What is a Web Address (domain name)?
Practically speaking, your Web Address is your Internet identity and your online brand. Your customers will remember this name and use it to find your Web site, your products or your services. And since no two parties can ever hold the exact Web Address simultaneously, your Internet identity is totally unique. Technically, a Web Address is an addressing construct used for identifying and locating computers on the Internet. While computers use Internet Protocol (IP) numbers to locate each other on the Internet, people find them hard to remember. Therefore, Web Addresses were developed to permit the use of easily remembered words and phrases to identify Internet addresses. When you type yourcompany.com into a Web browser or send an e-mail to someone at yourcompany.com, the Domain Name System (DNS) translates the yourcompany.com address into the IP numbers used by the Internet and connects you to that site. You can use an existing Web address or request a new one.

What is Web hosting?
In order to establish your online identity with a Web site, you'll need the name and number of at least two computers (known as hosts or name servers), so your customers can find you on the Internet.

What is a Web site "design"?
Web site designs are professional-quality templates that include complex features such as intricate page layouts (versus basic headers and wallpapers), custom interactive buttons (versus hyperlink navigation), unique font and color schemes (versus basic HTML text styles), and the use of dynamic button rollovers.

What costs are involved in setting up a website?
There are really three major cost areas to be aware of:
1. Domain name registrar charges - These are the charges you pay in order to become the owner of a domain name ex. www.yourbusinessname.com. Their current cost for domain registration is about $8/yr.
2. Website Hosting - These are the costs you will need to pay in order to give your website a server to be hosted from (a place to live).
3. Website Design Costs - These costs will vary depending on the size and nature of your website.
4. Promotions - this can vary from $5/month to $5000/month.

Will I be able to see my site before it gets published to the Internet?
I will let you view your Web pages on a temporary Site before it is published to your permanent web address so that you may see each page and then make any changes if necessary. Normally, I design the home page and get your approval, so that the site-wide theme for all the other pages can be established. Then, during the process of completing the remaining pages, I will upload that days work to this temporary web address. This will allow you to follow along with the design process.

How long will it take to build my site?
After gathering all of your relevant data (logo, pictures, content, etc.), I can create your Web site within one week and present it to you online. Once you review and give me your feedback, the remaining process is to complete the site and make it live online. This varies depending on the complexity and functionality of your website. A typical website development will take about a month. This allows enough time to ensure that appropriate consideration has been given to each stage.

What if I want to change my site content after it's been published?
My Web sites are designed to be flexible and to grow with your business. You can always update your text and graphics by simply requesting your changes.

How much will it cost to make changes to my Web site after it has gone live?
Quite often if a client simply needs a quick change such as editing text which will only take a few minutes I simply do it for free. If the changes or additions appear to be significant then I will simply bill you at my current hourly rate.

What should I do to prepare for having a site developed?
Primarily you will have to think about the right things to say about your firm to help your site serve its purpose as you are ultimately the one that needs to write the core content. You will need to sit down and consider how to break down all of the information you would like to present and write it effectively. You don't necessarily have to do it all, as we can help you with your content, but only you truly understand the real details specific to your business.

Can you maintain our website for us?
Yes I can either maintain your website on an hourly rate for rare or infrequent changes or can offer you a customized maintenance plan based on how often you'll need changes/additions to the site.

Do you offer email with your webhosting?
Yes. I use Readyhosting & Hostway. During consultation I can help you choose the best plan for you.

I need a members only section/restricted section of the website, can you do that?
Yes, assuming your hosting solution supports it (or if you're hosting with me).

We don't have a company logo, can you design one?
Yes.

How do I get started with a website design?
Simply complete my website development quote form.

Do you have examples of websites you have built?
Check out my portfolio.

Does it matter that you are over there and I am over here?
Many of my clients are interstate. A strong communicative process ensures the smooth running or your project no matter where you are.

What website design and development services do you offer?
I can handle all aspects of planning and creating the entire website. This includes layout and design, programming, & hosting.

How much does a website cost?
Websites vary greatly in cost. A small site with only a few pages and a simple design may only cost a few hundred dollars. Whereas, a large elaborate site may be in the thousands of dollars. The best way to get an idea of the cost for your site is to fill out our quotes form. I can then give you a more exact idea of the price.

What do I need in order to have e-commerce on my site?
At a minimum, you should have a merchant account, a shopping cart and a secure web server. The merchant account allows you to accept credit cards. The shopping cart, of course, allows for online transactions. And the secure web server protects the information that is transfered over the internet. Our designers can help you with these and other e-commerce options.

Do you handle getting our domain name and a web host?
Yes.

