1.) What
are the benefits of a website?
2.) What
do you need for a website?
3.) What
is "E-commerce"?
4.) Do
I have to come to your office to get a website?
5.) How
does TvLaLa Consulting create my website?
6.) Do
you redesign existing sites?
7.) Your
services seem geared towards business. Do you design websites
for individuals, too?
8.) What
costs will be involved with establishing a website?
9.) If
I buy a website from you do I own it?
10.) What
are a website's advantages?
What
are the benefits of a website? |
Simple. We'll call it the four M's: Money.
Media. Marketability. Masses. You're in business to make Money
- and to make it, you can't waste it. A website is the world's
most effective use of Money to purchase Media to Market to the
Masses.
The Internet is a very affordable Media and it functions 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, with no labor costs to watch it. The
Internet has the most inexpensive and widespread marketing capabilities
ever seen - period! And a website offers your services to the
Masses. Statistics show that the Internet is an excellent way
to market your business and sell your products and services. More
and more customers are logging on and making purchases, buying
services and researching choices and information through the Internet.
Why should you limit your business to your immediate locale when
the whole world is a keystroke away? You also gain major credibility
by having an Internet presence; effectively, you can look like
one of the big companies - all without wasting your money.
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What
do you need for a website? |
Computer: Although highly recommended, it
is not necessary for you to have a computer but it is necessary
for those wishing to view your site.
ISP: an Internet Service Provider is how you connect to the Internet.
This ISP will provide you with an email address to communicate
by electronic mail (email).
Domain Name: This is www.yourname.com; your address or home page
on the Internet.
Host: An Internet presence provider. This is where your website
is stored for the world to view.
Website Design: You'll need all the codes, computer language,
scripts and graphics which, when put together, formulate your
website into a viewable form for the world to see.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol to transfer information to and from
your website for updates, repair, edits and changes. This is how
web designers communicate with your domain at the host.
Maintenance: Updates, additions, changes, and most importantly,
search engine analysis and submission of the pages that make up
your website.
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E-commerce is the buzzword for the new millennium,
and for very good reason. The Internet is changing the way business
is done with literally billions of dollars being made over the
Internet. E-commerce simply means Electronic Commerce. E-commerce
gives you the ability to accept payment over the Internet, by
either credit card or electronic checks. Through E-commerce, you
can sell products or services instantly to anyone in the world
without having to constantly monitor your website.
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Do
I have to come to your office to get a website? |
We can design a website for you
no matter what part of the world you live in. There are
several ways you can send us your information. If you already
have digitized photos and text files, i.e.. Word documents and
gif and or jpg images, you can email them to us. If not,
you can mail or FedEx us the information that you want on your
website.
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How
does TvLaLa Consulting create my website? |
There are many steps involved
in designing and creating a fully functional website.
First, we determine the exact goals of the client's website. If,
for instance, you are selling a tangible product then the goal
would be a site that has your product listings, pictures, descriptions,
prices and shipping information in an on-line catalog. The end
goal being a website enabling the consumer to easily view, gather
information about and then purchase these products on-line (e-commerce).
In addition to these basic goals, there is the more far reaching
and highly important goal of determining how this site will fit
in with your marketing strategy. All these facts are formulated
in a design layout that describes the fundamental business strategy
behind the client's website. In essence, we want to ensure that
we, as the website design team, fully understand what is required
to satisfy our client's ultimate Internet and marketing goals.
Secondly, our design team works with the client to create a basic
visual layout of how the site will appear on the screen. This
can be as simple as being drawn out by the client on a plain piece
of paper, using a word processor or even by showing us another
website that looks like what you want your site to look like.
In this step, we might make suggestions about adding any additional
functions that are absolutely necessary or that might be useful.
This step is our outline for the actual website.
The third step is to map the flow of the site from the consumers'
point of view in order to ensure that potential customers can
easily navigate from the entry point through to the main content
pages (and all other pages within the site). This is done by providing
intuitive and thorough navigational tools. In this last step,
we combine all the above information (marketing strategies, e-commerce,
and visual layout) and come up with the final and complete website
design plan. Our design team registers the client's domain name,
activates the client's host account, codes the pages and implements
any other functions necessary to make the client's website functional.
We fully test all components of the site. Then we submit the site
in beta (or test) format for the client to view and approve. If
any additions or adaptations are necessary, they are made at this
point. The site is re-tested and then re-submitted for the client's
final approval. Next, the site is uploaded to our server with
a final test of all the site's functions.
Finally, when we are sure the test is in perfect order and the
client is satisfied, the site is submitted to search engines and/or
directories and the client is instructed to implement any additional
marketing strategies. Viola´! Your website is ready for the world
to see!
