BUSINESS CREATOR

PHASE

WHY DO YOU NEED A WEB SITE ANYWAY?

There's no doubt about it - the WORLD WIDE WEB is the "hottest" place to be on the Internet today. The experts tell us that over 100 million people as of Jan 2000 had access to the stunning graphics and text "the Web" offers -- and that number is estimated to be over 500 million by 2003.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it? But is it for you? Should you or your company be making a move to establish a presence on the WORLD WIDE WEB?

Yes!. A lot of variables will determine how much your "getting on the Web" project will cost you.

1. Who do you expect to look at your Web site?

• general public
• potential new customers
• current business clients
• other

2. What do you want your Web site to be?

• a catalogue
• a hard-hitting, all out sales/promotional effort
• a newsletter
• a home page with a low key presentation of your company and products/services
• other

  For example, if you want to do a catalogue, here are some things which will affect costs:

• Do you now have a printed catalog?
• Do you want to duplicate it on-line?
• how many pages is it?
• Is it text and photos or graphics?
• What proportion text vs. graphics?
• Is the text currently on computer?
• If not, how will text be prepared?
• Are the graphics currently on computer?
• If not, do you already have good quality photos/artwork, or will in-house or outside preparation be necessary?

3. How much do you want to put on your Web site; that is, how many pages?

Pages are a little different on the Web, but you might think of it this way:

If you were to nicely layout a colorful magazine page with what you want to present, including both text and graphics, about how many 8.5 x 11 pages would it take? And, in those pages, how many photographs, logos, or other graphical elements do you have?

4. As a person looks at your Web site, what do you want him/her to do?

Immediately place an order? How? By mail, phone, on-line? Will you need a "secure" system?

• Read your newsletter, look at your art gallery, utilize your parts catalogue, etc.
• Call or write for more detailed information and/or specifications.
• Remember your company for future purchasing decisions.

5. How much of the project do YOU want to do, and how much CAN you do, either yourself or in-house?

Do you have enough computer and modem to handle loading and maintenance? Can you write clean HTML with working anchors and embedded graphics? Do you want to learn or do you just want to take care of your current business, and leave the details to someone else?

6. How often will you want to make changes/updates on you Web pages (maintenance)?

• Price or specification updates
• How often does the newsletter come out?
• Limited time pricing or special promotions
• Do you currently have an e-mail account?

7. What's your time frame; that is, how soon do you want your site "up and running?"

Now, you may not be able to answer all these questions -- in fact, you may have some of your own that need answering before you go much further. However, just by thinking about them you should be ready to discuss your project with almost any provider of WORLD WIDE WEB creation and production services. (We recommend ourselves, of course).

BUT, it is certainly possible to do it all yourself. Getting on the Web is not rocket science. if you have the time to allow for a steep learning curve, and if you have the right equipment, you can find all the tools you need right on the Web.

8. How much will it cost?

Projects can run from as little as a few hundred dollars, to several thousand. As a reasonable expectation, you can easily put $3,000 into even the simplest project.

Here's an example: the hourly rates (for outside consultants) seem to be in the $50 - $150 range for "programming", and Web sites can range from one to hundreds of pages. Currently there is no formula that establishes how many hours will be needed and what price to charge.

A basic site with 20 pages, audio, video, backgrounds, frames, tables, auditing and forms management would take probably at least 75 - 100 hours to develop, design, load, test and debug -- assuming that the contents of the pages are already on disk in a text format. The math is easy to do: a site like this could run from $500 to $7,000

And then, what about graphics? These are a separate product and are priced that way. Scans of existing photos and artwork are not expensive, but original graphics can be.

Okay, now you have your site up and running. It still has to be maintained. Who is going to do that, and at what price"?

You will likely encounter additional fees if you do not already have a Web site (or if you have only a personal account, and want to upgrade to a commercial site):

1. Set-up fee -- your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may charge a one-time fee to cover the original server setup of your site -- $25 to $250 -- and up, however, you can still find some that do not charge anything for setup.

2. Monthly fees -- usually from $5 to $250 -- even more for large commercial sites. And, some may levy additional usage fees if your site generates traffic in excess of a monthly allotment (usually the allotments are generous -- depending on what you have to offer, you may not run up additional charges). Some sites are "free" but access my be too restrictive to be of value to you. If you are serious about being in business...avoid the free or low cost solutions as you will PAY one way or another.

 

It all adds up in a hurry -- but there IS an alternative!

Co-Creations Unlimited YOUR-WEBSITE.NET. . . a program that offers any size business the savings of bulk purchasing -- of technical expertise, custom programming, computer storage, and INTERNET facilities.

Compared to other kinds of advertising and promotion, the cost can be surprisingly low for your business to reap the benefits & prestige of its own site on the WORLD WIDE WEB. CLICK HERE for Assistance.