How much is a custom site design, and how long is the wait? TOP
Custom site design varies in price from usually $500-$600 at this time depending on the complexity of the project. Sites with complicated and numerous designs as well as sites with more involved flash animation can be more than what is quoted above, because of the extra work involved. Custom site design includes a website design created for your business by Avalon Rose Design according to your specifications. Revisions are allowed, however, once the site design is approved by you you have 15 days after that to ask for additional changes to the design. After that time period, my hourly rate will apply to any changes made to the site design. An initial payment of $500 is required up front before I will begin a custom project, and any remaining fees will be due before your site design is installed. I do ask that when explaining what you are looking for in a site design that you send me as many ideas as you can.....colors, themes, images, fonts, etc. Links to other sites that you like is also something that will help. Obviously I can't duplicate another site design, but it will help give me an idea of what sort of "feel" you're going for.
My waiting list usually hovers at around 3 months long, however it is currently closer to 4-5 months out.
I do have another option for my customers that don't want to pay the higher fees for a custom site, and don't want to wait on my waiting list. Sometimes I will have a customer send me their ideas for the sort of site they are looking for.....the same as what I mentioned above (colors, themes...). Then I will create a design based on those ideas, and list it on my website in my One-of-a-Kind category at the same price as many of my other predesigned websites $300-$350. If it's what the customer wants, great!, and they can purchase it directly. If not, no big deal, as the customer is under no obligation to purchase it if it's not what they had in mind. NO revisions of the design can be made, however. Something minor like changing a font is fine, but no major changes can be made with this option. Depending on my work load, doing a design like this can take anywhere from one day to two weeks or so, but usually not longer than that.
Do you do computer drawn illustrations? TOP
No, I do not, but I can point you in the direction of someone that does wonderful digital illustrations.
Do I need to know HTML to maintain my website? TOP
What is included in my website design purchase? TOP
Prices include all graphics, html code, and installation to one of the
compatible hosts as well as a matching banner for One of a Kind site designs. Limited Edition site designs do not include card and banner design.
If you would like to use the design on a different host, I can send the code and graphics to you, but installation is not included. You will generally need to know HTML to customize your code for a different host.
Where do you recommend I go for business card printing? TOP
www.vistaprint.com or www.overnightprints.com
Why isn't my site higher on the search engines? TOP
This question has several answers. First, your site isn't going to show up right away on search engines. You will have to give it at least a month for your site to appear on any search engine, generally. Second, the ranking you get in the search engines depends on the quality of information on your website. Descriptive text is a MUST. That doesn't mean you have to cover your site with text that most of your viewers will find annoying and won't read anyway, but you must have descriptive text with keywords that people may search for your site with.
Another thing that helps is having links to your website on other websites, so exchanging links with other websites is a great idea!
Meta title, description, and keywords are also a good idea to add to your products and pages when you're editing your site, and there are boxes for you to add this information when you create a page or add a product.
Now there are several companies out there that offer SEO (search engine optimization). BEWARE as most of these are not necessarily scams, but targeted towards people that don't know much about websites, and will willing charge you unnecessarily. With the
hosts that I work with you can easily optimize your site yourself with descriptive text and meta tags.
How long does it take to install my website? TOP
The answer to this depends on you as a buyer. Once you purchase a website design from Avalon Rose Design, I will need you to forward me login information for your website. I need the FTP login info as well as your storeadmin login info. As soon as I get that information, I can get your design installed in less than 24 hours usually.
If you do not currently have webhosting with one of the
hosts that I work with you will have to sign up before I can install your design. Once you sign up for hosting, it usually takes between 24-72 hours to get your registration email that contains the login information for your site that is mentioned above.
What do I need to do after I purchase a website design? TOP
After you purchase a website design from Avalon Rose Design, you will need to forward me the FTP and storeadmin login information for your website that is hosted with either
www.Pappashop.com,
www.ShoppePro.com or
www.MerchantMoms.com. The easiest way to do this is to forward the registration email that you receive from either host after you sign up for hosting. You should receive it within 24-72 hours after signing up for hosting. It is a fairly long email with several usernames and passwords, and generally starts with something like "Please Print for your Records." Once I receive that information, I will get your website installed within about 24 hours.
Do you have references? TOP
Yes, I have several, and they are available upon request.
Can you include graphics from a digital scrapbooking site in my design? TOP
Well, that depends. Some graphics from digital scrapbooking sites are available for commercial use. Most times you will need to purchase a commercial license for your intended use, and a credit link to the designer will be required on your site. However, not all digital scrapbooking graphics are allowed to be used on a commercial site. Research the terms of use, as almost each designer has their own, and if you have any questions about it, contact the designer. I will need to have proof of permission from the designer to use a digital scrapbooking graphic in your design.
I don't know anything about websites, how does this all work? TOP
All the website designs at Avalon Rose Design are coded specifically for use with the
web hosts that I work with. Both of these hosting companies offer you a website with a built in shopping cart that is very easy to maintain on your own for a reasonable monthly fee.
These two hosts are very similar, and provide you with a website that has a user friendly website administration that will allow you to add your own pages, categories, and products to your site on your own without having to know any coding whatsoever.
To get an idea of what your website adminstration would look like, both hosts offer you a "Test Drive/Demo Store" option to try it out before you buy. Go to either homepage for
www.Pappashop.com,
www.ShoppePro.com www.EcoChicHosting.com or
www.MerchantMoms.com and you will find mention of a Test Drive/Demo Store that you can login to, and see what goes on "behind the scenes" of your website.
Both hosts provide detailed tutorials on how to get started, and are very easy to work with.
How many pages/products/categories can I have? TOP
If you have hosting with one of the hosts that I work with you can have unlimited pages, products, and categories.
Can I add music to my website? TOP
Well, yes, you CAN, but it is more a question of whether or not you SHOULD. I personally do not recommend it.
There are problems associated with having music on your website unless you are using a site that is entirely a flash website or a site that uses frames. I don't do either of those (neither is really recommended if you are concerned with having good placement on search engines), so the main problem is that the song will start over every time someone clicks on a link on your website.
Some argue that having music on your website adds an emotional element and a specific ambiance. However, most website visitors have reported finding music on websites annoying. I have found a link that may be of interest in helping you understand why music on websites is not recommended.
Can you add a counter to my website? TOP
Yes, and I recommend signing up with www.statcounter.com for a free account there. You will need to send me the bit of code that they will give you for your site so that I can install it into your template code. I don't recommend going with a visible site counter though. They are generally considered unprofessional in website designs today.
Can you add a no right click script to my site so people can't steal my photos? TOP
Well, I can, but I don't recommend it, because it doesn't work. A no right click script just disables your viewers from right clicking which causes problems for left handed viewers.
When a viewer goes to your website, all your site graphics and photos are stored in the viewer's Temporary Internet Files folder on their computer, so they already have them anyway. Plus a taking a screenshot or viewing the source code of your site will also give the viewer access to your images.
What I recommend doing is using a faint watermark over your photos, and you can create something like that in a program like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. Or there are some online services that can do it for you. People will still be able to take your photos, but they probably won't want to if it has a copyright notice right on the photo itself.
Do you do flash animation for websites? TOP
Yes, although I don't build complete flash websites. Minor to moderate animation I can do, but extensively elaborate flash animation is not something that I do at this time. It's very time consuming and the cost would be more than I feel comfortable passing along to my customers.
