There are several factors which determine the cost of a website include, but not limited to:

• the number of pages
• how much interactive content your site will contain
• technologies used in the website (e.g. AJAX, Flash, programming markup, et al.)
• the amount graphic work
• website real estate (e.g. hosting, domain registration, and various other options)
• will the content be managed or will the designer maintain the site.

As a general rule, we tell our clients to begin their budgets around $1000 for the first year of operating a website and the price gradually decreases each year.

The time frame of a web design effort is directly related to the amount of content the site will contain, the complexity of the design, how quickly the clients ideas can be translated into a prototype, as well as the frequency of communication between the client and the designer. On average, our web designservices take 30-40 although we often achieve a much more aggressive timeline based on the client's circumstance (e.g. a marketing campaign or event is coming soon).

This is a great question to ask yourself and your business partners. We have a questionnaire we ask our clients to complete during the discovery phase of the project. Some of the questions include:

• Have you chosen and/or registered a domain name (www.{your name here}.{com,net,us}?
• Try to find 5-10 website design you like; preferably in your industry, but they can be from anywhere.
• Who will be visiting the website and what will they gain by doing so?
• What specific actions do you want visitors to take when visiting your website?
• What is your market/niche?
• Who are your competitors?
• What do you want a visitor to come away thinking about your company, products and services?
• How will the Website be used in your overall strategy to promote your products and services?
• What monthly budget are you willing to allocate to the promotion of your Website so that it satisfactorily achieves its goals?

Most clients have a vision for how they would like their web presence to look and feel; however, it is difficult to relay these ideas to a designer. At Vendaetta Systems, we will walk you thru the entire design process and provide you with a professional website that is both pleasing to eye and functional for your visitors.

Every website has dedicated Internet Protocol (IP) address; a numerical label assigned to all devices participating on the Internet. This is your web real estate. Think of it as a home address for your website. A domain name is an easy to remember identifier which points to the IP Address of your website. For example, it's much easier to remember www.vendaetta.com than it is to remember 65.60.36.242. The space you own on the Internet, meaning your IP address and domain name are your web real estate.

The web hosting refers to the actual location of the content and files which make up your website. Think of your web host as the high-rise condominium which your home address refers. The good news about web hosts is that if you are not satisfied with your hosting provider, you can change hosts and still keep the same address. Similar to how you can change cell phone providers but keep your same phone number.

Website maintenance is the most important component of your web design project. It is your long term investment in your website. Many clients make the mistake of looking at the upfront costs to determine whether a provider's web design proposal is viable. Costs of maintenance can far exceed the initial cost of design because it includes all of the following:

• Updated content
• Maintenance of the website's Internet real estate
  • hosting
  • domain name renewals
  • upgrading features
  • email
• Backup and recovery (uber important)
• Promotion and SEO

Vendaetta Systems offers several affordable plans to handle website maintenance, even for site we did not design.

Vendaetta Systems runs several promotions throughout the year which provide significant discounts on all of our services. For non-profit organizations, we provide blanket 20% discount which, at times, can be combined with our other promotional offerings.

This is a question everyone should ask their web design provider. Often times contracted web design companies actually own your website. This means that if you are ever dissatisfied with the service or would like to move over to a different provider, you have to leave all of your web assets, including your web real estate, with the web design company. Granted, there is some intellectual property which a web design company must protect, but logos, domains, email addresses, et al. should not be included.

At Vendaetta Systems, YOU own your website!

If your web design company does not address ownership and intellectual property, you may want to ask more questions.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization; it refers to the science and processes of improving your ranking in search engine results. SEO is the buzz of the Internet. After years of simple ad and banner based promotion, the popularity of search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have found very profitable niche in search engine optimization. It is important that people are able to find your website, so strategic SEO become critical in any website's marketing plan. At Vendaetta SYstems, we combine strategic SEO plan with traditional marketing strategies to drive the proper traffic to your website.