High quality custom web sites at reasonable rates

So you want a web site?

You have several options depending on your budget, knowledge of the Internet, the level of complexity you desire, and the message you are trying to convey to your visitors.

There are a number of ways you can go about setting up a web site.

Get a site...

  1. Your Internet Service Provider may host pages for you, though they typically do not allow pages of a "commercial" nature. They probably have easy to use tools and templates already set up for their customers. This is probably the cheapest way since many ISPs provide this service for their customers. It would be a good place to practice making personal web pages if you want to learn the art.
  2. There are "free" sites" that will host your web pages (your visitors will have to suffer through a little advertisement) and typically these host prefer non-commercial content.
  3. You can do some research and legwork and purchase a domain name and secure a host for your pages on your own. Network Solutions http://www.networksolutions.com used to be the only place to register domain names; there are now many others (some of which may be cheaper). They have a $25 fee to register a .org domain name (NOTE: this is just the web address, not a hosting site).
  4. There are "canned" web hosts that will allow you to pick from their selection of pre-made templates that you can type your information into. For instance, ImageCafe will create a modest (5 pages) template based site for $20/month. That includes domain name registration and hosting of your pages. They have 65 professionally designed templates to choose from which include some basic javascripting to support things like "mouseover" flags or indicators (when the user drags the mouse over a navigation link, the image changes slightly to indicate that this option has the focus and is about to be selected). This is probably the easiest method to make a nice looking site, but is potentially less flexible in what you can do.
  5. Obtain the services of a larger commercial organization such as 3D Net Productions. They have both a free template based offering and are willing to do extensive custom work as well. Please have a look at their price estimator to get a feeling of what can be done and what costs may be incurred.
  6. You can contract with me to do the groundwork. I am willing to obtain a host for the site, register the domain name, develop the site design and layout, and publish the pages for the low, low, price of $500 for a full year. I need half of the fee to get started, and another 1/4 upon presenting the first product to you followed by the last 1/4 upon completion of the web site. This covers 5 to 10 pages of information, simple graphics, a feedback form, email, and three to five site revisions/modifications. If you would rather maintain the web site yourself, that option is available also.

My qualifications?

I have been making web pages since 1994, so I have experience. I began making pages with a text editor on UNIX called vi, and have used numerous other tools since then. I have used Microsoft's FrontPage extensively for 4 years. I have seen thousands of web sites and provided critical review of perhaps 50 of them (I judged web sites for the Desk and Derrick Club, a national organization). I have seen styles come and go and watched the web mature. I have an understanding of what is possible and knowledge of the code needed to implement it. I can understand your desires and negotiate with you until we arrive at a design that is implementable, maintainable, and viewable by the widest possible audience. 

Three of my creations are:

The Cybertown World Builder's Guild

Training For Excellence

New Orleans Jugglers

Interested in my services?

I'll be happy to work with you on creating a unique web presence. It isn't that hard to do, but it will take some time, some negotiation and some money. "How much money?" you might ask, well, it depends on exactly what you want or need. How much should your web site cost? Consider that you will be hiring me as a full time employee for several days. Consider the cost of an ad in the yellow pages and how much broader an audience you can reach via the Internet as opposed to the local yellow pages.

Maintenance, training, and additional consultation are extra depending on your needs.

Hosting Information:

The FTP hosting option includes:
Virtual Domain Name
100MB/Day Traffic
50MB Disk Space
1 Mailbox
Login by FTP (File Transfer Protocol - to move files to the host)

Other more advanced options are available.

Additional data about the hosting service:

World Class Network
- Fully Switched, Collision-Free
- DS-3 and OC-3c Connectivity
- Eight Backbone Providers

Redundant Climate Control
- Rigid Temperature and Humidity Control
- Automatic Failover
- Interleaved Dual Ducting

Uninterruptible Power System
- Expandable Redundant UPS
- Tremendous Battery Capacity
- Automatic Self-Testing

Standby Generator
- 750,000 Watt Capacity
- New, not Reconditioned
- Fueled by Redundant Contracts

Fire Suppression System
- Minimizes Potential Damage to Electronics
- Provides Coverage to Entire Datacenter
- Tied to Building Alarm System and Fire Department

FreeBSD UNIX Servers
- Open-Source Maintainability
- Tuned for Security and Performance
- Continuously Upgraded

Physical Security
- Physical Security
- 24x7 Onsite Staff
- Online Security

There are things that you will have to do, and there are things that I will do for you.

You need to...

Decide on what web site name you desire (the web address or URL). I will see if it is available (or something that is close to what you request) and we will discuss the possibilities before I commit to anything.
You will need to develop the content. You obviously have something to say so say it! A WORD document is usually sufficient, try to keep the formatting simple and straight forward. You can do things in a DOC file that just don't work on a web page. Keep it simple is a good adage to follow.
Content may include a course outline, your picture, logo, slogan, contact information, mission, vision, values, goals, etc...
You will need to pick out a suitable color scheme and some style guidelines. Although modern monitors may support 16 million colors, it is best to limit the colors to a 225 color "web safe" palette. These colors will display well in different browsers and on a wide variety of display devices. You will need to select colors that work well together (avoid white text on a light yellow page, or dark blue text on a black background, etc...). We will need a set of complementary colors for the page background, the text color for the document body, colors for headers, links (3 colors: active, followed, hover), bullets (for list items), horizontal lines (page topic separators), etc... Please see Training For Excellence to get a visual idea of what this means and how these colors should work together.

I will...

Research the availability of and procure a domain name for your site.
Obtain a hosting service and establish an account for you.
Convert your content (word document, plain text, or PowerPoint outline) to HTML.
Work with you to arrive at a design that is acceptable to you and that works as a web page.
Develop the layout, design, and navigation.
Develop simple graphics that complement the site design.
Create a "favorites" icon.
Add metatags so search engines can easily find an catalogue your site.
Publish the pages to the hosting service.
Perform 3 to 5 updates of the initial product.
Perform additional updates at $25 (US) per page.
If you feel comfortable maintaining the site yourself with FrontPage, I will copy the site to a CD and send it to you so you can take over after the initial site has been created.

Contact Information:

email: phillip "at" philliphansel.org