May 23, 2008
Are real estate websites different than other online offerings.
Yes, they are.
First of all, the real estate market is extremely competitive. We have several realtor’s and brokers as clients, and my experience tells me that these sites ABSOLUTELY must have someone in the know when it comes to the design and development.
Why? Simple. There are a truckload of factors to include in a real estate site that most of the time would not apply to other business websites. Minute details that can make or break your real estate sales.
After all, if you don’t sell any property, what good is your site? In many cases we’re talking about million dollar plus properties. Your site must reflect quality to match the price tag. And it absolutely must build confidence in your users to generate leads.
Call us today and we’ll help you build a solid realty site.
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
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Posted by admin under Real Estate Websites | Comments (0)
May 22, 2008
E Commerce sites can be a tad different than most of the affiliate or information sites. They require a different approach and a lot of thought for the security of your users.
After all, they are going to use their credit cards or other financial information to purchase a product or service from you site.
So throughout your design and development, you need to consider security number one. Yes your site must build confidence and have good sales text. But your users absolutely must feel safe and secure to take the plunge and purchase your offer.
Some of the ways to accomplish this are.
Create a professional look and feel for your site. If your site looks junky and cluttered, you are sending a message. You are telling them that YOU or your company might just be junky and cluttered. Not much of a confidence builder, huh?
Get to the point. Jumping all over the place and offering a million offers that have nothing to do with each other will not make you millions. It will water down your search engine optimization and frighten off many of your customers. Be the authority. Sell one line of products or services. Do it well. Earn their trust.
Use a secure cart. Buy a security certificate if you intend to use your own custom cart. If you intend to use a processor that has their own cart, clearly label it on your site. Let your users KNOW that they are safe. Tell them why. Don’t take for granted that they know a particular company solely because you know that processor. Point out the safety features. Point out the reasons why it’s ok to buy your product.
Clearly outline your privacy policy. TELL your users what information you collect, why, and how to contact you if they would like to change that information you hold. Give them more security by telling them if you use tracking cookies. Tell them what you intend to do with their email address and why.
Also, clearly define your site’s terms of use. Protect yourself as well as your users. There are laws that require this policy outline in many states. Especially for children under the age of 13. Create a solid terms of use and let your users know what it is.
Clearly label the links so that your users can find your contact info for shipping issues, the policies mentioned above, and your return or refund policy. If you don’t allow returns or refunds, LET YOUR USERS KNOW. It will save you many headaches in the future.
Lastly, use a company that has experience for your development partner. If your designer / developer does not suggest these additions to your new e commerce site, you need to look elsewhere.
Or, you could just give us a call…. 
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
Written by Affordable Website Design
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Posted by admin under E-Commerce | Comments (0)
May 21, 2008
One question I receive often in my email is whether or not to use free or low priced templates for projects.
Now, my response might surprise you. Because my answer might just be yes. Depending on your project, your budget, your time of delivery needs, etc.
Every project is different, and every client has a different set of needs, goals, and expectations. Budget constraints are probably one of the biggest hurdles you have to overcome when moving forward with bringing your project live online.
With a really tight budget, free templates can be just the solution to cut corners and get moving on the web. But there is a catch. Getting that template to perform well in the search engines is still going to take quite a bit of optimization. Adjustments to the code to make it perform better.
A well optimized template containing CUSTOM content (the actual text within your pages) can perform extremely well. We have several clients that have taken this route, and many of them are indeed sitting at the top of the search results.
So don’t let overwhelming price quotes stop you from bringing your dream into realization.
Call us today and we’ll gladly help you decide the best route.
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
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Posted by admin under Affiliate Websites, Business, E-Commerce, Real Estate Websites, SEO | Comments (0)
May 20, 2008
So you want to build your home on the web?
Have you built your project outline yet? If not, don’t feel bad. Most people don’t even consider building anything to outline their project, mostly because they don’t really have any idea what direction the project should or will take.
So just a bit of advice. Take the time to outline your goals and objectives. Think about where you want to be in one year. Five. Ten.
