Monday, December 31, 2012

How Much Does an Average Website Cost?

This is a question that is often asked by businesses that are trying to price out companies for web design and development. Before we get started I want to note that there is a difference between website design, website development, and web marketing. The differences are listed below:

Website Design - creating the overall layout, design/look and feel of a website. Developing the flow of how a page will look or where the content of the site will be placed. Website Development - Taking the website design and bringing it to life via HTML/CSS and/or other web scripting/programming languages. Also, website development is the process of adding additional functionality to an existing website such as eCommerce, content management systems, and etc... Web Marketing - taking the designed and developed website and promoting it via the web. Using outlets such as social media, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click, and etc...

These services are usually intertwined when a company or person is explaining that they need web work done. With that out of the way let's go into the reasons why web companies/freelancers charge what they charge and how they come up with their price.

How Much Does an Average Website Cost?

How is price determined?

There are many aspects to consider when pricing out a project, but the main one is time. A freelancer/web firm will listen to you (the prospective client) explain the website of your dreams and from there they will base the price around what was discussed.

Some things that will increase the price are, the time frame in which the project is to be completed, support, consultation, or detouring from the original scope of work.

Other factors that go into creating a price quote for web services are the amount of resources, experience, and knowledge of the professional(s). The more value that can be offered the higher the price quote will be. For instance freelancers are often only equipped to perform one or two services while a team of web professionals are prepared to deliver in all areas.

Solutions such as templates, website builders, or other out of the box services can be priced fairly cheap due to the lack of customization. Also, note that some of these services have recurring monthly or yearly fees.

How will I be billed?

There are a couple of common ways to bill; one is to require half up front and half on delivery of the project. Let's say that the grand total of your project is 00.00 before any work could be initiated you would be required to put down 50%. The other 50% is due after the agreed upon scope of work is completed. Other variations can be a 50% upfront, 25% on first set of deliverables, and the final 25% on project completion.

Another way is to be billed hourly. Being billed hourly seems to be the less popular way when getting a website developed. Most of the time billing hourly comes into play when providing advice or after a project runs longer than expected. Monthly fees usually occur with web hosting packages or if you agree to some type of maintenance plan.

What does the standard website package come with?

This will be based on what you have explained to the professional and what they can offer you. If you express that you need a website redesign you will get website design. If you say that you need to rank higher on Google or Yahoo then web marketing will be the primary focus.

As stated before each scenario and each company or freelancer is limited to the skills that they have acquired. Generally speaking if you have no website at bare minimum you should be offered a domain and hosting package (to keep your files and make them visible by visitors). Although, the company that you choose to take care of your web project may not have in house servers they usually know or work closely with a web host.

Should I budget for my web project?

The answer is yes, however if you have never had a site developed before it may be wise to ask others website owners how much they spent on their website. Ask others how the process went and what items/materials you need before you go calling every web company in town. Keep in mind that websites should be built with room to scale with the growth of your company, unless specified otherwise. Today your need may only be to have an online location to display information about your products or services and tomorrow you may need to provide a way for your customers to order online. A well thought out website will be able to handle this transition.

Determine what you need your site to do for you - do you need to inform others on the services or types of products that you sell? Do you need to sell items online? Do you need to create an online community revolved around a theme or set of topics? Write out how a website will help leverage your business, or if you are doing business solely on the web explain in greater detail the process on how you will make money or see a return. A brief explanation is always nice to hand over to a web specialist so that they can have a little guidance and understanding on what is valuable to you, also it will let them make suggestions based on what has worked for previous clients.

Show me the numbers... what can I expect to pay?

If you are like me you want to have a general idea on how much something cost so you do not have to waste time on calling around only find out that you are not prepared. So, I have put together some generic numbers to help illustrate how much you should expect to spend. Keep in mind that these prices are not in relation to any one company they are just the ranges of what I have seen or heard. Also, remember that each firm/freelancer charges differently, you may have to pay all up front, half, 25% or make some type of deposit to get work started.

On with the prices!

Simplistic Brochure Website (next to no functionality/no dynamic content)
This is a great place to start out at if you have never had a website created before. Typically the services included are a custom web design and HTML/CSS coding to bring the design to life. If anything such as a contact form, animation(s), or anything extra outside of the design and development scope you will be charged extra. Remember these are the lowest prices I have seen or heard of, I am not claiming that you will receive superior craftsmanship at these prices but it will certainly get you a website.

Freelance price: 0.00 +
Web firm price: 00.00 +

Expert Advice: Always strive to have work done by the most professional and service friendly. The higher price does not always reflect skill or more importantly people skills. A lot of my clients are ones who have made a switch from a company that never answers the phone or doesn't do what they are supposed to do. Dig deeper than the portfolio, do not ignore it just dig a little deeper and see how he/she handles business.

eCommerce Website (add/edit/delete products or information)
eCommerce websites can and should be used in addition to your physical store front. The only difference is that the physical more than likely closes at night and the online location stays open day and night - year round. When looking to get an eCommerce website built you should consider the ease of use (adding/deleting/editing items in the inventory), stability, and how well does it integrate with your current site (assuming you have one).