What makes a good web site?
· Easy to navigate, links clearly identified
· Uncluttered
· Focused message
· Fast loading
· Minimal scrolling required.
· Works (i.e., tested on both Netscape and Internet Explorer)

What makes a bad site?
· Flash and other animation requiring plug-ins and lots of network bandwidth.
· Pop ups that have nothing to do with the site
· Home pages that say "enter here" making you watch their useless animation's
· Too many colors
· Mystery meat navigation - No description of a link
· Icons that bear no resemblance to the business or message being portrayed
· Requires Sherlock Holmes to find valuable information inside
· Too much information in one place

What will my Web pages contain?
I will include anything you ask for!It all depends on the complexity of your Web Site. You make the decisions and I include them into your Web pages. Mostly, items like text describing your products or services, corporate logos, main menu, tables, feedback, comments/suggestions or order forms, email links, navigational link bars, hyper links, images, animation, short sound or video clips, search engines, Java or any thing else that you specify and fits your requirements and budgets. (Please note that a web page is the equivalent of a 8 1/2' X 11" page when printed.)

Will my Web Site look the same in different browsers?
I currently testing every page of your Web Site with the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator to make sure they display pages consistently. If you require your page to be optimized for a specific browser please notify me. Additionally, all pages are designed to the Internet standard screen size of 800 X 600 dpi. If you require your pages to be designed to a screen size greater than 800 X 600 please notify me. Please note that I do not recommend designing pages to screen resolutions lower than 800 X 600.

How are search positions attained and how do I get listed first?
Search engines (e.g., Yahoo, AltaVista, Lycos, MSN, Hotbot, Dogpile, Google, Ask Jeeves, Excite etc) have different methods to determine which sites are listed first. They also change the methods periodically to "level the playing field." Typically, they all search in the Meta portion of the HTML document for Key Words. Many of them will do a periodic search and lower the position of "stale" sites. In other words, it pays to update your site on a continual basis to maintain interest as well as to maintain your search position. Some search engines require payment to secure a prime search position.

What is Link Popularity?
Link Popularity is an important factor in determining how well your website ranks on the major search engines and directories. Many search engines now determine how high your website ranks according to the number of quality sites that link to yours.

What is page optimisation?
In order for your site to achieve high rankings for relevant search terms across the major search engines and directories, your website pages must be correctly optimised. There are a large amount of factors that search engines consider when ranking your website pages. These include textual content, page structure, and Link Popularity to name but a few.

What is a directory?
Directories are search vehicles that are run, compiled and edited by humans. This means that when you submit a site you can only submit the root domain and a description for your website. Your site is then reviewed by an editor, who will then decide whether your site will be included in the index. Each directory has a large amount of criteria that a site must adhere to before they will consider it for submission.

What is a paid inclusion?
Increasing number of search engines and directories are now offering a paid inclusion service. These paid inclusion services are in most cases the only way of ensuring fast indexing of your site. Each paid inclusion programme works in a slightly different way, some guarantee inclusion of your site pages for a specific amount of time, others only guarantee that an editor will review your website for inclusion. Some require a one off payment and some require an annual fee.

What is Pay for Performance?
As search engine optimisation to many people is still an unknown entity, some feel slightly unsure about paying for a service where there is no guaranteed result or quantifiable product.

What is Pay Per Click Advertising?
Pay per Click Advertising is currently the best way of guaranteeing rankings on a number of major search engines and directories. The major Pay per Click search engine is Overture. Pay per Click Advertising works by bidding for a position for a particular search term. For example, you could bid 17 pence to appear at number one for the term "product one". Your site will then appear at number one when someone searches using that term. Pay per Click engines supply their results to many of the major search engines and directories. For example, AltaVista currently puts the top 3 positions from Overture at the top of its results page. This means that if you were bidding 17pence to rank number 1 for "product one" on Overture. If someone went to AltaVista and typed in "product one" your site would rank at the top of the page in a special sponsored listings area, above the main results. When you bid for a term you only pay the money if someone clicks on your listing. Therefore, you only pay for the traffic you receive. Using this model, you can track your cost per click, as well as cost to sale. For each search term that you bid for, you are required to submit a title and description for that listing.

What is a spider?
A spider is a program that automatically finds Web pages. They are used to supply web pages to search engines. It works its way across the web using links to go from web page to web page.

What is a Meta tag?
These are tags in written in HTML which tell a search engine information about your web page

What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
This is a web based user interface that allows the client to amend parts of their website content themselves instead of using 3rd party suppliers to do the work.

