Services

Web site services consist of three interlocking parts: design, hosting, and maintenance.  All three are important:

  • Poor web site design is immediately apparent to anyone trying to use it.  Put simply, any web site is about how to locate needed information at a glance.  A good design allows viewers to do that; a poor design doesn’t.
  • Poor hosting is also visible right away.  A well-designed page that takes 15 seconds to load (barring unusual circumstances) is often just as frustrating to the user as a poorly designed one.  So is a site that gets hacked every other month.
  • But poor maintenance is common.  How often have you seen a great, inspiring front page to a web site… but when you looked at the events calendar it was three years out of date?  Or one that has a great biweekly blog that just stopped nine months ago?  

We don’t make the mistake of combining different services, and we recognize that needs vary.  For a comprehensive web solution, pick one from each category below.  

Basic Internet Services Packages:

Web site design

Package

Basic web site creation (using WordPress): $400.  Package includes:

  • A home page.  Typically a picture at the top, a title, links to Facebook and Amazon etc., a short menu, and some content (pictures, quotes, testimonials, awards…) provided by you – I’m not a writer.
  • A bio page.  500-1000 words is good.  A portrait or two.
  • A contact page.  Just a web form that can be used to send you an email.
  • A content page.  This is the meat of the site, and holds detail descriptions of whatever you’re selling or presenting (e.g. books).  If you have a variety of stuff, multiple pages are not a problem.
  • Up to five other simple pages, e.g., pictures, quotes, testimonials, awards, etc.
  • Up to twelve outside links, to e.g. social, Amazon, favorite sites, etc.
  • If available on your site host, a way to force https/ssl security to be turned on.

Custom

Anything more complex than the package above will need to be quoted.  Some options are listed below; let me know what you want.  A quoted site design will probably include and require a maintenance plan.

Update / Refresh

Changing the look or content of an existing site is not as complicated or time consuming as creating a new one.  To update a package site that I created: $250.  This could be needed for many circumstances:

  • Turning on and off a seasonal look.
  • A site about a periodic event.
  • Accommodating a featured new product.
  • Updating the overall style to something more innovative, modern, or distinctive.
  •  Corrective measures to repair someone else’s work.

Web site hosting

Limited traffic

A place to put a web site I design: $150/year prepaid.  I do NOT offer hosting alone.  There are plenty of places that do that far better than I can.  Included in this package:

  • One non-premium domain name for a year. 
  • Enough server room to hold the basic package described above.
  • An “under construction” page, as needed.
  • Https/ssl security, at the most basic level.
  • At least one email account, either forwarded to your existing email or accessible to you by web login.
  • Regular back ups.
  • Limited traffic – generally not an issue.  

Moderate traffic

For web sites with either more visitors or downloadable stuff.  $250/year.  Also may be required for clients with peak annual or seasonal needs.

Web site maintenance

Minimal

Irregular minor updates and changes to a web site: $100/year prepaid.  

  • Small changes to single pages.  Corrections, updates, an announcement, etc.
  • Occasional, not more than three or four times per year.
  • Emergency management.  If it breaks or gets hacked, I do what I can.
  • Periodic checkups.  I’ll make sure it’s still there, update the tools regularly, check for dead links, etc.

Standard

Moderate, regular updates approximating a schedule: $250 annually.  Everything in the minimal plan, more often.  Potential examples include –

  • A blog
  • An event schedule
  • Minor style changes,  not affecting content
  • Any store

Comprehensive

Frequent small updates, may be limited to weekly.  More than a few product changes per year.  $500 per year.

Mailing list hosting, set up, and maintenance

A way to send email to all your people at once: $75 set up, then $100/year prepaid.   Also using me for your web site is not required, but it helps.  Warning: I don’t do spam.  Please don’t ask me to.

All lists

  • A monthly or quarterly newsletter sent to up to 100 people, content supplied by you.  I’m not a writer.
  • Usually, all mailings go to everyone on the list.  Sub-list mailings are possible and negotiable.
  • Automated subscribe and unsubscribe via email (legally required on all list mailings).
  • Only the account owner can post.  If you want a conversation, talk to me about a message board instead (or just use Facebook/Instagram).  For lists, think newsletter not chat.
  • I require a way to verify that list recipients gave permission to get the email.  It doesn’t have to be that formal, but it needs to be there.
  • Adding a bunch of people at once is possible, but I don’t usually do data entry.  An Excel sheet works; talk to me about which columns you need.

Lists where I built your web site

  • Add a signup checkbox for the mailing list to the contact form.
  • Add web pages to let people add and remove themselves from the list.  Note that these may not match the style of the rest of the site.

Additional Service Enhancements Available:

Membership (limited access)

If you don’t want the general public to see everything on your web site, this is the way to do it.   $150 setup.  Requires a maintenance plan.

  • Four levels of security, set by page:
    • Everyone can see the page.
    • Anyone can see the page after they register.
    • Only registered people you approve can see the page.
    • Only site admins can see the page (you and me).
  • Add a page you can use to approve registrations.
  • Also add login, profile, registration, invitation, and password reset pages.  These are fixed forms done by my vendor.
  • This does not include adding a payment system (I assume you’re not charging money to register).
  • Requires https/ssl.
  • Requires I set up the site.

Custom Form (for visitors to send you email)

This is so your site visitors can send you more information than the standard contact form.  $50 setup per form for up to twelve items on the form.

  • One web page with a form for the visitor to fill out.
  • In general, only text entries (exceptions negotiable).
  • NO DATABASE.  All this does is send you an email with the information; it does not keep it anywhere.
  • Requires https/ssl.
  • Requires I set up the site.
  • Requires you to have an email address to forward to.

Blog (software)

The ability to write, set up, and add to a blog is included in the base price.  It only gets more complicated if you want to allow people to comment on your posts, because spammers love blogs.  $50 setup plus a sliding scale for me to monitor and approve comments.  This will likely need to be billed monthly instead of annually.

Blog (posting assistance)

It can be safer to email me your blog entries instead of doing the whole posting/scheduling thing yourself.  No setup fee, $75 annually.

  • Twelve posts per year.
  • You email the post to me; I deal with formatting, scheduling, and getting it posted on the site.
  • I might also do light proofreading, but no guarantees.  This would be just to spot obvious errors in spelling, style, or word choice that would get passed a spell checker.

Web store

Requires a discussion and a quote.  Stores can be simple, but the things that complicate them are not always obvious.  There will also be a maintenance quote.

Room / service online booking (software)

This is an addition to a web store.  If you’re selling services instead of product, being able to book online is a huge benefit to customers.

Help Desk (software)

Another potential enhancement for your web store, in case your customers need help using/fixing your products or services.  Actual issue tracking software goes well beyond what can be done with a simple email form.

Help Desk (service)

…and a person to use that issue tracking software to answer basic questions.  This is NOT live help, but a write-back or call-back service.  Pricing will depend heavily on pre-negotiated service levels.

Custom Coding Is Also Available

If you have more ambitious plans, I can contract for front end work using an html/css/js stack with bootstrap and jQuery, and back end with node.js using express, ejs, passport and Mongo/mongoose.  I also know my way around C#, Java, SQL, and a bunch of really old stuff.  Warning: custom code can get very expensive very quickly.  It’s a lot like the difference between buying a commuter car and building a race car.