Tiny Frog Web Design

If you haven't already done so I can register your domain name as it's called. The most common extension and one we all know is the dot com. You can of course register both and there are advantages in this to ensure someone else doesn't.

I highly recommend a dot com after your name were possible. It's fast to register, reasonable cost and most people make the assumption your name will be dot com.

Dot ie registration is also available but as opposed to dot com is slow to register (very), expensive, (over 4 times more than dot com), and people do not automatically assume your domain will end in dot ie. I feel it welling up so I have to say it. I've had to register dot ie names for clients since the early days of the web, it's always been a real pain in the butt! It's such a disappointing aspect of the 'New Ireland' and really speaks volumes of how we've got caught up in needless bloated bureaucracy. Their response is to say they are more thorough. Rant over - I'll take a break now.

Where was I?

Yes Prices....

Price per dot com - The good news is a dot com registration for one year is included as part of all of my PACKAGES. I'll separate out this cost for clarity and in case you need to register more than one domain name.
To register properly, (for instance hiding your private info from spammers etc), a first time dot com name is 50 euros for the first year with a per yearly charge thereafter of 25 euros.
Comment: If you want to do this yourself you can and you will 'save' a few euros. But there are a few hidden gotchas you need to watch out for. You will also be responsible for some techie stuff like pointing your domain name to the nameservers etc. It's much easier I do it - really.

Price per dot ie - It costs 150 euros to register for the first year and 100 euros per year thereafter. This is not included as part of my PACKAGES
Comment: Same as per dot com above.

Your website is properly hosted. This means a lot of things are taken care of in the background, like generous storage usage limits, access to databases, programming language support, highly dependable uptimes, backups and on and on.

I don't want to get into a lot of technical details here because my service is based on you not having to get caught up in stuff you don't need to concern yourself with.

So suffice to say I use a really great hosting service which I've carefully selected after a lot of time and effort. As much as you I don't want any hassle from a hosting company. I want 100% uptime with no glitches.

One last comment on this like all of my services I don't cut corners. Your domain name is hosted correctly in that it has it's own space on a server and will appear in its proper name.

Example: www.yourdomainname.com not www.tinyfrogwebdesign.com/yourdomainname.com

Price: Well the good news is it's included as part of all of my PACKAGES for the first year of hosting. But you need to know there is a per annum charge of 100 euros thereafter.

Sell your products and services online. All you need is a credit card and the right Paypal account, and yes, products or services to sell.

Price: Depends on the size, complexity and time required to design, program, set up and check out your shopping cart. Every shopping cart is different so please ask.

Sections of your site can be password protected.

Private sections of your website perhaps only for your clients or agents for example. Here you could provide support information for your clients, special prices, guides, articles or any any kind of information or links.

Price: 150 euros setup. (This can be a little bit involved and needs programming expertise)

Content Management System - I program in a way for you to update information on certain pages directly from your browser, on your own computer. This means you don't have to come to me with updates, you do it yourself, saving you time, money and all oh so convenient!

This is independent of the design/layout of your site and it doesn't mean you can add extra pages, (simply not practical). But being able to update information on your website in various key places, anytime, anywhere through your browser could be a great facility for you to have.

Price: Starting at 500 euros - but I need clarification as to the type and amount of changes you would like to setup within your site.

Everyone would love their site to be in the top ten, heck make that number one in the Google search rankings. Considering you are competing with a lot of other people within your area of interest, a good rating requires a level of expertise consistently applied.

This is in the area of Marketing and for my clients I've written an article on it.

Here is how I approach it and the services I provide.

(a) Base level - I setup your site at the very beginning with every page having a proper structure. This means when your site sees the light of day it at least has a good chance of getting a positive ranking. This takes time and patience on your behalf. In my experience it can take a few months for the search engines to properly scope your website. Some of my clients have achieved good results from just this.

(I'll let you in on a secret - many websites are put together by people who don't know or care about search engine rankings. This means by default, as a rough guess, 66% of websites don't stand much chance of ever getting a good ranking due to the underlying structure 'code' behind the page, being well, non-existant - there is no structure!)

