THE OPTIONS THEME

Web Site Costs and other Useful Information

Important Notes

Our fees are generally $40 per page or $40 per hour (whichever is the greater) for sites up to $500 and $40 per hour after that. Each page includes 1 hour coding/uploading. Some pages take less than 1 hour to code (some take more). To give you value for money we will spend any spare time from screens that take less than 1 hour will be used on screens that take more than 1 hour. In all probability the more screens you want coded the more the costs should even out.

The details on this page can be used by yourself to make an estimate of the possible cost of your web-site. For a more accurate quote please feel free to contact us with your web-site details.

To view or hide the article details click on the title.

Page Types You May Want?

Page Types You May Want

These are a few of the sorts of pages that a normal web-site may need.

Index

Describes the purpose of the site. This page can be almost any particular page type (such as accordion, Content Management etc.) but there must be at least 1 page called index.htm or index.html.
Comments: mandatory
Cost: $50


Accordion

Used for question and answer pages (FAQ etc.). The answers to any questions hidden until the question is selected. Once the question is selected the answer springs into view. This page is an example of an Accordion page type.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50


Contact Form

This page allows people to send you comments, information and attachments. It makes it very easy for them to contact you.
Comments: This page is worthwhile having.
Cost: $50


Guest Book

These pages let people leave comments about your site/service etc. and view previous comments.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50


Image Display

These page types display images that you may want to sell or just show. There are many ways that the images can be shown (animated slideshow or single images). All you have to do is choose the one that is appropriate for your web-site.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50


Links

Links pages link your site to other sites (and other sites use them to link to yours). Some search engines also use the amount of links from and to your site to improve your search rankings. This increases site traffic (and therefore sales).
Comments: These pages are worthwhile having.
Cost: $50


Lockdown

This type of page provides a password protected area that only those with the correct username and password can access. It can be used to store almost anything you want to keep confidential.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50


Payloom

This type of page is required for E-Commerce web-site. It lets people purchase your products via paypal.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50 + US$25 License


Site Map

Site Maps should be included in every web-site as search engines specifically look for them. This in turn helps improve your search engine ranking. This increases site traffic (and therefore sales). They also guide people around your site. Only one is needed per web-site.
Comments: Every web-site should have one.
Cost: $50


Web Log (Blog)

Lets you keep people informed about what you are doing. Such as where/what you are going to do/sell/photograph next and when the will be ready. People can read your blog and add comments and requests.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50


WeaverFM

WeaverFM is a Content management System like Web Yep (Below). It allows you to add files and directories to your web-site directly from your browser whenever you want. Only one is needed per web-site.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50


Web Yep

This is a page that you can update from any computer with an with latest news, specials etc. To update the page click on the lock icon, enter your username and password, make your updates and then save the changes. You do not need me to update this. Each web-site owner must purchase their own license.
Comments: Optional
Cost: $50 + €29.00 (Single License) or €89.00 (White Label Option)

Additional Costs?

Additional Costs For Your Web-Site

Web-site Theme

Themes set out the particular look, feel and operation of a web-site. Every website has one. In the past the theme of a web-site was hard coded into the the web-site. This meant that changing the "theme" of a web-site was a long and costly task.

These days many web-site design programs have a selection of "themes" are built into them. To change the theme all that has to happen is to select a different one and then adjusting the themes styles until you get what you want. This means that the time and cost of changing a theme are dramatically reduced. The changes can then be uploaded to your website host.

If you choose a theme that comes standard with rapidweaver (there are about 40 standard themes) or is free from the net then there is no charge for the use of the theme.

Generally if a theme needs to purchased it will up to about $10-$20 each. Multiple themes can usually be purchased in packages for a relatively little cost per theme ($5-$10).

Theme makers generally require a lisence to be purchased for each web-site that they are use on. For this reason if you want me to use a purchased theme you will need to either purchase it and send it to me, or (if you want) I can purchase it (under your name) and add the charge to your bill.

Key Words

Key words are search words added to each page of a web site. Good key words can dramatically increase your ranking in search engines. You can send the ones you want included to me, and I will attempt to add a selection of key words that I think would be useful. The best way to look for appropriate key words is to use a reverse search engine. If you do not know what this is you can either google it or search for it in wikipedia.

Water Marks

Water marks are used to reduce piracy and prove your ownership of images sold/used on your web-site. Usually your logo, signature, web-site address etc. is added to an image. You can either add them yourself to reduce costs, or you can send them to me to add the watermark (which will cost $50 per hour).

Payloom Coding

Coding (in payloom) of the each item for sale between 2-5 minutes per item (or 12-30 items per hour) at $50 per hour.


For a more accurate quote I will also need to know:
  • How many items you have.
  • The type of item you are selling.
  • Any options each item (size, model, colour etc.).