Freelance Price: 0.00 +
Web firm Price: 00.00 +

Expert Advice: If you do not have a 00.00 plus budget I would suggest going with a freelancer or student. Start out small and upgrade! It makes no sense to pour tons of money into something that you have no idea on where it will lead you. If you are a start up company focus on bringing in revenue first and come back and get the bells and whistles. However, make sure that you will end up with a professional and presentable site; no one will buy if the site doesn't look legit. Remember, money doesn't automatically go into your bank account if you spend 00.00 bucks on a website. Evaluate where your business is now and think about where you would like your website to help take it in the near future.

Interactive Website (add/edit/delete content, publish articles, visitor engagement)
Interactive websites are websites that keep your attention and have you coming back hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc... These sites are ones that display your favorite celebrity gossip, catch up on sports scores, or watch funny videos online. These sites are database driven and heavy on the dynamic content. Because, these sites are reliant on a database and require heavy back end programming the price sky rockets. Also, these sites are often found by search engines and have a way of self marketing themselves based off of their content.

Freelance Price: N/A
Web Firm Price: ,000.00 +

Expert Advice: If you have never had a website built before I would suggest looking for free or low priced alternatives. There are plenty out of the box solutions that will get the ball rolling, you can always upgrade later. Also, if you are just starting out on the web creating or finding fresh content may be overwhelming at first. Sites like these tend to snowball and turn into a frequently visited site, unless you have tons of marketing dollars to back it up.

No matter which way you plan to go always think ahead and be prepare yourself for the amount of time and money you may have to put in for your business to take that next step, or to serve your customers better and faster. As I stated earlier in this article evaluate where your business is now and think about where you would like your website to help take it in the near future. Define your goals up front and be sure not to over or under do it and if you are not sure, always get a second opinion.

How Much Does an Average Website Cost?
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Hello Readers! My name is Lawrence C. Scott, Jr. I am an expert in all things web related that will help leverage your products, services, or yourself. I believe in information that you can take and apply to your current efforts now, not after you buy a series of products. Let's grow together and share ideas and good information. Remember, if there is a topic that you would like me to cover please contact me by visiting my website at http://www.lscott3.com.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Work at Home, No Start Up Costs Fees - How You Can Start Your Home Business For Free

What is great about establishing a small home business online is that people can basically start with little or no capital. People who plan to start the foundation of their business empire just have to have a computer and a reliable internet connection and all the roads for entrepreneurial success will be paved from there. Read this up and learn How You Can Start Your Home Business for Free.

1. Register in sites that offer free website services. In order to set up a website, a good domain name and a domain hosting service are needed. Domain name refers to the main address of the website, while domain hosting service acts like an online hard disk where all files and images in the website can be stored. These two fundamentals can be obtained for free or for a very cheap price.

2. Describe who are you. When the fundamentals are already set up, content and design of the home business site should be conceptualized brilliantly. The home business site is where prospective customers will basically depend on, so its content must be comprehensively well-written and its design must be interesting enough to attract a lot of readers. The website must create an impression to the readers that services or products that it offers are worth trying.

Work at Home, No Start Up Costs Fees - How You Can Start Your Home Business For Free

3. Proclaim yourself to the World. A home business website will not generate sales and contracts if no one knows about it. Spread the address of the website through email, chat, blogs, and the like. Joining business and trading forums are also very helpful in as much as many online entrepreneurs also seek for business partnerships and opportunities there.

The best things in life are free, and thanks to the World Wide Web for being so generous in providing these free things. Through them, people can build their dream businesses work at home, no start up costs fees.

Work at Home, No Start Up Costs Fees - How You Can Start Your Home Business For Free
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Sunday, December 16, 2012

How To Find Out Full Details On Who Owns Any Phone Number With a Free Reverse Phone Search

I'm sure there has been a time where you had seen a phone number and wanted to know who it belonged to. Maybe it showed up on your call display or you saw it on your spouse's cell phone but you weren't sure where the phone number came from. Today we want to show you how you can find out full details about who owns any phone number.

One of the first things people mention nowadays is that it is difficult to find information on unlisted and cell phone numbers. These numbers aren't in a phonebook or any "public domain" so the details about them aren't publicly available.

When there's a problem, you can bet someone is going to come along and fix it! That's exactly what happened in this case. There are now specialized businesses that purchase access to phone records and then build databases that people can search through.

How To Find Out Full Details On Who Owns Any Phone Number With a Free Reverse Phone Search

These are referred to as "reverse phone directories" and they allow you to get full details on any number. It's all done online - you just type in the phone number, hit search, and the person's details will be displayed on your computer screen.

