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FAQS (Frequently Asked Web Questions)• We need a web site. How do we get started?
We need a web site. How do we get started? The essential ingredients are the contents of your web site, and someone to design it. In general, the contents will consist of a description of your company or organization, some history, products, services and people. And of course, the web site should include many ways to get in touch with you, through email, contact forms or intake forms, as well as the info to reach you offline. The design and implementation are what we do. DLS will help you organize your material, including writing and photography if necessary, and then create a graphical look-and-feel appropriate to your needs. And behind that good-looking web facade, we will carefully tend to all the "coding" that makes a web site run seamlessly on all browsers, process inquiries, run searches, surveys or content-management functions that enable your web site to assume responsiblity for important functions of your business. Our design will be devoid of superfluous bells and whistles, but with all the dressing up needed to show you as a peer of any competitor. What if we don't need a completely new web site? Can you re-design or update our site? Yes. Much of our work comes from companies who've been using their existing web site and wish to continue. Our work in a case like this can take several forms. We can evaluate the site, and clean up errors that may have crept into the code as a result of past updates. Or, we can save only the kernel – your content – and move it into a new framework with better graphics or navigation. One reason to do this might be to make the web site match other materials your company may have, such as your brochure or advertising. Later on, we're always ready to create an entirely new look, should you need it. We can add completely new pages or sections and match the current design. Or we could make periodically necessary changes, such as updating bios of personnel, adding or deleting products and services as they change. A large part of our work consists of adding news to web sites, including a headline on the homepage and a story in a separate page – and we can remove this content when it becomes obsolete. back to top
In many cases they are done the same day as requested. If we are familiar with your site, either because we've designed it, or have worked on it before, simply call or email your changes and we will respond quickly with a timeframe, and a cost. The fees for updates are calculated on an hourly basis, with a half-hour minimum. Our professional rate, $100 / hour, covers conceptual work, original design and Flash animation, advanced coding for backend processes using cgi / php / asp or similar methods, and retouching on difficult subjects. Our assistant rate, $60 / hour, covers updating of text, graphics, photos and animations; basic html editing, uploading work and testing in browsers, and simple retouching. We bill you after the work is done, but you may save money by purchasing a Block of Time agreement up front. A payment of $600 secures 10 hours of assistant time, or 6 hours of professional time, or any combination of hours. Plus, we will add 10% of credit for the upfront payment, a value of $660. That's like getting a free hour. What is the process for designing a new web site? This consists of gathering a lot of information about your company or organization, working with you to create an outline, and helping you write the content if you don't already have it. The graphics are developed with reference to your industry so they look appropriate to your clients or prospects, but are always original, and designed from scratch. We also explore how various backend functions can add value to your site. For instance, would you benefit by conducting a survey of your customer preferences, and either showing the results on your web site or viewing them privately? We can easily do this, and much, much more! How long does it take to design a new web site? This is, of course, dependent on the size and compelexity of the project, as well as how far along a you are in your thinking. For many of the web sites you see as samples on our site – medium-sized web sites for medium-sized businesses – four to eight weeks are usually required. What sometimes adds time to this are the periods needed for approval, especially with larger companies where different people or departments must weigh in on the web site. A web site for a small business starts around $3,000, depending on its features. For medium-sized projects, including a variety of "backend" processes behind the visible pages, the range is $5,000 up through $20,000. More elaborate projects are more expensive. How long have you been designing web sites? What kind of work have you done? DLS has been designing web sites since 1995. As an established design studio already handling print projects, advertising and the design of logos, we felt web design would be a natural extension of our service-oriented approach: extending our clients' ability to communicate professionally to a new medium. We were excited to get into a new market, and we think our work shows it! We have designed high-functioning, graphically rich web sites for clients in law, technology, manufacturing, non-profit, media, fashion and general-service busineses. Our clients are all over the United States, and especially concentrated in the Northeast, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachussets, Long Island and Westchester County. Do you handle web hosting? Can you register a web address for us? Yes to both questions. Our web hosting is done on a dedicated, managed server which services our clients exclusively. This enables us to set up, test and implement software applications to meet our clients' specific needs. And, no other web sites are hosted on this server. This gives us a high level of control over it, unlike shared server accounts you'll find at many of the mass-market web hosting companies, where a large number of companies and/or their designers have access to the server, leaving it vulnerable to problems caused by inexperience, error or vandalism. As for your web address, we regularly register domain names for new and existing clients, track the expiration date, notify clients when renewal dates are coming up, and renew at the appropriate time. If your company becomes a client of DLS Design, we act only as your agent, listing your company as the organizational contact, and leaving control of the domain with you. Can DLS design our web site, but let us host it elsewhere? Yes. Some clients host web sites internally, and this is suitable for larger companies or those that have a knowledgeable IT department able to run a web server. In other cases, a client may have already signed up for hosting elsewhere, and we can work this way as well. If you are thinking of choosing your own hosting, you should speak to us first, so we can ascertain that you've picked a package that will accommodate any special processes happening on the site, such as contact forms, databases, etc. We'd like to use Flash on our web site. Can you include that in the design? Gladly. And you may check out some great examples of our Flash work elsewhere on our site. But use Flash with caution: the fancier the effects, the longer the download time. If your site will be visited by customers in need of quick information, Flash may not be for you. And, at least for the present, search engines cannot find, or analyze the content of, Flash animations. Can we update our web site ourselves? There are several methods for doing this. If you have technically adept people on your staff, we can train them in the use of Dreamweaver, an industry-standard web authoring software that enables users to create layouts and content almost like a page layout program. Or, for an additional fee, we can implement a Content Management System, which enables any user you designate to update content on the site right through a web browser. Contact us for details. Will our web site be found on search engines? We always include coding in the web pages to enable them to be seen by search engine "crawlers". And the layout of a web page has some effect on how easily it can be found, so we design to maximize this. And, we can submit your site to Google and other major search engines. So your site will start appearing within a short time of completion. For maximum exposure, we recommend a targeted, paid optimization plan, through Google Adwords, Overture or other specialists. We would be happy to work through the process with you. How can we get started on our web site? Contact us as soon as you've made the decision to move ahead. You can email us, fill out our contact form, or call us at 212-255-3464. We return communications promptly, and will help you get started. What sort of clients does DLS Design service? DLS Design specializes in business clients, including law firms, industrial companies, media companies, financial services, health care and nonprofits. |
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© 2008 DLS Design. All rights reserved. Last modified on 9/10/07.
Web site first posted 7/14/95. |