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So ... You Want A Web Site For Your Organization?After talking with many organizations who want a web site but don't know where to start, we thought the we would publish a short primer about getting a web site planned, deployed and supported. Whether you are a small business or a non-profit group, this primer should help you understand what is involved in establishing a presence on the web. This primer approaches the subject from a business perspective. We have tried to keep the technical jargon limited. Where do I start? I know nothing about this stuff?You start where you would with any business process. Evaluate why you think you need a web site, what the benefits to your organization will be, what the costs will be, and make a decision as to whether to proceed or not. You should ask the following questions (and get answers for all of them):
The first three questions above you can probably answer. If not, you should have discussions about these issues with your business advisors, colleagues or other resources before you proceed. We will be glad to help you brainstorm these issues if you so desire. Just contact us by clicking here or give us a call at 205-981-1567 or 800-718-3461. Answers to the last three questions:Deployment Costs (designing, publishing and promoting your web site).There are several cost components involved in the total cost of web site deployment. They are:
Domain Name Registration cost is $70.00 (US) and entitles you to use your registered domain name for two years. At the end of the two year period you will invoiced by the Internic registrar for future years. To register a domain go to the banner/box on http://www.sollicito.com and enter the name that you think you would like. If you are a real novice and afraid to do this yourself, contact us and we will do it for you. Design Cost is truly a function of the nature of organization, the objectives and functions of your web site and the resultant level of effort required. We will be happy to provide a custom quotation for you ... click here or give us a call. Development Cost is a direct function of the site design. Again, a custom quotation is required. Just contact us. Server/Hosting Setup Costs depend on whether you plan to set up your own server and full-time Internet connection at your location or outsource this function to a hosting service, such as Sollicito, Inc.. Doing it at your location is usually a bad idea unless you have full-time information technology personnel to manage the servers and network components. Even if you do have internal capabilities, you might be better served by outsourcing these functions to avoid the additional personnel load, equipment investment, network bandwidth costs and support expenses. Outsourcing costs are usually fixed monthly rates (our typical clients spend about $30.00 per month for hosting services), eliminating much of the variable cost risks associated with a web site. Getting a web site hosting account setup with a hosting service varies in cost by the type of account and the hosting service, but usually costs less than $100.00. You can view our hosting services plans and related charges by clicking here. Promotion Expenses are the costs associated with the registration of your site with the various search engines (Yahoo, Google, Excite, Lycos, HotBot, InfoSeek, AltaVista, WhatUSeek, etc.) so that potential viewer can find your site. Also included in this category would be costs incurred for site optimization to achieve acceptable search engine ranking, advertising of the site, including the URL (Universal Resource Locator, i.e. your domain address, such as www.yourdomain.com) on your letterhead, business cards, and/or existing or new print materials or other advertising. These cost vary by organization and web site. Please contact us for a custom quotation. Support CostsMost web sites are dynamic ... their content changes frequently. In fact, if the content is not fresh and relevant why would someone want to visit your site more than once? So budgeting for continued content updates is a must. This cost will vary depending on the nature of the content and the frequency of additions, deletions and changes. We usually handle content support for our clients for a standard monthly fee, based on the average anticipated monthly level of effort required. When additional content or major changes are required that would not be included in the monthly content support fee we provide a custom quotation before beginning the work. Supporting the hardware/software/network infrastructure must also be considered. Hosting services such as Sollicito, Inc. usually include these support functions in the cost of their normal hosting fees. In-house or Outsource?If you have the knowledge, experience, available development and support personnel, equipment, network, creative marketing/promotion talent and experience and pretty good knowledge of the Internet and the World Wide Web and enjoy a challenge, perhaps you should consider doing it yourself ... if the cost analysis of in-house costs turns out be lower than the costs incurred by outsourcing. In most cases outsourcing wins ... hands down. If you still have unanswered questions or if we can be of assistance in any way, please contact us.
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