What you need to know about owning a web page

HOW EASY IS IT FOR ME TO UPDATE OR CREATE MY OWN WEB PAGE?
Depending on how professional you design or have your web page designed creating your own web page can be from easy to VERY difficult.  If you do not mind using art, buttons, and backgrounds that are public domain rather than creating your own then there are some FREE web hosting services that provide tools to help beginners design web pages.  In most cases it is easy to tell sites that have been designed this way from sites that were designed in a more professional manner.  This is by no means an attempt to discourage you from pursuing these FREE sites to create your web site on your own.  There are many cases where this may be the best option for you depending on the nature of your web page and its purpose.  As to other services...  It is fairly easy to learn to update the TEXT on a web site but, altering the graphics, adding pictures, maintaining an shopping cart, creating forms, and other important areas take a lot of time and effort to become proficient at.  It can be done but, it takes a lot of time.

IF SOMEONE ELSE DESIGNS MY WEB PAGE WHAT EXPECTATIONS SHOULD I HAVE?
If you are paying someone to design or maintain a site for you then you should expect the designer to work with you and make revisions to the initial web site based on your input.  You should not expect them to continually make  revisions with no increase in the fee but, some minor adjustments should not incur additional fees.  You should expect a level of professionalism to check their own design for spelling and other areas.  You should not expect the person you are paying to use the FREE web design services and charge you for a service that is near to the same quality you yourself could do with very little effort.  If you are paying someone it should be for a service that you yourself could not perform.  You should expect some form of commitment and guarantee to protect your investment in the web page project.  You should expect honesty from your designer in presenting you with as many options as possible and not forcing you into additional fees that you do not need.

WHAT FEES ARE USUALLY CHARGED THAT ARE NOT FROM THE DESIGNER?
In owning a web page it is possible your site may have some requirements that are services provided by a party other than your designer.  One of these is the REGISTERING OF A DOMAIN NAME.  A Domain Name enables people to visit your site at WWW.YOURNAME.COM instead of something cryptic such as MEMBERS.SOMEHOST.COM/YOURNAME/.  You register and own these names.  This fee is typically from $13.50 to $35 per year to own the name.  Currently, Future Wave Computer Solutions is working with a name registration service who can register your name for $13.50 per year.  Additional fees also incur for hosting.  In some cases your web designer will have his own machine to host your web page on (this is not always best).  In other cases the web designer will partner with other hosting entities and will pass on their hosting fees.  These hosting fees can be from FREE and up depending on how much space you are using, how much traffic your site receives, and what advanced features are available.  If your web designer will not even discuss free hosting options with you then they are below expectations.  There are many people for whom the free hosting services are perfect for the purposes of their web page.  Many designers will not even discuss these with you.  Another fee that may be assessed is submitting your site to a large amount of search engines, joining your site to a high traffic generation site specializing in your needs, or other fee based marketing methods.  Make sure you are provided with this information up front.

WHAT KIND OF TRAFFIC SHOULD I EXPECT?
Depending on the nature of your site you can expect a small amount of traffic or a large amount.  It should be apparent that a site featuring tips on QUITTING SMOKING is likely to get a lot more traffic than a site discussing WILD FLOWERS.  The topic of your site will partially determine the amount of traffic you will get.  If someone guarantees you a fixed amount of traffic over a specific period of time then there is a good chance they will be lying to you.  They may make this work by understating the traffic potential.  In addition, to the traffic you will receive due to the nature of your site there are other factors.  Which search engines are you submitted to, which special interest sites, which web rings, which banner programs, which email programs, and how well designed your META TAGS and KEYWORDS are for your page prior to submittal to web search engines.  You should discuss with a designer their planned marketing techniques before accepting them as your web designer.

WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF BEING ON 100s OF SEARCH ENGINES?
There really isn't that big of a difference between a site being submitted to the top 10 search engines and a site being submitted to hundreds of search engines.  More than 90% of traffic will come from the top 10 search engines.  This is important to consider when being charged large fees to submit your site to 100s of search engines.  In reality, there are services that will do this now for less than $10.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TYPE OF WEB PAGE TO MAKE
If you need a web page but, are not sure exactly what you need feel free to contact us by email future_wave@yahoo.com or by phone (970)944-0214.  We will present you with some ideas and if you are able to find someone to design it for you other than us then that is a good thing for you and we will not object.  If we are already designing a web page for you then we will OWN the art and material created until completion of payment.  If you decided to go with a different designer we would not object to the usage of ideas discussed but, we will not permit another designer to utilize art and web pages that have not been paid for.  Please contact us if you have any questions.

WILL THERE BE ANY FEES BEYOND THE INITIAL DESIGN OF THE PAGE?
Click here to read about outside fees.  It is possible that there will be fees of a monthly or yearly nature.  This depends on what features were used in your site.  If you need the designer to periodically go in and alter your page they usually will have discussed a maintenance contract with you and you will know any additional fees charged for maintenance up front.  In some cases this maintenance may not be required or YOU may be able to make the changes you wish done.

HOW WILL MY WEB PAGE BE MARKETED?
You need to ask your designer this question up front as it is one of the MOST IMPORTANT aspects of owning a web page.  If you have a nice looking web page and your designer does not understand how to market a web page then it will not matter as you will not get any traffic.  There ARE designers who do not know how to submit to search engines, create meta tags, and utilize other forms of marketing.