At the bottom of this article there's a link that lets you try a free sample search so you can get a feel for how this works.

These companies will charge a fee for using this type of service but it isn't expensive. You can find some that will only charge a flat one-time fee that then lets you use unlimited searches - this is your best option so that you don't have to pay again each time you want to run a search on a number.

Although this type of search doesn't cost very much, there is a quick way that you can try to find the same information for free. Go to Google and type in the phone number like this: "555-555-5555" (include the quotation marks) and then hit search. If this phone number has ever been published online, Google will find it for you.

If you do find a webpage with the phone number on it, look to see what details you can find out. Hopefully you can at least find out the person's name. This trick will work quite often - it might be as detailed as the paid searches but it only takes a couple of seconds to see if you can find what you need for free.

This type of search can come in handy for many different reasons. You might have a number you don't recognize showing up on your phone or perhaps you want to know who's number keeps showing up on your cell phone. Whatever the reason, it's nice to have this option.

It still makes me feel like a "detective" whenever I use a search like this! It's impressive to see just how much information you can uncover about someone when the only thing you know is their phone number.

How To Find Out Full Details On Who Owns Any Phone Number With a Free Reverse Phone Search
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Click Here for a free sample search to find out details on any phone number.

This type of Reverse Cell Lookup gives you instant access to the name, address and background info of who owns any phone number!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

How to Name a Gift Basket Business

It is important that when you are setting up your gift basket company you give some serious thought to naming your new business. Your business name is an integral part of your businesses brand and will play a part in drawing in new customers as well as enhancing your reputation with existing customers. Your business name will come to represent a lot of accumulated goodwill over the years so it is important that you choose something appropriate. Here are some tips on how you can name your gift basket business.

1) Don't let you business name limit your future activity by being too specific. Including the owners name may complicate things when it comes time to sell. Including the name of the area that you serve as part of the business name can limit you if you want to expand into other areas.

While your name should state what it is that you do (gift baskets) don't be too specific by saying 'gourmet gift baskets' or 'baby shower gift baskets' unless you are certain that you won't also expand into other niches later on. This decision would make your name no longer fully appropriate.

How to Name a Gift Basket Business

2) Make sure that you come up with an original name so that you are not stepping on the toes of any other businesses and so that you can stand out against your competitors.

3) Check to see if there are suitable domain names available as you will definitely be building a website at some stage.

4) A good name should be memorable and easy to pronounce. Run some of your ideas past your friends and test them a week later and take note of whether they were able to remember your suggested names and whether they were able to pronounce them right.

5) Lastly you should choose a name that you will be proud to be associated with, something that inspires you to work hard and realize your dreams.

Once you have chosen a business name it can be really hard to change it further down the road and any re-branding that you do will come with an expensive price tag. So make sure that you come up with a great name right from the start to give you the best possible chance of succeeding with your gift basket business.

How to Name a Gift Basket Business
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To read more about gift basket business income potential and to compare some of the top 'start a gift basket business' guides and startup kits visit - http://www.startagiftbasketcompany.com

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Ten Commandments of Effective Communication

Everything we do is communication. Without communication we will not be able to interact in a civilized manner. Without communication we will not be able to create modern societies. Without communication we would not be able to create prosperity for ourselves. Without communication we would not be able to construct organizations necessary for the reproduction of material wealth. Communication is the most important building block of human civilization. According to the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas the social reality consists of two parts: system and lifeworld. The system consists of the political subsystem and the economic subsystem. The lifeworld consists of the private domain and the public domain. Communication in the system occurs strategically or is based on finding ways to find and refine various methods and techniques to make our lives wealthier and more efficient. Communication in the lifeworld is the opposite; it is based on symmetric relationships between people and is aimed towards finding consensus on many issues facing our social reality. Communication in the lifeworld is truly aimed at finding common grounds between all people involved. For this reason Habermas calls all interaction in the lifeworld communicative rationality.

If communication is so important then this implies a certain competency level in the strategies and tactics of communication possessed by all people irrespective of their education, social background, nationality, and common language. This is unfortunately not true because a large number of people do not have the proper communication skills necessary to become successful. Most of them are simply muddling through their daily lives using basic communication skills which are barely enough to keep their heads above the water. What are actually the characteristics of good communicators? Below are some typical characteristics which good communicators possess:

1. Good communicators pay attention to everything the other person is communicating;

Ten Commandments of Effective Communication

2. Good communicators constantly think about the nature of their messages: they always think about when, where, and how they will deliver their messages;

3. Good communicators always try to find the right combination of words, body language, dress, and tone of voice before sending a message;

4. Good communicators try to avoid using the same words when sending their message to different persons because no one person is identical. Good communicators try to find out what is important for the other person;

5. Good communicators are always ready to be flexible or try to move on after delivering their message by reaching a decision, solving a problem, negotiating a compromise, etc;

6. Good communicators are fully aware of the reciprocal nature of communication which is a process of giving and receiving a message. Good communication is a like a dance which entails leading and following.

