Dimen, Inc. Professional Web Pages

What Next?

So… You want a website. Now what?

This is to give you some information you need to make intelligent decisions and know what to expect.

Costs

There are two costs to maintaining a website. One is what you pay to a developer (like me) and the other is a monthly cost to host your website.

• Website Hosts

Just as you pay a monthly fee to some ISP (Internet Service Provider), such as AOL or Earthlink, you will also have to pay a monthly fee to a web host provider. This fee usually varies between $5 and $30 per month, depending on the size of your website.

Although many hosts are available and I have worked with several, I use and recommend two: Newport Internet and E50.com.

If you want to update your own website because you have frequent changes and updates, then I recommend using Website Tonight at dimenhosting.com. If price is a factor and you won’t be updating your own website (it will remain static), then you may want to consider economy package at dimenhosting.com, which runs about $5 per month.

If you want a shopping cart added, then increase the monthly cost by about $10, for the economy size.

The Dimen Hosting bills you directly, just as your ISP does.

If you’re considering a static (unchanging) website, you should know that search engines tend to put unchanging websites at the bottom of the list. That’s because it looks like it’s not being maintained. If you want your webpage to appear near the top of a search engine, it should be updated frequently.

• Website Development

If you want a standard 5-page (approximate) website with no Flash or fancy things done on it, it will cost around $400. This price is temporary and may change soon.

I usually charge fifty percent when the job begins and fifty percent when it is finished. However, special arrangements can be made when necessary. If I have already done work on your website and you decide you don’t want it after all, the first fifty percent is not refundable. If I finish the website and you pay the remaining fifty percent, signifying the job is finished, the second fifty percent is not refundable.

Here is something important. If you have no idea what to put on your webpage and want me to do creative thinking for you and do research on your business to give you a good website, that will increase the cost by about $200 (which may go up at any time). Otherwise, I will need to know and receive written down what you want on your website.

Content

Your webpage contains what you want. Here are some suggestions.

• Home Page
Who you are, where you are and what you do. This is the “First Impression” Page.

• Biography
Who are you, really? Important for small businesses. People want to know you.

• Location
Give your address and a map if necessary

• Services
What specifically do you do? Why should we use you?

• Prices
What do you charge?

• Information
What do you want the client to know upfront?

• FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions

• Tips and Helps
Give information about your business. Keep them coming back to your website.

• Testimonials
Give references

Website Name

I recommend you purchase your website name through me. I don’t charge anything for that service, and it saves both you and me extra work. I can probably get it cheaper for you anyway. Website Names (purchased through me) costs about $9 per year, unless there's a sale going on at the time.

Short, descriptive names are best. If your business name is too long, try using an acronym or abbreviations. For example:
www.thisismywebsiteforburbank.com
is too long. However, www.me_at_burbank.com would be better. Also, www.mebbk.com is good.

If somebody already has your domain name, www.yourdomainname.com, try changing the spelling or the extension. Instead of using .com, you might want to use .org, .net, .us or any number of other available extensions.

Conclusion

I know you probably have many questions to ask. I think this covers many of them. Call or email me if you have more questions.

Dimen, Inc
Los Angeles, California 90019