DESIGN
Design involves several phases: understanding your type of business and what type of site functions you want; understanding how to organize your information; working with a color scheme or business identity; creating the site structure; creating the visual appeal; coding all the functionality; adding content; testing; review; and publishing.
The design process averages $325 for design work and $25 per page. Custom design is labor intensive. You should plan on spending at least $350 for a basic information site, 1-5 pages. The better prepared you are before the design process begins, the more value you will get for your money.
Rate: $35 per hour.
One-hour consultation and site evaluation FREE.
The more complex your needs, whether you need hosting and maintenance, all play a part in the total cost. Design samples can be seen here and here.
REDESIGN
Let's say you have a site but it's been around for awhile or you want it to look better. The content will remain basically the same but you'd like a different layout, some better graphics, different photos, etc.
I will evaluate your site and give you an estimate of time needed to rework it. My rate is $35 per hour - the first evaluation hour is free. Cost varies by these factors:
- the size of the site: how many pages?
- organization of information: how complex is it? would reorganization improve it? This impacts visitor navigation.
- are the pages static or dynamic (is there a database involved)
- is the page coding severely bloated and outdated? Would starting from scratch be a better idea?
- do you want custom graphics? (unique images, navigation buttons)
WEBSITE MANAGEMENT
Monthly maintenance
Taking care of a site can be time consuming. You have better things to do. Hiring a full-time designer/coder may not be in your budget. Solution: a virtual assistant. I can provide a level of maintenance service that meets your needs, whether it's a fixed monthly rate that you can budget or on-demand.
Basic contract: 1 hour
$35 per month. Short, routine updates to content, addition of one page.
Two-hour:
$50 for 2 hours per month.
System administration/Full Virtual Assistant
If your organization needs someone more involved but you don't want a full-time web tech, I can provide broader support services. This would include weekly updates, creation of new pages, e-mail troubleshooting, and other server issues. $35 per hour, billed in quarter-hour increments. We can discuss a maximum monthly cost to fit your budget. I track the time in quarter-hour increments and bill monthly.
No contract, as needed: If you think your site will not require frequent changes but you'd like to know support is available, I will provide maintenance at your request. I will track the time in 15-minute increments and bill you when the amount reaches $35 or more.
HOSTING
Dubbah Design offers DOMAIN REGISTRATION AND HOSTING at very competitive rates, with no set up charges and no overselling.
If you already have a hosting service and want to switch to Dubbah Design, that's great. You can create your Dubbah Design hosting account and I can help you with the transfer of files before you cancel your other service. This will protect you from loss and downtime.
If you prefer to find another provider, I'll assist you in finding a hosting service that meets your needs and budget. I'll answer any questions you may have and do the initial setup at your request.
DOMAIN
The domain name is what comes after "www." If you already have a domain name, that's great. At some point, your domain name will need to be "pointed" to the site files on the hosting company, so your designer or web person will need this information.
If you don't have a domain name, I can help you choose and purchase one. You may purchase the domain on your own or I can do that for you. Domain registration is available when you purchase a hosting plan through Dubbah Design. Yearly fee: $10.50.
WORDPRESS
Wordpress is a great tool. It is primarily used for blogging. In fact, if a free blog is what you seek, then go on over to www.wordpress.com and get started.
Here at Dubbah Design, I can provide:
- Wordpress installation on your own hosting account (gives you control)
- Installation of plugins to extend Wordpress functions
- Custom themes to fit your personality
- Integration into a site (custom theme)
Wordpress can also be used to build an entire site that offers you the control of making changes to your content: a basic content management system.
To view some themes that I've been working on, visit www.dubbahdesign.com/wordpress/
TUTORING
Are you struggling with using the Internet, e-mail, building a web site, setting up a blog? I provide personal tutoring via phone or email (in person if you're in my area of northern Maine) for $20 per hour.
TOOLS
Design tools: Dreamweaver 8, using W3C compliant code for both pre-made and custom style sheets. I'm also familiar with NetObjects Fusion web editor and can work within that program. I design on Windows XP but also have a Mac for testing purposes.
Graphics: Adobe Photoshop 7 for most images.
SEO: Search engine friendly coding, which means alt tags for images, unique page titles, description and keyword tags.
Blog: Wordpress is used as the integrated blog at Dubbah Design. This well-known blogging tool can also be used to build entire sites which give you control over content changes. I can create a Wordpress theme from your site design so your blog will fit right in. Wordpress requires a database.
Content editor: For smaller projects where a simple content editor is preferred, I can install a content editor tool. This makes changes on pages but does not save the old content in a database. There is a small fee for this script.
Note: some hosting providers do not allow the installation of some third-party scripts.
RSS: For RSS news feed output, I can set up CaRP by GeckoTribe. Using php, CaRP will convert RSS/Atom feeds into search engine friendly html.
eCommerce: Dubbah Design hosting provides Fantastico installer scripts osCommerce, ZenCart and Cube Cart. If you already have a host, they probably have something similar that we can use to create your catalog. You will need the ability to process credit card payments or have a Pay Pal account (or similar) setup to accept online payments. Pay Pal has a fee structure. Accepting online credit card payments directly will require additional fees for a security certificate. SSL certificates can be purchased through Dubbah Design.