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Questions the Web Design Client Should Ask

Do you want a web page or a web site? A single web page contains information only on one topic; a site has a design much like a flow chart with a main page which links to additional single-issue pages.

Cost: Prices depend on how many pages you think you need. Prices can run as low as $100 per page up to several thousands. To calculate the cost think of your pages as a cafeteria. Every item you select will add up. For example, a single photo applied to the page might cost $10.00; if you want a thumbnail on the page and the regular size photo on another page (a common choice) you would add another $10.00. Professional photos are shot at 1200 resolution and must be reduced for web pages, otherwise they take too long to download. Photo editing can run as cheaply as $15 up to $50 per hour.

Rollovers, mouseovers, or original artwork run up the cost. Buttons look professional but you can create a table of contents without them. Animated images are the most costly item of all. As a rule of thumb, the more you spend the better your page or pages should be. As you look at the following pages realize that design issues are always cost issues too.
Word-crowded sites are wrong for the opening page but proper for content-pages like this one where the reader will want to absorb every word. Busy sites lose their viewers easily. . This site is wildly too busy.

White backgrounds can be hard on the eyes, although it can be done suvccessully as in this site. Dark backgrounds can be very dramatic but still readable. See this site.
This site won a national award but it was not cheap to produce. This site and the book won international acclaim. The graphics work on this site was very expensive..

DESIGN ELEMENTS for the small businessperson:
After you have examined a few pages you should realize that there are many poor pages out there, hard on the eyes, hard to follow, too busy, too plain, filled with animated gifs, poor photo editing and so on. Here is a short list of the elements should expect:

If you are selling items, your site must answer all these questions. What service or product(s) are you selling? You may have a thousand items, and each item will cost money to place on the net, so you must decide if you have the actually stock to sell and how many items you want on the site. Hard to find and costly items usually do better because the net is a good option for these specialty buyers.

What is the cost? And how will they pay for it? If you do not take credit cards on the net, and there is no need to really, you can have them enter their order and then call you to present the card. PayPal is something I use myself and you pay them a fee for this service. This way they know their transaction is safe. And you get a chance to talk to a real person.

What is the exact item in question? Good quality photos are a must with full specifications since you will probably not have an actual size item. If you do, say so.
Define the colors and have samples, be precise about shipping costs and know ahead which local carrier is most efficient. Clearly state your return policy. But if you have a service, or an organizational site, the elements are a little different.

If you have a service to sell, your web site should answer every question a customer might have. A list of names of happy customers of your service is a good idea, but you will need a release from every single one before any names are included.

If you have a membership list do you want the information public or private. The latter choice requires a password for your members. However, members may also want a page for themselves, an excellent choice. If this is the case you might consider selling some of that space to the members to recoup your costs.

As a general rule, the fewer words on an opening page, the better. Save the long stuff, like this, for a subsidiary page where you know people will want to read every word. Successful sites usually have some updated material that keeps visitors coming back. Some samples are "The Joke of the Day", Free Downloads of appropriate software, and sales of certain selected products.

Sweepstakes are popular with large vendors & you can sell "space" to banner people if you have sufficient traffic to your site.

Finding an ISP. Early on you should plan the location of placing your site online. Local options are really the best here because you can pick up the phone and talk to a real person. If you ask your web design firm to do this it adds considerably to the cost so you can do this yourself. Your ISP will talk you through the process.

Marketing: After your site is on-line, and you should really make these arrangements yourself, it will be up to you to keep the product base or information updated regularly. You may consider a monthly newsletter for your clientele. Your web designer or firm should show you how to do this yourself. Maintenance otherwise could be very expensive.

Cornelia Scott Cree 1-828-456-4969

Revised 7/2006