Design FAQ's

This is one of the most common questions that I get when I meet with first time clients who have never had a website before, and it's often times one of the toughest questions to answer.  Before I go to meet with a client for the first time, I try to learn as much as possible about their business or organization, and then explore what similar organizations have on their websites.  From there, I can generally provide clients with a list of suggested topics or content to have on their website.  However, regardless of what I suggest, it's ultimately up to the client to decide what content to put on their website.

Designing a website will take some work on the client's part.  When I meet with clients, I often times tell them to make a list of the top 10 or 15 questions that their customers ask when they call on the phone or come into their business.  This is usually a good place to start when determining what content to put on their website.  In addition, the following topics are also a good fit on most websites depending on the nature of your business or organization:

About the Company-Describe the history of your business/organization and its growth.

About Us-Describe your company's goals, philosophy, and mission statement.

Personnel-Detail key personnel within your company within this section.

Services-Describe the services that your business offers.

Products-Describe the products that your business offers.

Catalog-Provide a listing and prices of the products/services that you offer.

Portfolio/References-Provide a listing of completed projects/references for your business.

What's New-Detail new products, services, or information.

Ordering Info-Detail how customers can order your products/services.

Your Location-Detail how customers can find you location(s).

Contact Us-Provide customers with different ways to contact you or your business.

There are a lot of factors that determine how long it takes for a website to be designed and launched.  First, and probably most important, the size and complexity of the website plays a major role.  For example, a simple 5-10 page static website may only take 14 days to design and launch.  On the flip side, an expanded site featuring a Content Management System and an Online Store may take as long as 6-8 weeks to fully design and launch.  During your consultation, a general timeline will be established based on the features that you want on your website.  If you decide to do business with my company, a specific timeline will be laid out in the design proposal and contract.

This is actually one of the more common questions that I get when going to meet with clients.  The easy answer to this question is no, you don't need a web designer because it is possible to design your own website.  There are a handful of programs out there that can assist you in developing your own website.  However, I believe that if you were to design your own site, there's a good chance that it wouldn't serve its full potential.  It's often times very easy to spot websites that weren't done by a professional web designer. They frequently contain broken links, incomplete code, and they're overall appearance is usually below par in comparison to a professionally designed website.  And appearance is first and foremost when it comes to website design.  You want your website to be clean looking, well organized, and easy to use.  Customers place a lot of value in the way that your website looks and performs.  If your site looks very amateur or unprofessional, that's the way that they're going think that your business operates. The best way to avoid that type of reaction is to have your website professionally designed by a web designer!

There are countless reasons why your business or organization needs a website... so many that I could write about them all day.  But the biggest, and most important, reason is that your competition probably already has a website.  And if they don't, they're going to have one soon.  Unfortunately, if you don't follow suit, you may soon find yourself losing business to your competitors.

In the not so distant past, when a person needed to find a business or service, they referred to the "Yellow Pages".  While the old phone book is still a trustworthy source of information, it's quickly being replaced by the Internet.  I for one will openly admit that I rarely refer to the stack of phone books sitting on my closet shelf.  Instead, when I want to order a pizza or find a lawn mower repairman, I go online and use a search engine to find multiple pages of businesses meeting my needs.  With a few clicks on the mouse, I can explore each of those businesses' websites and evaluate all that they have to offer.  If I don't like what I see, I can always click on the next business!  Simply put, the Internet has become the most popular source of information for most customers.  Not having a website is equivalent to not having an ad in the local phone book.  If you don't have a website, there's a good chance that you're missing out on potential customers who are going to your competitor's who do have a website.   And that's unfortunate considering the fact that the cost of having a website designed and maintained is so minimal.  Odds are, you'll quickly find that having a website is the most cost effective advertising decision that you've ever made!

This is a question that I get from time to time that truly baffles me.  Your website is going to be the first impression for millions of potential customers to see online.  You should want to have a professional looking website to try to "wow" those potential customers.  More importantly, you need a well designed site in order to be taken seriously by potential customers, vendors, investors, or donors.  When you walk into your business, regardless of whether it's a retail business, restaurant, consulting firm, or even a factory, you want the first impression to be a good one.  You should have the same desire for your website.  While it's possible to design your own website and save a couple bucks, in the long run it's going to show.  And in today's day and age, customers coming to your website are going to see the way that it looks, and there's a chance that they might not take your business seriously.  Having a professionally designed website is the only way to ensure that you're making the best possible impression for your customers when they come to your website for the first time!

Creating a website sometimes can be the easy part of things.  Getting people to actually go to your website can the hardest.  There are a lot of things that you can do to make  your website more visible and to get people in the habit of using it to find out general information about your business or organization. 

First, your website address, or domain name, should appear on all of your company letter head.  In addition, it should also appear on any business cards or brochures that you may hand out on a regular basis.  Another place that people commonly forget to include their website is in their phone book listing.  Lastly, if you do any type of advertising, whether it be on TV, radio, or even the local circular, you want to include your website somewhere within that advertising.  The more often that you put your website out there for your customers and potential customers to see, the more likely that they're actually going to come visit your website! 