Be realistic and set achievable goals. Give yourself a basic timeline and benchmark specific target goals within the timeline.
Then give us a call. We can help you make these goals a reality.
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
Written by Affordable Website Design
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May 19, 2008
Domain name selection. Your ‘www’ on the web. An easy part of the design process, right?
Maybe. For some. But not for everyone.
One of the things we encounter a lot with new clients wanting better search engine placement is that they have often opted for a poor domain name for their site.
For example. Let’s say that ‘Bob’ builds custom bicycle seats. Really really cool custom bicycle seats. And ‘Bob’ is really really proud of his work. His art. His passion. So ‘Bob’ decides it’s time to take his product online.
‘Bob’ shoots on over to his favorite domain registrar and finds that his DREAM url (domain name) www.bobsfantasyseats.com is actually available! So ‘Bob’ registers that bad boy for ten years, with dreams of being the biggest manufacturer in the world when it comes to cool custom bike seats.
But did ‘Bob’ pick a good name for his product? No. ‘Bob’ picked a cool name for ‘Bob’….
What he failed to do is to consider using some basic keyword research in order to find a good domain name that might actually help him rank better in the search engines.
Before you start writing your email to me full of branded examples (www.google.com comes to mind…) let me say this. YES, using other optimization methods, coupled with an excellent advertising budget, ANYTHING can be branded. If you have millions of dollars, you can make wooymooy a universally recognizable brand.
The fact of the matter is, most of my new clients don’t have an unlimited budget. Most don’t have years to cultivate the branding and the time to wait for other optimization methods to compensate for a branded domain. No, most of my clients want faster results. And that means looking for a domain name pertinent to the product your selling. Using keyword research to see what your users actually type into the search engines.
So going back to our example, wouldn’t it have been much better for ‘Bob’ to consider something like custombicycleseats.com? Even custombikeseatsbybob.com would have been better than the domain given in the example. Because these domains contain keywords that Bob’s buyers might actually search for. Resulting in visitors that are not only curious about your product, but resulting BUYERS.
What a concept, huh?
But yes, it can be confusing, and we are here to help. We are experts in helping you locate the best possible domain name for your products.
Give me a call and I’d be happy to help.
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
Written by Affordable Website Design
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Posted by admin under Affiliate Websites, Business, E-Commerce, Real Estate Websites, SEO | Comments (0)
May 15, 2008
SEO. Search Engine Optimization.
You probably have an idea of what this is. But for the average Joe starting a new website, you may not have any clue what you need to do in order to optimize your site for great search engine results.
A quick search for firms offering SEO services may not help much either. There are about a million companies out there offering to ‘make you number one’….
Even more common, are unsolicited offers by email offering these same types of search engine dream results.
But if they were really able to do that, why in the heck are they spamming you? Why aren’t they just reaping the benefits of their inside knowledge? Sitting at the top of the listings themselves for ANY term they want?
Because good, solid, long term, quality SEO is a mystery to most of these companies. SEO for RELEVANT terms. Terms that will actually make sales for you. Now that’s the ticket.
What these companies promise and what they deliver are too very different things. What they count on is your lack of knowledge and your absolute need to receive good search engine traffic. They know you are desperate, and they know you’ll shell out a few dollars in the hopes that ‘this company may just be the one…’
Stop to think a minute though. If they were the one. If they hold the key. Why are they spamming people in order to try and drum up some business?
Because they don’t know how to obtain good solid listings for relevant keywords. Plain and simple.
What they usually deliver for their promised top ten placement in their ads is this. A non relevant term or phrase. Something that NO ONE wants. Something that NO ONE searches for. Yes, they kept their promise to you and you are now the proud holder for the number one spot for the search phrase “I like oily jelly.”
Unfortunately, even if someone actually did search for that term, which is highly unlikely, I’m pretty sure it won’t help you if you’re selling real estate.
Nope. Unless you’re really offering ‘oily jelly’ (bleck), it’s wasted dough. It’s wasted time. It’s absolutely worthless.
