Q: What fees are involved in getting started with a website?

A: There three things to consider.

1. Design Fees: Professional fees for these services can range greatly depending upon the type of site you require. A standard, "just to have one" site, might run you a couple hundred dollars. If you need a site that actually works for you, you will pay more. Generally, you should expect to pay at minimum $500 for a basic site that does the job. Site costs can reach into the thousands of dollars if you require a more dynamic or database driven site, one that you plan to rely heavily on to draw in business and to make money from.
2. Domain Registrar Fees. These are paid to a domain name registrar who is a company accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and/or by a national ccTLD authority to register Internet domain names. The fees are billed annually and can range from $6.95 per year up to about $35 per year depending upon the registrar you choose. The service is the same not matter what you pay so go for the inexpensive one! You can pay for one year or up to 10 years at once. With some registrars you can even buy 100 years ahead.
3. Hosting Fees: Hosting fees are like RENT. You must pay them to your hosting provider (much like a landlord) to house your site on their servers. When there is a problem with your site, relative to hosting, you contact your provider. There are lots of hosting companies out there offering all kinds of deals. Each with their own special features. The range can be anywhere from $5 per month to hundreds per month depending upon your hosting needs. The biggies are the amount of space your website requires, like the space on your hard drive, and how much bandwidth you'll be using. Bandwidth refers to the amount of traffic on the site, visitors, uploads, downloads, email, etc. The average hosting fee is about $25 per month for a company website, nothing real dynamic, and no need or very little need for database use.

Q: What is a DOMAIN NAME REGISTRAR?

A: A Registrar is like a "lender". You buy the domain name through this licensed organization, pay them annually to keep the name, and if you default or fail to renew it, they take it back. Once you "buy it" you can do whatever you want with it: host it, sit on it, point it, park it.

Q: Is the "hosting provider" the same as the REGISTRAR?

A: No. But a Registrar can and many do, provide hosting services to their customers. Once you have a domain, you need site hosting so you can share your site with everyone on the net. You can select any hosting provider to host your site. So check out what the provider offers and make sure you're signing up for exactly what you need, nothing less and nothing more.

SIDE NOTE: Hosting providers can provide Domain Registration services if they are certified or process registration through an affiliate registration service.

Q: Do I need a shopping cart and a merchant account to sell products and/or services online?

A: If you are selling services or products through your website, you should have a shopping cart or BUY NOW buttons. This will allow customers or potential customers to purchase from you instantly, without the need to call or email you with their request. If you are only selling a couple items or services, you probably won't need a full fledged shopping cart, BUY NOW buttons will work fine. The difference is how your transactions are handled and cost - seamless to your customer. BUY NOW buttons usually have a built in fee-based processing service which requires you to sign up, but no monthly recurring fees. PayPal is a good example of a service that offers BUY NOW buttons. No statement fees, no monthly recurring fees, etc. Most standard shopping carts require you to have or sign up for an actual "merchant account" which requires an application process and monthly recurring fees. However, with a merchant account, you will be able to process credit cards both on and offline.

Q: How can I improve Search Engine Ranking and Indexing?

A: On your own or with your web developer, you can optimize your site meta tags and create a web design that is conducive with the search engine indexing algorithms. Some clients have been successful with Google AdWords to increase search engine ranking. This service allows you to "bid on" or decide how much you will pay for certain keywords of your choosing. You can run specific campaigns for specific products or services, which is most effective, or you can do a broad campaign for your site in general. The idea is to determine which words will net you the most impressions and click throughs for your site. You decide your maximum spending limit, and away you go! There are several similar options out there, I feel Google has an effective offering.

Now, if you've tried everything else and need to look into some more effective ways of marketing your site, and if you have a minmum budget of $500 or more per month, to spend on search engine indexing, we have an effective resource for you. We refer our clients to a national company that knows their stuff, has a relationship with Google and other major search engine resources, as well as being the developer of proprietary software that works with the system, knows the algorithms and puts other services to shame! The results are astonishing!

Give us a call or email us for a FREE Consultation. We'd be happy to discuss your needs!
410.268.9109 Toll Free 800.773.8849