How much does a website cost?

This will depend on many factors.  What you want your website to do,  and how much traffic will it need to handle.  The costs can be broken into two categories.  The initial design costs, and the monthly hosting costs.  Websites can run from a few hundred to thousands to build.  Building a website is like building a house.  Its important to know exactly what you are getting for your money.  If you asked a contractor how much for a house, and they said $200K.  You would want to know what you are getting for $200K.  Websites are no different.  For this reason we can't just throw figures around.  If you are serious about building a website and want a developer that has the experience, contact us today.


Do you charge any monthly maintainence fees, or retainers?

Most sites will not have any monthly fees.  The only cost will be your hosting and domain renewal.  Renewing your domain can run between $8 - $25 / year depending on who your registrar is.  Hosting costs will depend on your website and what hosting plan we setup for you.  For most sites this will be around $13 / month. 


I know I need a website but I am clueless about the internet.  How do we go about this?

The first step would be a consultation.  In this meeting we will discuss your website and its purpose.  By the end of this meeting we will have a good idea of what we want to build.  This meeting can happen face to face or over the phone.  For Clients who prefer to have a more visual explanation of websites a face to face meeting is usually preferred. 

WhiteSites, Inc. will educate clients on the basic's of how a website works from the perspective of the website interface user.  Some clients prefer to not be educated on these subjects.  Depending on your website and its function, these details may not matter.  For clients trying to drive visitors to their site, certain subjects are essential so they know how to promote their website. 

Once we have a plan of what we want to build, WhiteSites, Inc. will put together an estimate for the cost.  We will email you a copy of this estimate.  To Begin work on your project we will require a minimum 50% deposit of the estimated cost to build your site, with a signed copy of the estimate returned. 

Once a deposit is received, WhiteSites, Inc. will begin work on your site.  Your website will be built on our local development server.  We will provide you an URL to this server so you can watch the progress of your website. 

Once your website is completed, we are then ready to set up your hosting account.  WhiteSites, Inc. uses HostMySite.com as its host.  We will walk you through the process of setting up your hosting account and buying your domain name.  Before we get to this point its good to have already researched what domain names are available and have a list of the ones you would be happy with.  Even though there are many domains available (.com .net .org .ca .tv), the domain that is recommended is the .com.  Other domains might be more difficult to drive traffic to them.  Most people have a habbit of typing in .com, and some people don't understand that .com and .net are different websites. If you wish, you can buy multiple domains and have them all pointed to the same hosting account.  However buying multiple domains does not increase traffic from search engines.  If you buy them it should be to protect your name, or to provide something easier to remember for your clients.

Once we have your hosting account set up, the remaining balance will be due.  Once this amount is received, your site will be uploaded to your hosting account.  Education is provided on how to use your email server and stats server. 


How can I make money with my website?

There are a few ways you can profit from your website's traffic.  Sell a product or service, or by selling advertising.  Google adsense is a service by Google that puts advertisers on your website.  Each time someone on your site clicks on an advertisement, Google pays you money.  The "pay per click" rate can range from 5 cents to a few dollars.  Some websites have enough traffic to be able to make thousands of dollars daily from adsense.  Feel free to contact us if you have questions about how to make money with adsense. 


How can I get my site to the top of the search engines?

Search Engine rankings are affected by many variables.  Some of these variables are in your control, such as the page title, content, and metatags.  Some other variables are not.  By far the most heavily weighted variable is the number of links coming back to your website.  Some websites will do a link exchange with other sites to increase the number of links coming back to its site.  Google and other search engines keep track of how many other sites link back to your site.  This is how search engines determine what is popular and what is not. 


My current webmaster is never available and takes weeks to get my updates done. Am I going to deal with the same thing with WhiteSites?

No, but this of course depends on the type of website WhiteSites builds for you.  WhiteSites, Inc. has experience working with clients who constantly have a need to update their website.  For these clients WhiteSites, Inc. usually recommends a powerfull website user interface allowing its clients to edit most of the text, and add/remove photos to their website.  This backend is user friendly so even the most computer illiterate person can update their own website.  If you have a static website with no user interface, then you would need to contact Whitesites to have updates made.  WhiteSites, Inc. prefers to build interface applications for clients, putting them in control of their website.  This usually keeps long-term costs down for the client as well.

Notice: Many times other developers don't offer much in website user interface options because they lack the experience and knowledge to build such applications.  There are thousands of developers who can build static websites.  These websites are the kind offered for as little as $200 by many development companies.  Often, their goal is to build as many websites as possible and then cram thousands of them on a single server, causing you to have a slow website with only a few pages.  WhiteSites, Inc. would prefer to build sites with an focus on quality, functionality, and customer support.  Our goal is to design and code a website that will help your company grow, help you network, and assist you in achieving a new level of interaction with your clients.


I am a non-profit company and need a website.  What can WhiteSites, Inc. do for me?

Depending on the website, WhiteSites, Inc. usually can create non-profit company's websites for reduced rate, donating a portion of the labor costs.