Although the above typical characteristics seem to be obvious and easy to understand, many people have difficulties applying them in a consistent manner. Communication is a process which is comparable to driving a car. The more you do it, the better driver you will become. Experience is the best teacher in communication. Moreover, the willingness to learn from your experiences is very important. Of course we make mistakes, but we try to learn from those mistakes and become better next time.

Having explained the above characteristics of good communicators, what are the ten commandments of effective communication?

1. Always try to give feedback based on facts and not on opinions and/or emotions which might upset or offend the other person;

2. Always try to empathize or to see a situation from the other's point view. Try to accept the other person's views without preaching and/or moralizing;

3. Criticize using neutral language and tone of voice;

4. Say what you mean without becoming sarcastic;

5. If you want something from others, ask, don't command;

6. Give the other person a chance to speak, don't slip into 'railroading';

7. Explain why something needs to happen, don't threaten;

8. Don't give advice or opinions if people don't ask for it;

9. Be to the point, avoid vagueness at all cost;

10. Don't talk down or up to others; avoid diverting the conversation to trivial matters.

Ten Commandments of Effective Communication
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My name is Martin Hahn Ph.D. and I am an industrial sociologist with more than 20 years experience in teaching, management consulting, and corporate training. For more info and purchase my e-book, please visit: http://martinimhahn.com.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Handyman Business Name Ideas

What's In A Name?

Coming up with business-names-ideas can really get frustrating. Gone are the days of just using your last name and attaching "Handyman Service" at the end of it. If you want to maximize your advertising dollar you've got to get online. When it comes to your business name...you've got a website to think about. You need to ask yourself a few questions. Is my URL going to be too long? Will I have any "keywords" in my name? How are people going to find me? That last one is the real question, isn't it?

There are many things to consider before you Choose a business name. Business planning is the most important thing you can do so consider naming your business part of the planning process and not a starting point.

Handyman Business Name Ideas

If you are using a fictitious business-name then you must also file a "DBA" with your state. Before deciding on a handyman business name ideas, you need to do some homework to make sure you aren't using someone else's registered or unregistered trademark name or something similar. DBA simply means "Doing Business As". You can incorporate yourself...say you plan to expand into different areas...and name you company "Smith Enterprises LLC" DBA "Hanks Handyman Co. This way, instead of applying for a new business license for every business...all you have to do is file a DBA. Smith Enterprises LLC could also be selling widgets on the Internet DBA...wonderfulwidgets.com

When checking to see if your name is already being used, you can start with a search of your favorite Internet search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Some states may even have a Fictitious Name database so check with your county clerk's office to see if your desired name is already taken. Another great free resource for finding unregistered trademarks is the Thomas Register Website at thomasnet.com

Don't get wrapped around the axle here with business-names-ideas. If your name is Hank, you can call you company "Hank's Handyman Service." Keep in mind that it might make it harder to sell when you're ready to retire, to anyone not named Hank. Using your name may give your company the appearance of a small local service which isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean that you won't look professional. If you have a reliable vehicle with a magnetic sign or a van with your logo painted on the side you can still be a professional.

If you're goal is to grow your handyman business as large as possible then don't compromise on your business-name-ideas. Here are some points to consider when choosing a name for a service company:

1.Use a first initial that's early in the alphabet. Eventually your company's name will appear in an alphabetical list. Better to come in at the top of this list than at the bottom. Imagine that you've decided to attend a local home trade show with 250 exhibitors. Do you want to be in the first 30 or the last 30 of that list?

2.Make sure you choose a name that has an Internet domain that is available. Even if you're not ready to start a web page, you can reserve your domain name for about a year. If you plan to have a web presence, consider doing what I've done with this web site. I decided to have my site Powered by Site Build It because of all the tools they have that help you pick a name that not only goes will with your company but has "keywords" that will help it grow on the Internet as well.

If you're not there yet you can go to http://www.Godaddy.com or http://www.Register.com to reserve your domain name now. You can even register three or four names that will give you some flexibility when you're ready to start your online presence.

3.Avoid the use of numbers. People won't remember to use numerals (123) or to spell out the number (one, two, three).

4.Sound different but logical. This may sound next to impossible since the only way to get the point across about what you do is to use the word "Handyman" in your name. Get creative to set yourself apart from the other companies out there. If your dead set about not using Handyman in your name, think about what you do. Your company does home repair, home maintenance, and the honey-do-list, etc.

Handyman Business Name Ideas
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That should be enough to get the ball rolling on starting a handyman business. Good Luck!