Audio, Video, Images and Text Files

If you are selling these files I prefer the names to be formated as:
  • Audio: number_name_bitrate.type (eg. 0001_Audio_320kbps.mp3).
  • Images and Video: number_name_resolution.type (eg. 0001_picture_1680x1050.jpg).
  • Text: name.type (eg. text.pdf).

This is just my personal preference. It is not actually needed for any specific program or plugin. So if you don't want to go to the trouble of renaming your files (or you are satisfied with their current names) then I will not change them.
The reasons I prefer this format are that the files:
  • the files are much easier to sort,
  • contain all of the basic file information in the file name,
  • the files names looks neater and more professional when displayed on the web-site.

If the these files need to have their names changed I need to know if you will pay me to do it, or if you want to save money and do it yourself.

Additional Web-site Themes

Additional Web-site Themes

As I have previously stated the makers of themes for sale usually require web-site designers to purchase a theme license for each theme used by a customer. So, if the theme you want is a theme that is for sale then either you will have to purchase it or I will have to purchase it under your name and add the cost to your bill. However, once you own the license to a particular theme you can use it on any number of web-sites you own.

If you choose to use a theme that comes with the Rapidweaver program or is free then there is no cost for the use of the theme.

If you find that the themes I have do not match the look you want for your web-site then these web-sites may be of help to you.

Their themes can usually be purchased separately or in bundles (which are much cheaper).
Additionally many of these web-sites also sell additional graphics that can be added to their themes.
Some even offer custom design services for both themes and logos (for a fee).
Below are a few web-sites that these themes are available from.

One of the web-site design programs that I use is called Rapidweaver. It is owned by http://www.realmacsoftware.com.
Their web-site has links to hundreds of themes.

There is also a list of companies that have themes for sale here.

Free Stuff

Free Stuff

Many web-sites fail despite everything that their owners try to do to make them a success. Generally, the more information that you know about who is (or is not) visiting your web-site the better. Of the many tools out there to do this I recommend Google Analytics and Statcounter. Click here to see some of Google Analytics features.

With their code you will be able to know:
  • What pages they visit,
  • How long their visit was for,
  • If they return (and how often),
  • What screen resolution they have,
  • Their location (country, state, city etc.),
  • Which browser they used (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera etc.),
  • What computer system they use (Windows, Mac, Linux etc.),
  • Which search words they used to find your web-site (do they match your keywords)

Once you know this information you can alter your web-site to suite those who you want to attract (and keep returning).

These web-sites do this by providing a small piece of code that can be added your web-site pages. When the pages are loaded the code sends this information to the Google Analytics or Statcounter web-site. You can access this whenever you want. I am willing to create your account and add this to your web-site for free.

Encrypted/hidden email address to stop spam

Many spammers use programs known as 'bots'. These programs search the internet collecting e-mail addresses to spam. When I code up your web-site i will hide or encrypt your email address to stop these bots from finding it. This should severely reduce any possible spam that you get from your web-site.

Custom Forms?

Do I Design Custom Forms?

I can design custom forms that will e-mail you whatever details you want people to submit to your web site. The results will be e-mailed to your email address. If you have a database that can download these e-mails and import the results into a database you can then process the results.

I will need your original forms to be e-mailed to me so that I can extract the necessary details.

The cost is $40 per form or $40 per hour.

Flash Animation?

Do I Do Flash Animation?

Yes, however if there is one thing I have learnt from looking at internet web-sites it is use it sparingly and never use it on introduction screens.

Most look really good when done correctly and web designers love to make them but people generally hate them and will go elsewhere as soon as they see them loading. This is the exact opposite of what you want. The reasons for this are:
  • the files are relatively large and take a long time to load,
  • If the animation stops loading any embedded links and animations may not work,
  • If the animation loads correctly any embedded links and animations can be difficult to find

If you do decide that you want one as an introduction to your web-site at least place an option on the screen to bypass them.

If you want to use it then I suggest using it only when needed and only in appropriate places (and not the introduction screen).

Re-Designing Web-Sites?

Can I Re-Design An Existing Web-Site?

Yes.

Generally all that need to happen is for you to provide me with a complete copy of your web-site and I will import the data into Rapidweaver. Once it has been imported I will have to remove any formatting that will interfere with the theme formatting (such as font types and sizes) and re-arrange any objects (pictures, tables etc.) so that they look nice. The time taken to do this depends on how well the web-site was written and the size of the web-site.

Once the web-site has been imported and a theme selected and customised the new updated web-site can be uploaded into a secure directory of your host site for testing. This way any problems can be found and corrected before the updated web-site becomes live. Once any errors have been corrected the old web-site is then archived (so that it can quickly replace the updated web-site if needed) and the updated web-site made live.

Databases?

Do I Design Databases?

Sorry, I do not do Databases. However if you hire someone that does do databases then you can give the code to me for inclusion in your web-site.

Most small web-sites have little or no need for databases anyway.