1. Why Should I Hire
a Web Design Professional?
Hiring a professional web design team will save
you time and money in the long run.
With the advent of do-it-yourself HTML software like FrontPage and
free web templates, it is relatively simple for anyone to create
a functional web site. This also explains why there are so many
badly designed web sites - if someone has a paintbrush, it doesn't
make them a Picasso or a Van Gogh!
Let's look at the following scenario:
Scenario: You're convinced that anyone can design
a website so you hire your neighbour (he has a copy of FrontPage
he'd like to try out) or you hire an employee's relative who has
just completed a 10 week course in web design.
The Result: Your website does not have the professional
look so the first impression might not be a positive one. Your site
could be difficult for web site visitors to navigate and the pages
might take too long to load, causing people to leave your website
without contacting you.
Web Design is a unique design medium and requires
extensive knowledge in designing graphics specifically for the Internet.
The optimisation of each page for the search engines is ongoing
since all of the search engines change their algorithms and indexing
methods constantly, requiring a great deal of continuous education.
Properly marketing a site online continues long after the launch
of the site and, again, online promotion requires a lot of time,
of which you might have very little to spare!
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2. What is the web
design process?
There are seven steps involved in the web design process
STEP 1: Initial Consultation - free analysis of your web needs
STEP 2: Web Proposal Sign-Off - proposal prepared
STEP 3: Graphic Design, Layout and Navigation Sign-off
STEP 4: Content Collection and Creation of Web Templates
STEP 5: Pre-launch Evaluation and Website Sign-Off by client
STEP 6: Website Launch
STEP 7: Ongoing Website Support
This process involves ongoing feedback from the client. Creative
I.T. Plus will provide several guides specific to your company
to assist in articulating and deciding on the goals of the website.
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3. How much does a website cost?
There are several factors that affect the cost of your website.
The main factors are the number of pages, the complexity of the
graphics and web design and the database cost if the website is
to be more dynamic. There is also a cost attached to web marketing
and web hosting. Domain names are free as are 50 email addresses
and statistic reports on your web visitors of you sign up with
a Creative I.T. Plus hosting plan. The hosting plan cost is an
annual cost and starts at US$ 400 per year.
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4. What are the
payment terms?
There are two payment plans available.
The first one is the 3 part payment option. 1/3 due on the signing
of the web contract, 1/3 due on sign-off of the web layout design
and the final payment due when the website is completed and right
before it is launched.
The second payment method is the 2 part payment option. 1/2 due
on the signing of the web proposal and the remainder due on website
sign-off.
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5. What are the maintenance costs on a
website?
There are no maintenance costs to the website. There is however,
an annual hosting cost and a suggested annual web marketing cost.
If you require changes to be made to the content or web design or
web structure, contact Creative I.T. Plus for pricing.
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6. What products do
you use to develop websites?
For Web publishing, we use Macromedia Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver generates
very clean HTML code that meets W3C validation standards.
For Web graphics, we use both Jasc's Paint Shop
Pro and Adobe Photoshop because they provide clear, compressed graphics
that load fast so as not to keep your visitors waiting. Some other
products that we use include Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Flash.
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7. How long will it take to design my
website?
This depends on the complexity of the website. It is also dependent
on the provision of content and feedback from you.
A standard website will take about 3 - 4 weeks to be completed.
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8. What are some of my responsibilities
in my website design project?
Your responsibilities are to provide content and also to provide
feedback as the project progresses.
Creative I.T. Plus will guide you along the way to select relevant
content.
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9. How do I see my design work as it is in progress?
Creative I.T. Plus will provide you with special login details to
view the website as it progresses.
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10. What if I change my mind about the
design or features, or want to add more features?
A web site is very flexible. What you start with can change and
evolve as you need or want. This is a natural process if you intend
to keep your visitors interested in what you have to offer!
You can change anything from the text content to the overall design,
or add new feature to your existing site any time you choose. Keep
your website fresh and up to date.
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11. Can we do our own updates?
Most certainly! If you will need to make content changes often to
your website it is more cost effective to do this yourself. Creative
I.T. Plus can create a special administration area to allow you
to manage the updateable areas of your website. We will also provided
you with training and training manuals as well as image editing
software.
Some of the major updates to the web structure and layout must be
done by Creative I.T. Plus.
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12. I live in another country, can you
still build and design my website?
Yes! Location is not a problem. We are available via telephone,
email, Skype and instant messenger applications to ensure that your
needs are met.
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