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Our primer on websites...
If you are one of the many
people overwhelmed by how all of this works, we'll simplify it down a
bit. This page is mainly all about authoring your site.
Software
for DIY
If you desire to author your website in-house, there
are a lot of web authoring software programs available from $20, $50
and more. Pro software programs such as Dreamweaver or MS Front Page
(now called Expressions) can run upwards of many
hundreds of dollars and there is a bit of a learning curve for the
novice, don't despair - many local colleges offer classes. MS Front Page is widely
used at less than $200 but not as well accepted as Dreamweaver,
which has much more functionality (we
use both).
If you can write a letter - you can make a website. Adding the
bells and whistles requires a bit of a learning curve, but is not
prohibitively hard. A lot of "mom and pop" sites out there do very
well. If your business or organization relies extensively on the
Internet for leads and/or sales, you really need a web savvy staffer
or consultant.
A graphics program is also desirable, these can run from just a few
dollars for simple graphics programs to over a thousand, here again,
the more complex programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia
Flash and Fireworks will best need some training to learn.
Web Templates
Google the term web templates and you will find many companies with
web site templates in a variety of themes that can suit your
business or organization. You can purchase the template, download it
and adapt it to your needs. Many of these templates can be purchased
outright (no other copies will be sold) or you can have the template
adapted to your needs by the designer for an additional fee. Prices
vary from $9.95 to hundreds of dollars, check them out - you can get
some good ideas.
Pro Webmasters
Pros get fees varying from hourly to flat rates for sites.
Most full sites start at $650 and many charge $1,500 or more (we
do). Variations occur for elements such as how many pages,
E-Commerce or other databases you may want , graphics required,
photos, etc. If you can furnish some copy ideas, & quality
photos, you can help hold costs down and the
site quality up.
Feel free to talk to a pro - check out their portfolio and be
sure to talk to current clients and see what they say.
NOTE: Not all webmasters are SEO savvy
(design websites that are optimized).
These are two distinctly different fields. You can have the
prettiest site in the world and not ever be able to sell a thing if
you don't have any traffic because the site won't rank.
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Software Programs:
Front Page is going to upgrade to a new program called
Expressions - we have not checked it out as of yet, but have
been assured by Microsoft that it is a fairly easy upgrade and
adaptable.
For info on Dreamweaver, go
here. They feature a suite of tools for graphics and flash.
More
options for software |