As the client, it is your responsibility to determine what text and content you want to appear on your website.  As a website designer, I can suggest topics to put on your website.  However, it is ultimately up to you to decide what information to put on your website.  A good place to start would be to gather any pamphlets or brochures that you frequently hand out.  Evaluate each of those and determine what content from those you want to appear on your website.  Gathering, or in some cases, preparing a history about your organization is another important thing to do.  Compiling a list of the services or products that you offer, as well as a brief description of each of them would be the next thing to do. If you have any pictures that you want included on your new website, gather those as well.  In general, the more information that you have ready when the design process begins, the faster that your site will be done!

A domain name is the specific website address that customers use when coming to your website.  For example, "www.towd.net" is the domain name for my company.  Picking a domain name can be somewhat complicated.  First of all,  you need to select one that isn't already taken.  With the Internet becoming more crowded, this is becoming a more difficult task almost every day.  A few tips to keep in mind when selecting a domain name include: 

• You want your domain name to be as short as possible.

• Whenever possible, you want to try to get a domain name where the ".com" domain is still available.

• You want your domain name to reflect as much information as possible about your company or organization and its services/purpose/cause.

• You want your domain name to be easy to type.  Avoid domain names that include misspelled words or that may be easily confused with another website.

Once you have selected a domain name, we will handle the actual registration of the domain name for you as part of your website design package! 

One of the most common, and sometimes most frustrating questions, I get involves the placement of client's websites on popular search engines such as Google.  Or, in worse case scenarios, the lack of placement on some search engines.  A phrase that was coined long ago within the website design business is "Search Engine Optimization", which entails designing a website to improve the rankings of a website in the most popular search engines.  A few of the factors that affect the ranking of a site include the structure of the site, the prominent words displayed on your site, and the incoming links to your site from other websites.  Search engines use a series of mathematical equations, or algorithms, to analyze these factors and determine a website's relevance for various search queries.  For good or bad, search engines are constantly altering the algorithms to achieve the best results.  For website owners, this can mean that their site may unexpectedly improve in ranking, drop in ranking, or in some cases even disappear without any notice.  Many clients are quick to blame the web designer when search engine results go awry.  However, there's little that myself, or any web designer, can do when a search engine unexplainably decides to drop a particular website's ranking, or drop the site all together.  The algorithms that they use are trade secrets, and often times they cannot even explain why a website's ranking dropped.  Often times, if a website had a good ranking in the past, the good ranking will return with time. 

If your website is new, a whole separate set of circumstances apply.  While websites typically begin to show up within a couple months when you search for them directly, it often times will take quite a bit longer for secondary pages to start showing up as a result of certain certain search queries.  The general consensus among the web design industry is that it may take up to  six months or more for most websites to be indexed by the major search engines.  While that may seem like a long time, you have to take into account the fact that there are millions of websites online today, with many more being launched every day.  The fact that search engines are able to return results for individual websites as soon as they do is somewhat of a miracle!

Occasionally I get a question about why a particular website looks different from one computer to another.  There are a lot of reasons why this may occur.  The most common is that the web browser isn't up to date on the computer that isn't displaying the site properly.  All of our websites are designed to meet W3C standards and guidelines, and should display properly on most up to date browsers.  All sites are tested on a wide variety of browsers before they are launched to ensure that they should display properly.  However, when a web browser isn't kept up to date, some websites may not be displayed properly regardless of how much testing we do.  In other cases, flash elements may not display properly if the proper plug ins aren't installed on the viewer's computer.  Or, in some cases, security restrictions on the viewer's computer may not allow some functions of a particular website to load or display properly.  In any event, most of the time when a website doesn't display properly on a particular computer, it's best to look at that computer and make sure that it's completely up to date before assuming that the website is flawed!

Most websites can be upgraded to include most of our Website Add-ons.  However, there may be some circumstances where it isn't possible due to the setup of your website and/or your web host's server.  But, in most cases, Add-ons can be integrated into an existing site with few difficulties!

Unfortunately, the days of a friendly handshake to seal the deal on most business transactions are long gone.  And with the anonymity that the Internet brings, fraud against businesses such as mine occur on a regular basis.  As a business owner, I have to ensure that my business is successful and remains so.  One way to do so is to ensure that my company is properly paid for all of the services that we provide.  With that in mind, I require that 50% of the cost of your project be paid before work can begin on your website.  The remaining balance, plus any additional costs that were incurred in the development of your website will be due at the time that your website is launched. 

While I require a deposit before work begins, at the same time I recognize that customer service is key and that some customers may not be comfortable putting money down on something that they may not be happy with.  For that reason, I offer a Satisfaction Guarantee on all of our website design packages.  If you're not satisfied with the service that you're receiving, or the results that you are seeing, I will refund your deposit at any point in time during the first 30 days of the project!