Price: Included as part of my PACKAGES

(b) Level 2
After your website is complete and up and running on the server I (a) Actively present your site to the search engines, and once a week for the first four weeks including further optimising your website for the search engines. As part of this service I also, from the word go build in a sitemap into your website. This sitemap is specially designed and coded in such a way as to assist in getting a much better ranking from the search engines.
Price: 280 euros

(c) Level 3
Is to continue this activity on a weekly basis monitoring the ratings and constantly fine tuning. You can also help this process by keeping your content live and expanding your website were appropriate.
Price: 385 euros first month setup, (sitemap MODULE included). Thereafter 280 euros per month (This service carried out weekly). Minimum time of 6 months is required as this is more effective. There is a constant fine tune-feedback-time loop involved, plus this process should form part of your long term business strategy.

Note: No one except the inner circle within the search engines really knows what the secret formula is to get high ratings. Having said this there are a series of recognised steps that can taken to greatly improve your chances of a good rating. Not only that but success can be measured through searches/site logs/response. There can be no guarantees to gain a specific ranking. It is a matter of gaining the best position possible within a given budget and in an ever changing marketplace. A great challenge to take on!

PS My own site, this site, is brand new, (as from 1st February 2008), so I will be taking my own advice and expect to climb the rankings in the months to come. But I do expect it to take 3 or 4 months and even then to maintain a weekly focus on this aspect of my site.

PPS Google rankings are not the whole story when it comes to Marketing your website. You can put to use a lot of other tactics to promote your website on and offline. Clients can read more here.

Just like a printed catalogue it can be reproduced online with categories, images, text and prices. This can be a preliminary to having your own shopping cart or suffice as a source of information for your visitors.

A Gallery is similar in structure but can be used by the likes of artists, designers and crafts people.

Price: Very much depends on the style of presentation, number of items and how 'ready to go' the pictures and text are. For a catalogue or gallery to work well and be fast loading the images need to be resized twice and optimised, then the captions added, then inserted into the gallery. This all takes time and care.

As a guideline only a Catalogue/Gallery starts at 250 euros and I can build some very nice presentations.

You probably have used or viewed these online already. Visitors post their questions or comments and (registered), users post their responses.

Depending on your business or organisation this could be a great asset. (It does require someone to keep an eye on it to avoid inappropriate posting).

That aside some forums can have many thousands of visitors and properly organised can be a very powerful means of communication.

Price: Starts at 685 euros. (It takes time and expertise to set up, check it out and tune it).

There are a number of ways to present a large mount of information on a single page, (like this one).

For example without this drop-down system you would have to search through a very, very long page of text to find and read what interests you. The structure on this page makes this an easy task and hopefully an attractive one as well.

Price: A starting price for the structure and look of a drop-down MODULE similar in format to this page, is 125 euros - variations in colour and bar graphics are possible.

This can be very attractive and eye catching if used correctly. Overuse can slow down your site and cause problems with the search engines, (they don't like flash - hard to index).

But depending on your business they can be great for drop ins or ads for special products or services.

Price: Starting at 350 euros - as always it depends on size and complexity. (Time and expertise required).

Online forms can be fairly simple or elaborate depending on your needs. My Contact form has a small number of fields, but this can be extended to many and also include tick boxes, drop down lists etc. etc.

On clicking the submit button my page shows a simple thank you in the text under the form, and I automatically receive your information by email.

It's also possible on clicking the submit button, I could automatically show you a separate 'thankyou' page, send you an email and log your data into a special (private), file on the server. This file can be used to process further contacts with you using email, should you have opted in to receive the likes of my newsletter for example. This is all done through programming code behind the page.

So you see forms can be quite powerful and a great way to interact with your visitors.

Price: As a guideline a starting price for a Form MODULE is 95 euros as per the example of my own Contact form.
(Which by the way doesn't have the extra thankyou page, the database and the 'email the responder'. My contact form purely emails me the content of the form and puts a thankyou under the form). Good enough for me and perhaps you as well.

Audio or video can be used on your site. I think this is an area of great potential for businesses and greatly under utilised.

Raw files can be processed/compressed/formated and setup to display/play on your site. How could you use this idea to get your message across better? It's worth thinking about.

Price: Audio starts at 200 euros and video depends on the length and format of the original.
Price is based on you having the original recordings and/or footage in finished form e.g. good quality and already edited.

Of course your website can be extended by adding additional web pages. All the sites I develop are hosted on servers with loads of room for expansion. Once you have your core site up and running, as part of its evolution, look at extending your website to reflect changes and expansion in your business.

