We are adding to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) so if you have a question, please ask! We are here to answer your questions.
If you don't know what little icon I'm talking about take a look in the address bar beside my web site URL. You will see a small bee image. That little icon is called a favicon, it will save to the bookmark file making your URL distinct and branded. It also looks really cool!
Your web site can have a favicon by adding it to the root directory and adding a small snip of code pointing to it.
You can create the favicon yourself at:
http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/
All web sites developed by Be Nice Design include a favicon.ico
Make a Payment online:
Generally speaking, between 72 and 96 dpi resolution and under 600 pixels.
Be Nice Design can edit your digital or regular photos for inclusion in your web project - if you have many photos this may incur an additional fee for graphics services $75 per hour.
If you want to do this work on your own, here is a web site http://www.pixenate.com where you can resize your photos before you place them on the CD with your project content and deliver them to us.
Web 2.0 is a perceived or proposed second generation of the web. Web 2.0 is a phrase that many developers are now using to describe the next big wave that will hit the internet and change the way we all interact with it. Its use began in 2004. It’s about social networking, blogging, sharing resources and files, and generally creating the WEB that is the WWW at another level. "Widgets" are an example of Web 2.0 programming; I used an Amazon Store Widget on my Energy web site: http://www.subtleenergylifeforce.com/resources.html
The entire store and catalog is pulled in from Amazon.com and is but a mere few lines of code on my web site.
The Flash photo cube on the home page of Randy’s site is also a widget from picturetrail.com:
In a lot of ways, Web 2.0 is about efficiency and using the same resources in a variety of ways.
CSS layouts and creating code so that is can be used with mobile devices is also an example of Web 2.0
Most small business' do not have a Web Presence budget so they stay with a less visible "do it your self" presence...
Cost Comparison:
Web Site Tonight Premium Do It Yourself Site Builder + domain = $147. (approx) - (Approximate cost and this just includes phone support only, you are on your own with the web site graphics and figuring out the software.)
Custom built Original Web Presence by Be Nice Design - total support through the build and beyond, you have an experienced professional working for your business.
- Domain registration and hosting through our affiliates is available at a discount to our clients. We can consult with you about your domain and hosting guiding you through the process.
- Page creation and customization (3-4 pages)
- Basic customer form return by email (email, comments)
- Photo editing up to 10 images for inclusion in the pages
Organic SEO - includes, Meta tag, content optimization based on searchable keywords, URL submission to major and minor search engines.
Starts at $1000.
There is a price difference and a quality difference.
Many people use "site builder" software. A site builder, for example is Godaddy's Web Site Tonight or Yahoo's Site Builder, Coffee Cup HTML editor or Page Breeze HTML editor. There are so many great site builders on the market today why would you hire me? You could do it yourself.
Yes you can!
However, the reason I'm still in business ten years after I built my first client's web site is that site builders are not a complete solution and may get you started but rarely get you where you want to be... Why?
HTML editors only edit HTML, you can edit your site but you can not build it totally out of HTML and have a professional presentation online - it takes many different programming languages and aspects to bring a web site to life. PHP, CSS, Java, Flash are just a few extra things you may need.
I am able to give your site custom solutions, most site builders are very limited in what they'll allow you to customize. The site builder will give you a general template design but will not allow full expression of your company's personality, branding and energy to come through - only a human being can do that.
Also, your web site's Web Presence depends on how well the search engines can access and index your web site, using a site builder is the equivalent to renting, as opposed to owning when it comes to how the site is being hosted. Site builders tend to nest the pages and add strange proprietary coding. The use of confusing page labeling and directories may cause many search engines to not index sites that are built with a site builder. Granted, there has been some progress made in this area recently - - for the money you are spending, it's worth it to have your web site built by a professional web designer.
I don't hide any of the costs involved at the onset of your project. I contract and renegotiate at either 6 months or a year. You have many options with Be Nice Design.
I make the design process step by step and easy for non-techie people - I am an artist as well as a technologist so my brain understands both points of view fairly easily!
You own your web site, you can choose to use my services past the contract date, or go your own way. I promote all of my clients’ web sites on Be Nice Design's web site which is a highly trafficked web site. It's been my experience that new domains and hosting will get ranking presence with search engines within weeks. I announce your web site when it's launched in my monthly newsletter which goes out nationwide.
I care about your business success!
Doing some market research at the onset of your project will help you create a list of keywords and phrases that people will use to search for your web site from popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. We will ask you for 12 keywords and also evaluate those keywords and phrases against our analysis tool to give you the best chances for ranking.
