as selling your own home made greeting cards from your own website.
You offer packages of several cards and several different styles. Say each package is $4.99.
Each package is represented by an image. The image is simply linked to a PayPal form. The code
for this is generated with the merchant tools in your PayPal account. Just copy and paste into
your web page.
When a customer clicks on the package icon, he will be taken to a PayPal invoice where he/she can pay with their own PayPal account or another credit card. You will be notified by PayPal about the transaction so you can ship the package. The funds are added automatically to your PayPal account.
This example is e-Commerce at its simplest and least expensive.
If you have a product to sell, contact us.