This can be especially effective in the area of customer support. This area is seriously overlooked in my opiniion. How better could you support your clients using a good website? I bet there are loads of opportunities here for you.

Development and keeping your site updated is not only a good practice but vital to its effectiveness. It does your business no favours to have an old, minimal, out of date site. Because that's the impression potential clients will have of your business or organisation.

Price: Depend on the nature of the pages.
NB It's more cost effective to add a number of pages at any one time as opposed to the occasional single page. But that depends on your circumstances.

If after taking stock you find you need photography I can provide that as well. A Commercial photographer for over 25 years I carry out studio and location work. All in house, no third parties involved.

NB If you have existing photography or your own photographer that's absolutely fine, I'll use whatever raw material you have available.

Price: I need to discuss your requirements to quote.

Most people provide their own text, but occasionally someone wants a fresh new way of presenting their message. If that's you, I provide a copy writing service.

I have been providing this service for clients for over 25 years, have my own book published and am in the process of writing my second.

It's not a service everyone feels they need or indeed appreciates. It's up to you.

Price: How much work/time is required to get your message across in a compelling way? I need to know to quote.

The most common use of graphics is a company logo. Also known by the grand name of Corporate ID. A lot of start up companies are not aware of the value of a clear, interesting, attractive and memorable logo. Don't be one of them.

Slapping on a piece of 'clip art' or putting a drop shadow on text is not the answer. What often happens is a new company owner needs stationary and business cards, so they go to a print bureau or printer and the logo is quickly 'cobbled together' to get the print sorted and out the door. In other words the graphic that represents the company becomes just an afterthought.

You don't have to spend a fortune on a good logo but it requires a bit more thought attention and expertise.

If you already have a logo that's OK. I'll work with whatever you have.

Other graphics/images specifically for your website, could be a suite of icons, headlines, navigation buttons. Graphics for specific products or services.

Price: Wish I could be more specific but again it depends on your project.

A surprising MODULE perhaps but sometimes a necessary one.

You wouldn't believe the amount of times someone:

(a) Hands me a sheaf of printed sheets as their text content for their website. I'm then expected to go off and spend hours typing in the same text that exists as a file on their computer. Duhh! eMail me the file.

(b) Hands me hand-written barely decipherable notes written on the back of a napkin. OK I'm joking about the napkin part, but hand-written notes - very often.

So I'm hoping this MODULE means you will supply me ready to go txt files, emailed is good.

But if you do expect me to do the typing I have to charge for the time as it's not costed into any of my PACKAGES.

Price: 20 euros per hour as a freelance typist.

First to clarify what illustration is. It's drawings, sketches, paintings or renderings used to support your message. That sounds a bit grand, but you can see illustrations used every day in magazines, newspapers, ads etc. It's a way of making your message eye catching and attractive. The old saying 'a picture is as good as a 1000 words' can be true.

Photography is a form of illustration only using a camera instead of a paintbrush, or more likely nowadays, a graphics tablet.

Price: Quoted after discussion.

I can build into your website a special Sitemap MODULE which has two main benefits.

(a) It provides your visitors with a clear take on the structure of your site. This means they don't overlook something of interest or importance. All nodes are live and clickable on the map. You can check out my own sitemap here.

(b) Its a great asset when it comes to getting noticed/ranked by the search engines as it contains special code to help the engines read your website.

Price: 150 euros

If you, or a group, would like to learn, explore, or simply understand more about either the workings of the Internet or about how you can get a lot more marketing or communication mileage out of having your own website - then use my consultancy service.

These are just a few of the areas I'm usually asked about:

- How does online marketing work?
- How important are the search engines?
- What can I do to promote my website considering I don't know anything beyond emailing, browsing and searching?
- How do I get my own domain name, do I need more than one, and what are the hidden issues around it?
- How do I know how many people visit my site?
- How can I better use email to communicate and market my services.
- How can I get the maximum value for money from having my own website?
- What about updating my website, do I have to go through you or can I do it on my own?
- What about people browsing my site using mobile phone now that iPhone and other devices like it are becoming more popular?
- I need to become more Internet savvy, how does this thing work?
- What new technologies are emerging and how can I use them to get more clients and keep the ones I already have?

Costs: One-to-one 95 euros per hour.
Groups: Same price per person less 33%

If anyone goes on, within 3 months from the time of the consultation, to work with me on producing their website then they are credited with 50% of what they paid on consultation against the website project.