SEO or search engine optimization is an ongoing process of getting your web site seen by search engines. This process begins with having great search engine friendly copy writing, Meta tags and keyword/phrase placement in your web site's content.
We provide all of the sites we build with organic search engine optimization. What this means to you is that we use the keywords/phrases and the copy that you provide, combined with the coding we supply, submit your web address to 40+ major and minor search engines for indexing, and then provide you with a report two months after your web site is launched. Your site is usually indexed within a few weeks, ranking varies. This wil give you a reference point as to how well your web site is being indexed and ranked by search engines.
This is a common question; your web site will look slightly different because of monitor size, resolution setting, browser, browser version, operating system and the programming of your web site.
At Be Nice Design, we take into consideration all of these variables and come up with the best solution that will be forward and backward compatible. Many web design companies are only interested in the latest and greatest, we understand that a large portion of the population is not keeping up with the latest as technology changes so rapidly and keeping up can be very expensive. We keep up so you don’t have to! Our solutions are as cross compatible as any you’ll find in the industry today. Our equipment, software and systems are industry standard and compliant. We are constantly training on new emerging technology.
http://www.w3schools.com/Html/html_colors.asp
It's important to consider the print spectrum and the web spectrum as there are subtle differences and not everything that can be seen on the internet can be duplicated in print.
You can use fonts that are web – friendly, a list of those fonts can be found by clicking the link below. Web-friendly fonts are so named because they are cross browser compatible. When developing a web site, many people will only consider how a web site looks on their own personal computer but a web site developer that understands the limitations of web design will help their client understand those limitations, so that the choices made are an effective compromise
You can use special fonts as images, these fonts must be made into images. Images are not search engine friendly however and over use of text as images will not help you in search engine ranking.
Here is a web site where you can create text as images using many fonts:
Flash programming embeds fonts so there is no need to create special images. Flash programming has its own set of standards and rules, and unfortunately for all the wonderfulness that it appears to be it lacks some basic search engine friendliness, what is the point if no one can find your site? Sure, Flash programming is OK for Coke and the Beatles. They aren't trying to be found, everyone knows who they are already. Be Nice Design recommends use of Flash components instead of whole site Flash design.
The timeline for completion will be discussed at the onset of your project. We make every effort to stay on task and deliver on time. Just to give you a general idea, our completion dates for a custom web site of under 10 pages is 4-6 weeks.
Many factors play into the design process. Please read our pages on How To Approach Us With Your Project and Design Process to gather an idea about what to expect.
If you have the software and technical skills necessary to edit and create pages for your web site, then yes you can.
All the options for site maintenance can be found by clicking here.
We work with hosting providers that include content management software within their hosting packages. Joomla and Word Press are the content management systems that we use. Content management is a self contained web site builder and editor; this is a template based site and will not be very customizable; however it is easy for a novice to create and maintain a Joomla or Word Press web site. More info about CMS...
Please visit our web site maintenance page for all the details about how we can keep you up to date.
Also for ongoing support and contact info: click here.
Yes, we offer full graphics and photography services, including logo and branding solutions.
Please see our Graphics Design page for full details.
Also visit our affiliates page for clip/line art and stock photography special deals.
It is recommended that if you want many pictures, a photo gallery be used. If your web site is graphically intense, we will work with your ideas to present your graphical content in a way that allows for speedy loading for your web site’s visitors.
A standard rule of thumb would be that forty lines of text and three to four pictures constitute "one page".
Common sense dictates that if you have a 3 to 4 page web site, you will not need to send a 150 page catalog, 1,000 pictures and 100 pages worth of text copy. Likewise, if you have a 10+ page web site, please do not just send an advertisement from the Yellow Pages. It is important to balance these aspects of the web site design.
Providing content to Be Nice Design LLC is very important for the development of your web site design or project. It is critical that we have all of the content we need in order to start development and complete your web site design or project within the agreed upon timeline. Without this information, the development time required by Be Nice Design LLC for your web site design or project may be extended and payments may become due.
The ideal content for your web site design would consist of digital images on disk, (in jpeg, psd, tiff, eps, or ai format), text copy (your "about us", "company mission statement", or any other text information) on disk or CD, (preferably in MS Word format). This content will be worked into your web site design or project in the most beneficial way possible, according to your requirements.
If this is not possible, then clear photos or brochures may be used for our development team to scan and optimize for use on your web site. If this digital content is not provided to Be Nice Design LLC, additional fees may be included to cover the expense of content preparation.
You will be charged based on your contracted agreement with Be Nice Design. Projects vary. We treat your project as unique and individual. We openly negotiate all of the fees and nothing is hidden or unknown at the onset of your project.