Cheshire Park Business Solutions

 

Web Design

Do you need a brand new website? Maybe an over-haul of your existing site? We can custom-design a site from scratch or bring your existing site up to current industry standards.

Good Web Design - How it Looks & How it's Used

In the design phase we determine how you'll use your site and how you anticipate your clientele using it. Do you need a simple "electronic brochure" or something more complex with an e-commerce element? What message do you want to send? Who are you trying to attract to your site? The Web has far more to offer than print with its ability to interact with your audience.

Putting the effort into planning your site will save time on the development end. Like building a house, it's easier (and cheaper) to change your mind when it's all on paper than when it's already half built.

Website Types - do you know what you need?

Listed below are the commonly used types of websites for small businesses.

• Blog - Can be done as a stand-alone site but often added to a larger site. Blogs (short for web-log) have become so common place that even the family dog has to have one. If your business shares news and information with clients on a regular basis, you should think about a blog.

• Brochure Site - Most common type of site for small businesses needing a simple Web presence. Usually around a half dozen or so pages. This is the replacement for the old phonebook. If you want customers to find you, you need a website.

• Corporate Site - From small to General Electric, no matter the size, these sites give a clear over-view of a business and more. They often offer some dynamic or interactive options (data bases etc.) and some relevant quality content. For businesses who want a customer connection that's more than an electronic brochure.

• Commerce Site - The shopping mall gone global. If you have goods to sell, you need an E-commerce website of some sort.

• Forum Site - A (sometimes) great gathering of similar interests and different opinions. If you want to promote discussion and/or sharing of information, you need a forum site.

• Mobile Site - This isn't necessarily a separate site, but it is an optimized version for mobile and hand-held devices that don't have the larger screen of a desktop computer.

• Hybrid Site - I made this one up, but only because sites don't often fall into just one category and end up as hybrids. Don't be afraid to step around the cookie cutter!

  If you want a more complete listing of the various types of websites, be our guest and read further.

Website Development

Developing a website means we build the thing. We write the code and do the programming. A site built for you is just that - your site. You're getting a professionally designed and developed website with a guarantee that any problems or issues will be dealt with promptly.

For clients who wish to maintain their own, we can build your site on a platform that allows you to add and update content as you wish. It's referred to as a CMS or Content Management System - if you want a fancy term to toss about.

Please take a look at our Portfolio Page to see examples of our work.

Bottom Line - How Much?

We hate to say "it depends", but it really does because there are so many variables. To give you a rough idea, we can build a simple brochure-style site that gets you up and running on the Web for a few hundred dollars. We welcome the chance to give you a quote and work within your budget.

Site Audit for an Existing Site

If your site is more than a few years old, chances are it was written using code that is becoming rapidly obsolete. What does that mean? It means slower loading times and frustrated customers. It means browsers that don't display your site as it should. Web Design & Development is constantly evolving and your site needs to stay current to ensure fast load times and consistent browser support. We can do a complete Site Audit and let you know whether your current site needs updating or a total re-work.

Site Hosting

If you already have a site, you are probably already dealing with a host company. We're fine with that - really - so long as you're happy with them. If we're launching a brand new site, we can help set you up with a reliable host company.

If you're scratching your head and asking "what's a host company?", no problem - the answer is pretty simple: Once your site is designed and built we need to put it onto computer servers that allow people to access your site via the Web. That's a business that's separate from the design/development business that we are. The reliability of these servers is important because if they go down, so does your site.

In essence, you tend to get what you pay for, but generally, your hosting should be under a couple hundred a year for a small business website. For that, your site will be safely stored in the host's servers and will be reliably and quickly accessible to anyone on the Web twenty-four hours a day. Everyday.

Site Maintenance - Let us take care of it!

Maintenance Package - $65 per month - includes:

• Content updates*
• SEO checks - We'll help the Search Engines find you so the world will find you!
• Monthly site check including all links
• Monthly site statistics emailed to you
• Monthly site back up
• Telephone support (email, passwords, etc.,)

*Includes up to two hours design/developer time for updates, checking site function (links etc.). Price is based on signing a yearly contract.

Maintenance a la carte?

If you don't anticipate needing many website checks and changes (although you should plan on doing updates and checks at least twice a year), we're happy to work on a hourly rate. Current studio charges are $40 per hour.