This is actually a very good question that I receive quite often.  The short answer is "yes", we will design a website for use on any web host.  However, I always advise that some sites will perform differently on different web host's servers.  Every web host configures their servers differently.  I frequently find that some scripts that I use will work when hosted on one server, but not on a different server.  For that reason, I suggest that all of my clients utilize the hosting that my company provides.  It is FREE for one year, so there's no harm in using for that period of time!  Not to mention, I can guarantee how the site is going to perform when it's hosted on servers that I'm familiar with.  However, if you already have a web host set up, I will do my best to design you a site that function on that web host's servers!

Your final invoice will be prepared at the time that your website is launched.  The invoice will be sent to you via mail or email.  The amount due on the invoice must be paid within 30 days.  Late fees and penalties will be applied if the payment is not received by the due date. 

When you sign up for an Extended Support Package on a website, it essentially means that my company will make changes to the website as requested to keep it up to date and interesting to repeat visitors. Examples of such changes include updating the site with new sales information, informative articles, new products, newsletters, press releases, financial figures and links to related resources. We will also monitor any programs or scripts that you are using on your website and update them as necessary to keep them secure and compliant with the latest Internet standards.

Extended Support Packages are currently only available to customers of our design services.

This is a question that all of you should be asking!  It's an important aspect that you need to look at when selecting a website designer. 

The best reason that I feel that you should select my company to design your website is that we provide personalized service that's very difficult to match in the website design industry.  I was once told that website designers are a "dime a dozen", and that couldn't be more true.  There are a lot of website designers out there offering a wide variety of services at wide variety of prices.  The one thing that most of those companies lack is personalized attention.  Sure, they may say that they offer personalized attention, but it's hard to truly follow through on that promise when they're trying to design or maintain hundreds of sites at one time, or are located half way around the globe.  When you choose to go with my company to design your website, the first thing that I'll do is sit down with you in person and discuss exactly what you're looking for in a website.  I'll discuss with you the different design packages that I offer, the possibilities of including some of our add-ons in your site, and then make some suggestions about the actual design and content of your website.  This face-to-face contact, I feel, is very important when designing a website... especially if it's for a first time website owner.  Even after that initial meeting, I'm more than happy to come back out to your location to discuss revisions to your website or to even show you how to use some of the different features of your website!  That's the benefit of going with my company!  While I still use the phone and frequently use email to communicate, there's nothing like being able to put a face with the person you're working with.  And as I said before, with most other website design companies, that simply won't happen!  If that's not reason enough, perhaps the fact that I have over ten years experience designing and maintaining websites will help sway your decision!  Or the fact that the prices that I offer are far more competitive than many of the other website design companies that serve this same region!  Whatever the case be, choosing Timothy Osterbeck Web Development is definitely a wise decision and one that you won't soon regret! 

There are many benefits of going with a local website designer.  The primary benefit is the fact that you can do business in person.  Ideas, suggestions, and opinions are often conveyed much better in person than via phone or email.  In addition, follow up training and support can also be done in person.  While it is possible to have a successful site designed by a website design company outside of your local region, I firmly believe that dealing with a local company is the best way to go.

By all means, if at any point in time during the design phase you see something that you are not satisfied with, please let me know!  My goal is to design you the site of your dreams.  However, I can't do that if I don't know what you're thinking!  One of the most common mistakes that clients make is one of silence.  They won't indicate that they don't like something about their website until it's too late.  You will be provided with a link to view your website's progress during the design phase.  Keep in mind, the website will be under construction, so some links may not work or things may appear abnormal during this process.  However, if you see something that you don't like, please say something!  I'll happily accommodate any changes that you request during the design phase. However, once the website is launched, any major changes that you request will have to be billed at the website redesign rate!

One of the toughest things to do when you launch a website is to attract visitors.  Patience is a requirement when you when launching a website!  I always warn my clients that it's going to take some time before visitors start to come to their site, and that it's going to take some work on their part to get the visitors there.  Outside of a major media/publicity blitz which most small businesses can't afford, visitors aren't going to come to your new site by the hundreds, or in most cases dozens, any time soon.  However, there are several ways that you can begin to draw visitors to your website: 

-Include your website on your business cards, letterhead, and any faxes that you send.
-Include your website in any phone book listings that you pay for.
-Include your website in any form of advertising that you do (print, radio, or TV)
-Promote the launch of your website in your regular newsletter.
-Encourage people to go to your website by offering special deals/offers only available online.

When you sign up for the Extended Support Package on your website, you will be billed monthly via PayPal or invoice.  Billing will be automatic and will continue until you notify Timothy Osterbeck Web Development that you no longer are interested in using the Extended Support Package.

Updating customer's websites in a timely manner is one of the key selling points that I emphasize.  In general, all requested updates are usually made within 24-48 hours.  However, the best advice that I give clients is to send updates for their site well in advance with the date that they wish for the update to occur.