Trusted Website & Graphic Design Team of Michigan
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a website cost?
- How long does it take for a website or flyer to be completed?
- How do I send files?
- Where do I get a domain name and hosting from?
- Will Ikreator maintain my website or can I do it?
- What do you mean by: Digital Printers only?
- What is a blog?
- How do I get my website on the first page of Google?
More Answers (Links)
How much does a website cost?
Web development costs $75/hr, print design costs $50/hr and consultation is just $25. We require 1/3 deposit to begin. Websites usually cost $2000 and up, but this can vary because all projects are different.
How long does it take?
It depends on the project. Usually websites take 3-5 weeks to complete. Printed materials can be completed within days instead of weeks. You will know the exact time once the project is reviewed and before you decide to start the project.
How do I send files?
You can send most content like Word documents and small images via
email. Large files usually jam up the email system and so we use our
FTP or the website www.yousendit.com to
receive and send large files. A large file would be anything over 2MB.
We prefer that you
group all the required files into one zip folder for easy delivery.
Zipping your files into one file will allow you to compress its size
and allow you to send all the content at once instead of multiple times;
this is the best and most productive way to send files.
Where do I get a domain name & web hosting services?
You can get both (and we recommend it) from a company called www.godaddy.com.
We've been using this company for years. They have the best service
so far, compared to most. Their uptime is 99.9%, customer service is
professional & speedy and their prices are the most reasonable
thus far. Some web hosting servers are slow and tend to lock or freeze
during file transfers. If this is the case with your current server,
we make ask you to switch, but the choice is yours.
Choosing A Domain Name
Choose a short, understandable and memorable name. A name without hyphens
and with the extension .com. Why dot com? Because this is the
most recognized extension. Visitors often assume a website
will end with .com, so
go with the flow - don't confuse them if you don't have to. Its up
to you to determine your extension. I would suggest that - if its available
-
get the .com extension as well. Then you can have all the other
extensions forward to the main extension. Other extensions include:
- .gov - Government Entities
- .org - Organizations
- .edu - Educational Entities
- .net - Internet Entities
- .tv - Television, Multimedia & Entertainment
- .info - Information
- .biz - Small Businesses
- .us - All American
- .com - Commerical
Will Ikreator maintain my website or can I do it?
Yes. We will maintain your site after completion. We will create a specific schedule and payment plan for monthly maintenance. Can you do it yourself? Yes you can. We currently don't recommend it unless you understand HTML and other coding languages. Can I use Adobe Contribute® or other content management systems? Yes you can, but use at your own risk - any mishaps won't be fixed without additional charges.
What do you mean by: Digital Printers only?
We design our printed materials for digital printers, we do not create
files for offset printers. So if you use a offset printer, our files
won't work. Digital printing is a direct-to-paper process. As a result,
it often runs about 1/2 of the cost of offset printing. Digital printing
is a four-color printing process (cyan, magenta, yellow,
and black).
Imagery and text is printed in tiny dots that when visually mixed together,
create millions of colors. This can produce a wide range of different
color results at no additional charge. But offset printing is charged
based on the amount of colors you have - the more colors, the more
money. Why limit yourself to how many colors you can have? Digital
Printing is faster since there's no pre-press work or setup and some
printers can even offer same-day service. We use a company called www.vistaprint.com.
What is a Blog?
A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website,
usually maintained by one individual through a simple to use interface
for non-technical
users. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject;
others function as personal online diaries.
A typical blog combines
text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media
related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in
an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs
are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs
(photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio
(podcasting). This Information was taken from Wikipedia.org.
How do I get my website on the first page of Google?
This is everyone's favorite question. The answer is: everyone in the
world wide web can't
be on the first page of Google, there's just not enough room. If you
do get on the first page (which I have been in the past) you may not
stay. The above question is best answered by a SEO (Search Engine
Optimizer)
expert. But from what I know of my own SEO research: every website
is listed on Google and other major search engines automatically. Getting
on the first page of Google consist of making your HTML pages attractive
to
Google.
Google
looks
for 3
things
and judges your website by these 3 things:
Keywords, Description and Content. The Keywords and Description tell
what your site is all about and matches it to the search terms people
use to find websites. Think about the terms people may use to find your
website. These words are added to meta-data included into your website
by your developer. Send your developer this information and it will be
added. The last part is the most important, the Content - the written
copy for your website. There are many websites that teach you how
to write good copy for your website or you can always hire a Copywriter.
The objective is to match the Content with the most popular Keywords
and Description and your site will reach higher in the listings. The
more Content you have about a particular subject, the higher the listing.
High listings in Google isn't
the only way to get your site noticed. You can put your address on all
your marketing materials, add it to the
signature of your email letters, forums and blogs. You do not
have to rely on a search engine. But one more thing: it takes time (6
months or more) to get a high listing, so be patient and I would highly
recommend a SEO expert if its important that you be on page one of Google.
Hope this helps.