[two_third] Website design is often time where customers cut corners in order to save a few bucks.  In 2002, that made a lot of sense because of the usage of the internet back then, however according to http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm 77.4% of North America is online, and growth over the last 10 years is 146.3%.  That said, your website today is often times the first impression a potential customer has of your business, and if you try to save a few dollars in the development of the site it’s often the last impression a potential customer had of your business. [/two_third] [one_third_last] Web 2.0[/one_third_last]

Chris doesn’t develop websites, nor does he have any intention of trying to.  He is under the firm belief of sticking to what you’re good at, however he has worked with many design firms over the past 10 years and can give you some great referrals, most of Chris’s customers have chosen Denver Media for website design.

What does a website cost?  I suppose it’s like asking a doctor to write a prescription without seeing you first.  Ball park for a custom 10 page site that speaks to your customer, with hosting, DNS changes, URL registration, Initial SEO, in a format that you can edit (without knowing code) I think you’re in  the range of $2000-$3000 on a onetime fee.

If you are looking for more of a “Landing Page,” or “Micro Site” a simple one page site that is geared toward a product or service with hosting, design, development, DNS transfer, URL registration, basic SEO…I think your around $300-$500 on a onetime fee.

If you are looking for an E-Store with an SSL & payment gateway you might start thinking at a $5000 starting point.

If you have any questions about getting a website set up or want some direction please feel to contact Chris at 720.427.3707, he is always happy to help.

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SEO:

If you are looking at doing ongoing SEO, you might click HERE to get more information about it before starting a program.

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URL Registration:

Make sure you secure the .com or .net version of your business name or at the very least a good description of what you do.  It’s often helpful to have a major city name in the URL for organic positioning like www.denverSMBmarketing.net, or www. denver tentrental.com.  By placing a city in the URL you are more likely to have quick results on SERPs.  If you have a national company or an e-Store, you might want to stay away from any geographic locators in the URL.

URL’s are generally very inexpensive, between $5-$20 per year.

Here are a few sites that offer just that.

http://denvermedia.net/designservices/domain-names/

www.godaddy.com

www.netsol.com

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Hosting:

If you are paying more than $20/month for hosting…You are getting ripped off!   Here are a few sites that have inexpensive hosting.

http://denvermedia.net/hosting/managed-server/

http://hosting.networksolutions.com

https://www.godaddy.com/Hosting/web-hosting.aspx

http://wordpress.org/hosting/

 

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Do it yourself:

If you have decided to take on the project on yourself, I would suggest doing some research on what application you would like to use to build the site.  Prepare for a bit of heartache, and start looking through the links I have below.  I placed links for SOME of the major site development tools.  I would suggest doing A LOT of research before you make a decision on how you plan on building your new site.

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[one_third] Dream Weaver[/one_third] [two_third_last]  I have used Dreamweaver so many times in the past to get exactly what I was looking for in a complete custom design, but you will need to spend TONS of time learning about how to use the app.  After 20+ sites under my belt…I still struggle.  http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/[/two_third_last]


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[two_third]  Microsoft has Expression Web, based on the “Front Page” design and refined over the years, it appears to be a fairly robust application for site design but it too takes a ton of time to get acquainted with all the options that are available. http://www.microsoft.com/expression/ [/two_third] [one_third_last] Microsoft Expression [/one_third_last]


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[one_third] WordPress [/one_third] [two_third_last]I am a huge fan of Word Press!  Without a doubt one of the best formats to have your site built in, however you need to have a profession help you set it up on the server. Once it’s installed you can edit the site so easy! The site you are looking at is built in WordPress.  http://wordpress.org/[/two_third_last]


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[two_third]  Joomla is fairly easy to use but you should keep in mind, if you start with this tool, you will be stuck with this tool.  It’s hard for some developers to take a Joomla site and convert it to anything else.  I say this only because if you start your site and have a few pages built and then decide to outsource the project, you’re starting over in most instances. http://www.joomla.org/ [/two_third] [one_third_last] Joomla [/one_third_last]


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[one_third]Drupal [/one_third] [two_third_last] Drupal, is something that I have seen many times, never used it, and don’t plan on starting.  I believe that most of the reviews I have heard from people who have are very positive.  I wish I could provide more insight on this. http://drupal.org/home[/two_third_last]


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[two_third]  CoffeeCup is not an application that I have used before but most people I talk to that have used it say it is very easy and cheep, I can’t give it my blessing but I will put it here for you to make the choice. http://www.coffeecup.com/ [/two_third] [one_third_last] CoffeeCup[/one_third_last]


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I know it’s a short list but it will at least get you pointed in the right direction.  As always Chris is very happy to help, just give him a call at 720.427.3707.  Again, website design is not his strong suit but can get you pointed in the right direction.