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Web
Designing |
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Getting
Your Own Website |
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You
already passed first base - you have become aware of the
need. Perhaps you saw the www. names and the @ email addresses
and wondered what they are all about, or you have been speaking
with colleagues or competitors who have Websites, or read
an article about how the web is going to change both society
and business. |
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Either
way, you want to find out more about getting your business
or organisation on the Internet. OK, This is how we do it.
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Forming
initial ideas |
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Checking the
details |
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The draft Project
Agreement |
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Registering your
domain name |
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The final stages |
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Promoting your
website |
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Post-sales support |
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Future developments
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Forming
Initial Ideas |
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One of the first issues
you will need to consider, is what you want to achieve with
your website, and whether you want to be able to sell directly
from your web page and take money in real-time. |
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If you do, then see our
section on e-commerce for more details about selling direct
and taking money over the net. |
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Our Website Design Checklist
raises a number of issues that you will want to consider,
like what you want the website to do for you, how big you
expect it to be, and so on. |
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You
will probably want to talk to your friends or colleagues
about it. You might even want to check some points with
us by phone or email, perhaps to get an idea how long it
would take, and when we could start. |
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Having
assembled your initial thoughts, you will be able to complete
the Website Design Checklist, then send it back to us. |
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Remember, there is absolutely
no commitment to engage us at this stage. |
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Checking
The Details |
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When
we receive your completed Checklist, we will then arrange
to discuss your site with you. Depending on your location,
this can be in person, by phone, or by email. |
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This
is where we go through your decisions and preferences from
the Website Design Checklist, agree the number of pages,
how they link to each other, and so on. |
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We
also make sure that we both understand what you want from
your site, and decide some of the more technical matters
- like checking what domain names are available (if you
want your own); the initial site layout; which ISP is going
to host the pages for you, and what the best file structure
will be for the future. |
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The
Draft Proposal Agreement |
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At
the end of this process we will be able to prepare a written
project plan setting out all the points we have agreed,
and advising you of the likely the cost of the work. Two
copies of this will be sent to you, and if you want us to
undertake the design, you are asked to sign and return them.
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You
will be asked to enclose a cheque for 50% of the total project
cost at this stage, and to begin to send us the text you
want to use on each page, or at least a draft what you want
to say, (preferably on a floppy disk), together with any
other materials that you want included (photographs etc.).
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We
will sign and return your copy of the agreement. Returning
the signed project agreement and part payment to us signifies
your decision to engage us, and when you receive your copy,
the agreement forms the contract between us. |
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Registering
Your Domain Name |
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The
next stages are: |
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As
teleworking grows, this is likely to become increasingly
important. |
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To
Receive Information |
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You
might also want to get connected so that you can receive
information from the Internet. |
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Using
a Web browser programme, finding new suppliers, comparing
prices, and getting product specifications are all quite
easy. |
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You
can even plan your train journeys from an interactive Railtrack
website that asks you to type where you are gong from and
to, and what time you want to leave or arrive. |
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It
then provides a list of train times and connections for
the journey that you can print and take with you. |
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It
is as up to date as to-day. |
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To
register your domain name (if required) |
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To sign up with
your Internet service provider and website host. |
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(If
you don't already have an ISP or website host we can advise
you which one (s) can best suit your particular needs).
We will also work with your ISP and host to make sure that
their cgi-bin files, scripts and server settings are suitable
for your needs. |
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We
can also offer you the use of a Extended Domain names if
you don't want the cost of buying your own, or if the one
you want has been taken by someone else. |
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Now
we can begin work to build your website according to the
Proposal Agreement. |
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When
we have something prepared, you will be able to view the
draft on screen. At this stage, we can incorporate minor
design changes to suit your preference. |
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You
can also begin to plan changes to existing stationery (letterheads,
invoices, brochures etc.) to include your new email and
www addresses |
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The
Final Stages |
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In
the final stages, your Website construction becomes completed,
and is tested off-line. Then we upload the pages to your
service provider/website host & test all the links to
full working order. |
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You
approve the final site, and provide the final payment |
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Promoting
Your Website – also see SEO |
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We
ask you to provide a short paragraph (about 20 words) as
a summary of your site. This will be used as the description
that appears under the site name when search engines display
your site name the link to your page, and your URL. |
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We
also ask you to provide some keywords that we will embed
in the code for the page (unseen by your viewers), but which
will be used by robots and spiders that search the web,
indexing and cataloguing web pages for the search engines.
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We
register your site with all the main search engines such
as Lycos, Google, Alta Vista, Web Crawler, Yahoo, and so
on to publicise it. If you have any special search engines
in mind, we can usually register with them as well. It usually
takes between a day and several weeks for your site to be
indexed and available to the world, depending on the facilities
offered by each search engine. |
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If
you have a trade association, or you are affiliated to another
organisation with a website, we will email them the code
for a link to your site from theirs. We will also put a
link from our site to yours. |
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We
will provide you with the linking code so that you can give
it to your suppliers or colleagues, enabling their visitors
to click on the link to come to your site. |
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If
you require, we will also provide page templates that allow
you to make up pages yourself. |
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If
you plan a site launch, we can advise and will assist with
press releases and media notification |
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Finally,
if you have a web connection yourself, we provide an on-site
introduction to using email and to basic site navigation.
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That
marks the end of the contract we have with you. |
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Post
Sales Support |
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We
troubleshoot any problems via telephone or email support
for the next three months, and will check with you from
time to time to see that everything is just as you would
wish it. |
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During
this time, any minor changes to your site, (perhaps a change
of someone's name, or phone number etc.) will be made without
additional charge. |
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New
pages, or more significant alterations will be charged at
the rate shown on the current price list. |
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Future
Developments |
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We
are of course, always available to extend, or further develop
the site, or to provide other services in the future. |
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Our
aim is to exceed your expectations, and encourage you to
suggest us to your colleagues and friends when they are
considering having a website made. |
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