- Preparing Your New Web Site
- Stock features
- Management Packages
- Applications & Special Functions
- More Services
Preparing Your New Web Site
When getting ready to start a new web site, make sure that you have some content. Write up a few paragraphs about who you are, what you want to do. Then gather up as many pictures, video and audio as possible that pertain to your web site’s content.
When trying to pick out what type of web site you want, first think to yourself, "What do I want to accomplish with this site?" Then think, "How am I going to accomplish this?"
I know, it seems overwhelming at first–especially if you are a novice on the internet–but it is the most vital part of constructing your identity on the web. For instance, "I want to write movie reviews," would be your goal. How you would accomplish it would be something like, "Show a trailer of the movie, write a review and post it online for all to see."
I understand the above example may be a bit contrived, but it truly is the most vital part to your web site.
Below are some general ideas for how you could use your site:
- Family photo/video sharing: Register members of your family across the country and share family photos and videos with an easy-to-use interface or coordinate a huge family gathering then post the pictures/video for all your family to enjoy
- Online gaming community discussion: Set up group campaigns and discuss tactics
- Band Web site: Post your upcoming shows, give directions and stream your newest songs and videos from your site and sell your albums via MP3
- Online business card: Information about yourself and your business and a simple contact form
- Small business/Specialty store: Some info about where you guys came from, what you’re selling, and why you’re different
- Large business/Corporate: Huge databases with thousands of products, users, locations, shared calendars, shared workspace and full of legal pages to protect your assets and cover your… assets.
- Personal: If you just need to make an online dichotomy of yourself, opinions, and the latest pictures of your new puppy, then it sounds like a blog is the right thing for you to express yourself worldwide
- Dedication: A unique gesture for your loved one, band, movie or anything else loveable by having a simple page professing your undying love
All web sites include the following:
| Newsletter | An email announcement protocol where you can send out an email to 10-10,000+ subscribers. All subscriptions are taken care of by a simple form on the web site where the user inputs their email address and name, or can be manually added or imported with just an email address. |
| Discussion List | Much like a Newsletter, a discussion list is a mass email sent out to as many subscribers you can get. When a recipient replies to the email, the response is sent to all subscribers on the list. |
| Google Mail | Email addresses for user@yourdomain.com are handled via Google Mail on their secure server and excellent SPAM filtering technology. You have 100 email address for @yourdomain.com. |
| Myspace Layout | Alright, this is kind of cheesy, but MySpace is a good place to network and get word of your web site around. So why not have your MySpace page match your web site (as close as MySpace can look like a real web site). The layout is a simple copy and paste code that you add to your "About Me" field. |
| Cross-Browser Compatibility | Have you ever used your parent’s computer from 1998 that can barely even run and all the web sites you visit look terrible? Well, I ensure that your web site will be displayed properly no matter how archaic the computer viewing it may be. |
The above features come with any web site, whether it be an "Online Business Card" style site (one page with information on it) or if you decide to add on applications and modules.
Web site Management Options
Skill levels and needs vary from person to person, so I have compiled three different types of services I offer to administer (or not administer) your web site.
Something to understand while you’re reading these with the prices is that every web site is a minimum of $200 per year–the price of the "Hands Off" plan. The "Regular Mainteneance" and "Webmaster" plans are additional to the $200 annual fee.
