The Basics:

Why does your small business need a website?

You may be wondering, "How can I afford a business website in these challenging times?"

Actually, the question is, "How can you NOT afford one?"

Let's look at the facts, print versus online media;

Doesn't print advertising do the job?

• Print Media - You can take out ads in local newspapers and send out flyers about your business, and to some extent, these work. The rest of the time, they end up as expensive birdcage liners.
• A Business Website - You have 24/7 Representation. Customers can always look you up on the web. If you're a restaurant, your menu and prices, along with maps and phone numbers, are always available. People will look you up when they need to, with no waste of resources. Also, your website can be viewed over a much larger area than print advertising... they don't call it the World Wide Web for nothing.

How do I share something new about my business with prospective clients?

• Print Media - Whenever you make a change, when will your clients know about it? Again, are you going to have to print up a new batch of flyers and spend the postage to keep your clients up to date?
• A Business Website - Dynamic Updating. Have a price or product change? Update it quickly on your website. No embarrassing outdated information, and at a greatly reduced cost to you. Potential customers can view FAQ's on your business instantly, instead of tying up your phone lines with redundant questions. Do you have public events scheduled for your business? Put a calendar on your site, updateable by you. Need to get feedback from your customers? An online form handles that quite nicely.

Can't do that with print media.

OK, you sold me. But If I do get a website, why should I use Mind To Sight Web Design over an online designer?

Instead of getting a cookie cutter site from a company located halfway across the country, you'll get a site designed from scratch, from a local Redmond business that, from face-to-face meetings, will understand your product and your position in the community.

While we're on the subject of local, remember that the purchase of a site from us will insure that those funds will go right back into the Redmond economy.

The Process:

1. Let's Meet-Up

The first meeting is the most important because it gives us  a chance to get to know your company and the purpose of your website . We also decide what your domain name will be, and advise you on how to secure and purchase it. When we have determined all that,  we will give you an affordable quote for the project and a 50% deposit will be collected.

2. Organize & Plan

All elements of the site (text content, photographs, artwork, etc) will need to be submitted by you by email or media (disc, thumb drive, etc.) before any designing can be started. You may also choose to have stock images used, in which case a fee covering the expense of the images will be added to the final cost.

3. Design

You will be given a unique web address from which you can view the development of your site as it progresses, and you can send us your suggestions  and preferences as we develop the site. This way, you will get to take part in the development of the final product.

4. Final Meeting

We will go over the final draft. Once you have  approved the design, the residual fees are collected and, if you haven't one already, we help set you up with a hosting service.

5. Go Live!

Your site is published to the web! Allow 24 hours to upload all elements to the host site.

 

What You Get with Any Package:

Home page contains Welcome statement, selected images or custom graphic, navigation links, copyright statement if applicable.

Personal Information page containing About statements, bios, links and contact information. Two additional pages (up to four pages total).

Intuitive navigational links (Listing of up to 20 links).

Basic image editing as necessary: including cropping, resizing, adjusting brightness/contrast, sharpening, optimization of file size to provide the best balance between image quality and download time on an average 56K modem. Digital images should be scanned at no less than 180 dpi. This basic package includes scanning and basic image editing for the four pages included in the package. Please note that Flash animations and/or sountracks may slow load times dramatically for dial-up users. Meta tags will be written into the HTML of the main page---meta tags allow search engines to discover your site so that your page can be listed in a search. The client must supply keywords for search, in which MtS will assist.

Site will be tested for IE, Firefox, Chrome, Netscape and Safari browser compatibility (minor variations in appearance may be evident).

Search engine submission with Google: one time submission.

Updates and changes: Two years free site maintenance (text updates only). After the free site maintenance guarantee has expired, the client may either hire MtS to maintain the site on a monthly contract or on a per-job basis. (Note: Client manipulation of HTML paths and links, image and/or Flash files is not recommended).

Viewing Work in Progress. A prototype version of the client's site will always be viewable from a server on which MtS will be developing the site. Client input is not only encouraged, it is a must!

Domains. MtS can suggest domain providers, but we do not provide domains or register domain names. This is for the client's protection and ease-of-use.

Text Content. When requested, MtS will assist the client in writing text content for the site, but in the end, it is the client who must provide the content. We strongly urge the client to have a basic text content formed beforehand to aid in the layout of the page design.

What if I want to maintain my own site? Mind to Sight does not design user-editable websites, but a good alternative would be to use joomla.com. This user-friendly design site lets you create you own sophisticated website for no charge for the first 30 days. When that trial time is up, you can either use their cloudaccess hosting site, starting at $4.95/month, or move your site to the hosting service of your choice. If you feel you can create a site by yourself, more power to you, but if you need help, Mind to Sight will aid you for a nominal fee.