What is an ISP?
ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. This is a term used for a company that provides your access to the Internet. Normally you will pay a monthly fee to use their software package. You will be issued with an access telephone number, username and password. Using a modem you can then log on to the Internet and browse the World Wide Web. ISPs also serve large companies, connecting them direct to the Internet from their company network.

What is a browser?
A Web browser is a software application used to locate and display pages from the World Wide Web. Two examples of popular Web browsers would be Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator.

What is a hyperlink?
This is a link that has been created in an electronic document that links to another place in the same document or to an entirely different document. Activated by a click with the mouse or pressing return on the link.

What is a web server?
This is a computer that gives out Web pages to the World Wide Web.

What is a payment gateway?
A separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the shopping cart. This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via your shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. The shopping cart is configured via plugins to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.

How will I know when I have an order?
When using a payment gateway system in connection with the cart, you will receive all of your orders via e-mail. As a merchant you will receive 2 e-mail messages, the first is generated by the cart, and supplies you with the necessary information to fulfill the order, such as names, addresses, and items ordered. The second will come from your payment gateway, and will tell you the status of the order approval. You should wait to ship a product until you have received this order status message.

What if the customer's payment method is declined?
If you receive a declined message from your gateway regarding an order, you will need to contact the customer and ask for alternative payment. The customer will not receive notification via e-mail of the approval status.

What about the security of E-Mail?
All information pertaining to credit card payment is stripped from all e-mail before being sent out.

What is an Internet merchant account?
A type of bank account that allows you to accept credit card payments online. It handles fraud checks on each transaction, as well as the transfer of funds from your customer’s credit card to your bank account. You will need a merchant account in order to perform any online credit card transactions. So An Internet merchant account is not an actual bank account - it is more like a line of credit that enables the credit card networks to route funds to you quickly (within a couple of days) rather than having to wait for the credit cardholder to pay their monthly statements. There are many, many, sales organizations that offer the Internet merchant account. An Internet merchant account Setup and purchase costs have drastically fallen over the years. You can expect to pay $99 and up, on a real-time processing solution for your Internet business. However, processing rates and fees for an Internet merchant account have pretty much stayed the same. Discount rates range from 1.99% to 2.59%. And transaction fees range from $0.30 to $0.35 cents on average. Most places charge a monthly gateway fee as well; This usually ranges from $10-$20/month. However, if you search hard enough you'll find a company who doesn't charge a lot of the typical monthly fees you see out there.

Why are processing rates higher for an Internet merchant account?
It all goes back to the fact that the customer's credit card is not actually swiped through a terminal, like in retail storefronts. Since this is the case, it is believed that there is a higher risk of fraud, hence the reason for higher processing rates.
If you have a bricks and mortar business then you have a merchant account that enables you to accept point of sale (POS) transactions where the buyer is present to ‘swipe’ his or her credit card at the time of purchase. If you have a mail order or telephone order business then you probably have a MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) merchant account. If you want to accept credit cards over the Internet you will need the latter type of account.
A merchant account for an online business is similar to a merchant account for a mail order business in that there is risk associated with the fact that the buyer and credit card are not physically present – this is called a ‘cardholder not present’ (CNP) transaction. While authorization for a CNP transaction validates that the cardholder has sufficient funds in his or her bank account, it does not assure payment of the transaction since there is no guarantee that the cardholder is initiating the transaction. In other words, the chance of fraud is increased and because of the amplified risk these types of accounts tend to be more costly.

How do I choose a merchant account provider?
As far as choosing the merchant account, I leave that up to you. The only thing I recommend is to go with someone who you have done banking with before. Most people use their local bank to set up the account. So When you're ready to open a merchant account, the best place to start is with your local bank. If your business is less than 2 years old, you still should be able to establish a merchant account, provided you have a history, either business or personal, with that institution.

Whats the difference between batch (manual) payment processing or real-time payment processing.
Manual processing means the order is received with the credit card number through a phone call, fax, or online form and processed manually, either by contacting the payment processing company to verify the credit card number or by using a point of sale terminal to swipe the card. In contrast, real-time payment processing means the credit card is automatically processed when the customer submits an order. Once the credit card is verified and approved, the customer receives immediate notification that the order is accepted and the funds are transferred from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s account. Whether you choose batch or real-time processing depends primarily on the number of transactions that occur on your site. If you expect low volume sales then manual processing is a viable route. It is not only less costly than real-time processing but it also protects against fraud, as you have more control over the processing procedure. The major disadvantage is the amount of time it takes to manually process orders. On the other hand, real-time processing is better for large volume sales and for products that are sent electronically. Time is saved in processing the order, but it is more expensive to have and requires continuous monitoring to ensure there is no downtime.