gettingstartedheader Getting Started With Your New Website

Before beginning any site on the web, it’s always good to start with the basics. We always recommend a quick read of an article on our website entitled “Countdown to Launch” by Website Magazine, which does an excellent job of explaining the process of starting a website.

Any website on the internet has a few basic needs:

 

Essentially, the process here to get your site up and running is simple. You pick a domain name for your website, and from there, we’ll talk together what types of designs will work for you.

Once we’ve picked a design or two, we’ll go through the technical aspects of setting up your website on your new host, and from there, we’ll insert some dummy text so you can play around with it, and see how the finished product will look.

At this point, we start to look at how we make your site unique. We find often that the template’s layout doesn’t fit precisely with what the client is looking for, so we begin the process of customization. For some clients, it’s as simple as adding in a few basic plugins, for others it might involve a complete redesign of the template. Moving columns from left to right, changing fonts, etc. From there it’s a simple matter of making things happen.

Little by little, we start to replace that dummy text with real content that the real end users will see. We create unique content, and finish off any remaining visual changes the site may require.

After all this is done, the site is ready for the world! Getting from site set up to site completion is all a matter of timing and coordination. Because we work with WordPress, things generally go quickly, but all sorts of factors can affect how long it takes to get up and running.

We find that we’re able to get a basic site up and running in a day or so, and typically charge about $500 for that service. That includes setting up WordPress on the back end of the site, installing the theme, installing some basic plugins so that the site can communicate with the rest of the internet and making a few general changes to the site’s look and feel. It’s a pretty basic service, but one we feel we have honed better than any of the other companies out there, as we’ve been through the trenches. on this before.

We have a full set of training videos on our site as well which help our clients to help them learn the basics of how to manage the day to day operations of the site.

For many clients, basic set up and customizations will take longer. Perhaps the client is looking for an e commerce solution, or wants to set up their site to automatically pull in ads from Craigslist, or other content from around the web. Each of these special customizations and add-ons add more time to the process of course, and will add to the final cost of the project. We are always very transparent in this regard, and take pride in being one of the few companies on the web who attempt to never surprise our clients. We discuss in advance each charge, and the reason for it.

Some sample customizations and what they might cost in addition to our basic set up charges mentioned above:

 

The above examples are only samples of what clients may expect, and different clients may experience variations in that pricing. We try as hard as we can to offer “package” rates, so it’s more like a combo meal and less of an ala-carte thing whenever we can. There are always special circumstances where other functionalities are required, and pricing on those items would be discussed with the client at that time.

Almost all of our single site clients find that we are able to provide them with almost everything they need within a few days, sometimes as long as two weeks depending on how capable the client is in helping us to add their own personal content, and how much complexity there is in any site upgrades beyond the basic setups mentioned above. Creating a newsletter system, for instance, can take up to a week; as there is a lot of testing which must be done before it’s ready for prime time.

We focus a lot on maintaining websites, as this is our core business. Many small business owners find that they would rather be in the business of running their business than running their website.

After the site is built, we can help you promote your site though Pay Per Click advertising, behind the scenes site updates, and day to day maintenance of the site. We have at our disposal a number of people who are excellent at writing blog articles for example.

Many business owners find that it’s more effective for us to write an article for $20 highlighting their business, than spending an hour of their own time writing that article themselves. Some clients bring us back for a couple of hours every few months to do upgrades, and others will bring us on almost full time, but we’ve found that close to 90% of our clients utilize our services at some time in the future, as we provide excellent customer service.

We fully believe in honesty and integrity at MoonViper, and as such we have a few hard and fast rules regarding payment. Any web design company will insist that you pay a deposit before we begin work on your website. Unfortunately, this is because all web design companies have been hit with clients who don’t pay for work completed. To our knowledge, however, MoonViper is the only company out there we know of who will refuse a check or cash as a down payment. We fully insist on a PayPal payment for the initial deposit, as that is the only way that we can insure our services. Just like if you don’t receive a product you paid for on eBay, a PayPal payment to MoonViper is treated the same way. We have a 13 year track record with PayPal, and in that time, we have only had to refund one unhappy client.

Future payments can be made however the client feels necessary. We encourage people, even if they choose not to work with us, to never work with a web design or marketing company who won’t accept PayPal as a payment option. We’ve seen cases on the web where people will reply to Craigslist ads, get a down payment from the client, and disappear into the night. Those clients always pay in cash or check, and that’s why we insist on at least the initial payment being made via PayPal, for your protection.

Get Started Today!

To get started with your new MoonViper Web Services designed website, simply contact us today to get the ball rolling.