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Do
you redesign existing sites? |
Yes. We can usually redesign an existing
site more quickly, and for less money, than building one from
scratch. Send
us your existing site's URL (Web address)
and a general idea of what you'd like to do, and we'll be glad
to give you an estimate.
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Your
services seem geared towards business. Do you design
websites for individuals, too? |
Of course! Our competitive and flexible pricing
makes professional website design affordable for individuals and
organizations. We can build a website for your club; a family
reunion, wedding, or other special event; a tribute to a special
person—the possibilities are endless. Tell
us what you have in mind.
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What
costs will be involved with establishing a website? |
There are three cost elements involved with
developing a website and putting it on the Internet.
1. Website Development, Design and Start-Up Costs: This refers
to paying a website design firm to create the site and place the
site in search engine registrations worldwide. Costs also include
buying a domain name and a small fee for your host server configuration.
Included in this fee, at no cost, is advice or help in marketing
your website. Your website's final costs vary and are proportional
to site size and capabilities. Contact TvLaLa Consulting for a
free price quote. (We recommend never building a website without
a fixed cost quote in hand.)
2. Domain Hosting: Very affordable monthly fee
3. Periodic Editing, Update and Edits/Additions: Proportional
to amount of monthly work required.
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If
I buy a website from you do I own it? |
Yes, once the website is complete
you "own" it. Our clients are not obligated to host with
us (even though most do) and are always free to have anyone they
want work on their website.
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What
are a website's advantages? |
This is a big question with a
multitude of answers.
Development and distribution costs are extremely low. When you
compare the cost of establishing a website to what it costs to
promote your business in print or on the air, you'll see that
a website is the cheapest form of marketing ever created. A radio
campaign featuring several 30-second spots per week for three
months could run you $5,000 - $10,000. That gets you five minutes
per week of exposure for three months in the local area only.
Newspaper and magazine ads are similarly highly priced, and they
only last for the life span of that particular publication. A
website has virtually limitless space.
You could put up a website with dozens of photographs and several
thousand words for under $3,000 for the first year, and keep it
up and running for a few hundred dollars per year after that.
What would it cost to run a newspaper ad of this size for a year?
Imagine how much it would cost to produce a catalog for 200 different
products, and keep it in consumers' hands for an entire year.
You can accomplish this with a website very easily, with low development
cost and almost no distribution cost. Websites are in full color
- a palette of 16.7 million colors for your photographs alone.
A website is accessible globally; that means your website can
be viewed by anyone, anywhere, as long as they have Internet access.
There are no physical limitations to broadcast areas as in radio,
no circulation region restrictions as in newspapers or magazines.
You can keep your website more current more affordably than any
other media; you can update a website immediately, and as often
as you like. Imagine you sell products whose prices fluctuate.
With a website, you can change these prices every time they go
up or down, so your marketing materials are always accurate.
In addition, with a website the little guys can compete with the
big guys since a website is economical and not limited by size.
This means a small business can present as large or creative an
image on the Internet as a bigger company - with the right design
team. A website also allows easy, safe communication between the
consumer and you so that anyone who visits your site can contact
you at any time by sending an email. Unlike communications that
originate from other forms of advertising, consumers who send
emails don't have to deal with many problems of everyday business:
pushy salesmen, remembering to call during business hours, having
to battle crowds to get to your stores, spending time waiting
on voice mail or getting the wrong information. It's convenient,
easy, and safe for the consumer. Email is also convenient for
you. You can respond to all your customer inquiries at the same
time, and do it when you have a free moment - not in the middle
of rush hour when someone calls up to ask for product information
or directions to your location. You can save money on tech support
and answering questions. If your employees spend a lot of time
answering the same questions and sending out the same material,
you can reduce that labor cost significantly by providing the
information on the website. For instance, a client can avoid having
to mail or fax information for over 1,000 phone call solicitations
in a one-year period simply by providing the information on their
site. That improves on labor costs and provides a real cost savings
in reduced long distance phone bills (for faxes) and postage.
Your website can also take orders while you sleep as people can
place orders on a website at any time, day or night. But most
importantly, no salesmen manning the store, no utilities, no insurance,
no payroll...computers don't need a benefit package or overtime.
For every second of every day, your website is working for you!
As to your choice for website design, if a designer can't tell
you why a website is a unique marketing tool as we have here,
how successful will their website be? Are they helping you to
develop a marketing mechanism or are they selling special effects?
Is it an intelligent tool for driving business or an overpriced,
turbo-charged business card? Make sure you choose a designer with
marketing expertise, experience and skills - TvLaLa Consulting!
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