| Hands Off | Really like it sounds. If your web site is just like an online business card with only one page and no need for updates, then this is ideal. Do you have experience writing a blog or being the admin of a forum? If so, this gives you the sole ability to modify the entire back end of the site. I offer a comprehensive tutorial catered specifically for your web site so you have a personalized user guide that is not filled with insane terms that even advanced web designers don’t all understand. The down side of this plan is the support. Once I build it and you approve the design, I’m done. I do not modify it without charging a $50 fee per update. The up side is the price. You only pay $200 for the design and get the first year free. Every year after that is the base annual fee of $200. |
| Regular Maintenance | Your web site is fairly simple, but you want to have a monthly special, video of the month or simply add a gaggle of new pictures every now and then. Say that you’re too novice to accomplish this on your own, then I’ll do it once a month for you. I made this plan to accommodate people who don’t need their site updated every week and don’t want to pay $50 per update. If you plan on updating your site more than quarterly, then the extra $16.67 a month ($200 per year) with this plan is right up your alley. |
| Webmaster | Need updates weekly? Bi weekly? Busy people don’t always have time to sit at the computer for an hour and update their web space. But you do have five minutes to shoot me an email with the content you want added. I would then update the site for you within 24 hours of receiving the email. You can even send me all the specials and updates you want me to post for the year and I’ll schedule them out throughout the year. Only adding $500 per year, this is the best deal to have constant maintenance on your web site. The title pretty much says it all. Everything is taken care of: all video/audio encoding, PDF conversions and general support are handled by me at no extra charge. Just tell me what to do. Hmm… Perhaps I should change this to "Webslave" instead of "Webmaster." |
If you find the descriptions a bit vague or confusing, then please contact me and we’ll talk about what plan would best suit you.
Applications & Modules
More times than not, words like "Applications" and "Modules" can invoke fear into the hearts of the inexperienced web user. But don’t be afraid, it’s quite simple.
Below are the most popular modules you can have installed on your web site
| Shopping Cart | Do you want to sell stuff on your web site? If so, then you will need a shopping cart. I’m not going to lie, they take some time to configure properly, but in the end it is worth it to be able to sell your wares online. |
| Forum | Often called "message board," "bulletin board," or "discussion board" the forum is an extremely popular way to grow a web community. Users register themselves and then post topics that other users respond to. Forums are an extremely helpful tool to generate a buzz about your products, thoughts and/or views. |
| Blog | Blogs are taking over the internet. Everybody has an opinion, right? That is the best use of a blog. It has similar features to the forum, but is a bit more one sided–on the side of the author. Users can comment on what you say, you can add video, audio, image galleries and so many more features that are made just for blogs. |
| Chat | So the forum and blog aren’t enough to satiate your need for internet communication? Then throw in a chat applet wherein you and an unlimited number of users can chat with each other live on a private line strict to your web site |
| Member Access | If you have some private content that you don’t want any old internet surfer to stumble upon, then you can set up users with passwords to protect your content and ensure that the people who see your content are the ones that you want to see it. This is ideal for development teams and business projects. This feature is not meant to be used with the blog, forum, or shopping cart as they already have features that will allow you to lock out unauthorized visitors. |
| Magazine | Featured content that runs through the blog software to create a magazine-esque display. |
| Advertising | Maybe you just want to have a personal blog, forum and have ads help pay for your hosting fees. This requires some extra work and validation to ensure that the ads don’t take over your web site or annoy your visitors. Ads come in a vast array of styles. There’s the banner ad, the text ad (like "Ads by Google"), and video ads that pop up intermittently at the bottom of a media player (YouTube now has ads within their videos that are fairly non-intrusive). I do not suggest that you go out and sell advertising space on your web site because it does look tacky and has a tendency to turn people off to the web site. |
Other Services
Here are the most used services I offer.
| Media Streaming | Long load times usually spell death for an up-and-coming web site. Get streaming for all your video and audio in order to speed up load times and make a better overall end-user experience. |
| Video Encoding | Streaming is great, but what about optimization so even streaming is faster? With extensive experience in video and audio, I can retain file quality while reducing size, making it load quicker. |
| PDF Conversion | Adobe PDF is one of the most widely used office documents out there. And with good reason. The PDF retains its formatting, special fonts, and print capabilities regardless the system it’s being viewed on. Convert your Microsoft Word documents to PDF so your visitors can print them off. |
| Flash Video | The largest programming fad across the internet. Examples: any video you’ve watched on a web site, that is Flash video. Having a player unique to your web site and the ability to embed your videos on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook is becoming more and more important to get your name out there and draw people to your web site |
| Drafting | No, not architecture, writing. I have associates that hold accredited degrees in English who will write, proof or re-write your content. |
These are not the only features, just the most popular. If there’s something you would like to have done, then please contact me directly and I will answer any queries thrown at me.