What costs are involved in maintaining a website?
While there is the initial design cost for a website, some other fees must also be considered for the short and long term. These costs include registration of the domain name (i.e.: www.mysite.com) and website hosting fees. All of these costs vary greatly and we can assist in making smart, affordable choices.

There is also the additional expense of on-going maintenance to the site itself, such as textual or graphical updates. Should Tingley Technologies be placed in charge of this upkeep, we will provide a custom-tailored, inexpensive fee schedule based upon individual needs.

Who owns the site?
The customer does! (We hold only the COPYRIGHT to our design work.) Full ownership and site access is turned over to our clients upon completion of site build and uploading to host servers. Unfortunately, many unscrupulous designers will register everything in their name, effectively "stealing" ownership to a site.  Rest assured, we will NEVER employ this tactic.

How long will it be before my site is online?
There are many variables involved in site design, including initial preparation of text and/or photos on the client's side.  There is also the overall complexity of the site to consider. A dynamic website driven by a database always takes longer to program than a simple, static site. We've had websites take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months depending upon their content.

Will the site be instantly successful/popular the minute it goes "live"?
If only that were the case! While the obvious goal of any website is to attract a multitude of traffic, this takes time to accomplish. Careful planning and coding of the site plays a very important part in achieving this goal, but again we are dealing with variables outside of our control.

The major Search Engines (such as Google and Yahoo!) won't immediately recognize the site, so it's "popularity" will not become evident overnight.  It can take many months to find the site placed on the first page of search results. Again, it's all about the underlying code, verbiage, and linkage of the website that will affect this placement. There are many ways we can assist in generating this traffic.

Is it a good idea to cross-promote the site?
Absolutely! A website address (URL) should be included everywhere the business is advertised: business cards, brochures, print/radio/TV ads, stationery, promotional gifts, email signatures, company vehicles, word of mouth---the list is endless.  Promote, promote, promote!
 

What makes a website successful?
We've touched on this topic a bit with regard to Search Engines, but there is so much more involved in a successful site, not the least of which is "User-Friendliness" .
 

• Is the site appealing to the eye and professional in appearance?
  If a site looks like it was designed by someone who just got hold of their first HTML editor, or perhaps designed using standards that were state-of-the-art in 1995, customers will likely be turned off unless no one else is offering the same goods and services online. (Highly unlikely in today's marketplace!) A website should reflect the style and professionalism of the business it represents.
• Is there enough valuable content to hold the readers' interest?
  What makes a site interesting is that which makes it stand out from the rest. Merely repeating what competitors have to offer will not ensure success. A site must be more than directions to a brick and mortar location, or phone and email directions for the customer to follow. Tell the client why the site, services, and products are far superior to the competitors' by carefully crafting text and graphics. Content is KING!
• Is the website easy to navigate?
  The fewer "clicks" a customer has to go through to reach the content they are seeking, the better.  Don't let them get so frustrated they move on to another site. A clear, non-confusing layout of links within the website will pay off.
• This is all very interesting!  Where can more info be found on this topic?
  For further research on successful website design, a couple of our favorite references are Vincent Flanders' "Web Pages That Suck" and "Son of Web Pages That Suck".

Still have questions? Call 425-220-5099 or send an EMAIL to get them answered quickly!