So Chuck you ask. What is a good, solid SEO strategy?
So glad you asked.
Give me a call, and I’d be happy to help you develop a long term strategy for your site that will actually help you SELL your products.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
Written by Affordable Website Design
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May 14, 2008
How much should your web site design cost?
Again. A million dollar question. Sometimes literally.
When I refer to a web site in general, for the most part I am referring to the average web site for a bricks and mortar business. A real estate website, a car dealership, an online offering or affiliate website, etc.
Which you may know, I’ve stated in the past ordinarily averages about 40 man hours total.
So to do the math. Our rates run $75 per hour for almost all regular design and development. So a quick calculation says that the average website runs $3000.
That’s for a completely custom, ground up website. Tack on another $240 per year per hosting and you’ve got a brand new website, ready to roll for under $3500.
We also have many other options available at a much lower cost to our clients. Which I’d love to discuss with you. Looking to start your new online business for under $1500.00?
Yup. We can do that.
Give me a call and I’ll tell you how.
Chuck Crawford
559-761-0910
Written by Affordable Website Design
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May 13, 2008
How long should your web site’s design / development take?
A million dollar question. Literally sometimes.
Much depends on what type of web site you are having built. There are enormous sites with extremely large custom software running different applications offered. But unless you are a fortune 500 company looking to take on a task of this size, likely this doesn’t apply to you.
Most of our clients own bricks and mortar companies. Real estate agents, car dealers, specialty shops, etc. Really too many different types to mention. But you get the idea. Most have a store, office, or physical business location.
Also we provide services to many online companies that sell their goods directly to the public. These fall into the same category simply because for the most part they offer goods or services.
This is the type of web site I want to discuss today.
What I find over and over again when it comes to new clients inquiring about our design and development services is that they are often coming from another design company completely frustrated. They have either only gotten an astronomically high price quote, an extremely long time frame quote, or both.
The problem with this is that it absolutely does not have to be out of this world expensive, and it certainly doesn’t take months to complete the average website for a new client. Including specialized e commerce web sites or scripted sites offering currently updated listings and products.
Nope. It’s a sham.
Simple psychology really. Star Trek psychology. Scottie always told Captain Kirk that he couldn’t POSSIBLY fix whatever was ailing the ship in the time they had before complete and utter destruction. But somehow he ALWAYS managed to fix it in the brink of time.
Kind of the same principal here. With a bit of a twist. See, in web site design, it almost always takes LONGER than the original time frame quote.
Why?
Occasionally it’s because the company does not have adequate staff and just cannot complete the project on time. Sometimes it’s because the client shifts gears mid project and new features, pages, etc have been added. But most of the time it’s the reverse Star Trek philosophy….
If it takes longer, you’ll think they are REALLY working on it and giving you your money’s worth.
But are you getting what you paid for? Really? How do you know?
Just because a web site design company told you it was going to take six weeks to complete your site does not mean that they are going to work on your site for six weeks. No way my friends.
The average customer’s web site takes about 40 man hours. Period.
So let’s do the math here. If Web Site Design Co ‘A’ has assigned five employees to your project, what should the turnaround time be? Yup. ONE DAY.
Yes, that is assuming that they are exclusively working on your project alone, and is not very likely for a successful design company. But even if you allow 1 hour a day for a company of this size, your completion time is only 8 days out….
A long cry from the average six weeks quoted by the majority of web site design companies, huh?
Lucy, you got some splainin’ to doo……
Need a web site developed?
Give us a call for a free project analysis: (559) 761-0910
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May 12, 2008
Welcome to our blog!
Affiliate Website Design has been helping people build their portfolios since 2005, and our company has been developing affordable web site solutions for our clients since 1995. Overall constructing thousands of websites for clients around the globe.
This blog was built to assist you in making decisions regarding your future on the web.
We welcome you and hope you’ll join our community and help make this site the best resource for web site design and project development online!
Call us today: (559) 761-0910
Chuck Crawford
www.affiliatewebsitedesign.com
Written by Affordable Website Design
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