Frequently Asked Questions
But what if I don't even know anything about websites and HTML and SEO and all those crazy acronyms?
That's ok. We do and we are going to tell you only what you need to know. We are not going to overwhelm you with a lot of useless information. If creating a web site was a test, we would be the cheat sheet for that test. We are just going to tell you the bare minimum of what you need to know to accomplish your goals. Nothing more, nothing less. You do not have to know the history of the web and blah, blah, blah, who cares? All you need is a nice, professional looking web site that does not cost you a fortune. Great. We can help you get that. And you do not have to earn a programming degree to do it.
So how much is all this going to cost me?
Your biggest expense is going to be the purchase of the web site template. Our guide (which is FREE) will help you to select the right template for your business, but we do not sell the templates. They typically cost anywhere from $50 to $100 USD, with an average of around $75 USD. You purchase this from TemplateMonster.com.
You will also need to purchase an HTML editor if you do not already have one. We suggest using a great editor called CoffeeCup, which costs $49 USD to buy, but you can use the trial version for 28 days free or use the free version (which is not as good). You do NOT have to purchase the very expensive Adobe Dreamweaver 8+ (which costs $399 USD) or Microsoft Expression Web (which costs $399 USD). These are the products that TemplateMonster.com indicates are required. They are absolutely NOT required. The $49 version of CoffeeCup is actually much better.
The graphics program we suggest you use is free to download. It is great and easy to use and is comparable to Adobe Photoshop, which is the software that TemplateMonster.com tells you is required. Adobe Photoshop (which costs $699 USD) is NOT required. We will show you how you can do everything you need to with the free Paint.NET.
If you decide to use the Flash version of your template, then TemplateMonster.com suggests you use Adobe Flash. Guess what? That's right, you don't need to. You can do everything you need using Sothink's SWF Quicker (which only costs $84.95 USD), as opposed to the $699 USD price tag for Adobe Flash.
Any additional costs you have will involve domain registration (price varies depending on time you buy for) and signing up with an Internet Service Provider (typically less than $10/month).
The guide will show you how you can do everything you need for a fraction of what it would cost to use the software recommended by Template Monster.com. In fact, our method should cost you no more than $269 (as opposed to almost $2000 if you used the software they said is required). And that is if you choose to use the Flash version. It is even cheaper without Flash.
If you have trouble customizing your template and require guidance, we are available to remotely assist you. Our rates are $100/hour, but you should consider the package rate (find out more about that here).
How long will it take me to build this site?
Well, that depends on how much time you have to dedicate to it and how complicated your business is. The thing that will take you the longest is writing the content. That is something you do not want to rush. We suggest you put aside at least one month to getting this thing up and running. You will need time to write something up, send it to other people to review and just generally sit on it for a few days. This is for your business, so it is important. You want to make sure you get the content right. The easy and fun part will be selecting a template, plugging your content into the template, and showing off your way cool new web site.