Frequently Asked Questions

Just ASK FOR A QUOTE and we can begin the process of determining the needs of your company and it's new website.

If you don't have a domain (www.mybiz.com) or host (a company that provides you a space where your website will reside on their servers) we suggest that you wait until after our first discussion. Choosing a domain name is incredibly important, especially if your actual business' name isn't available. Also, it is very, very important to choose the right host.

Don't worry If you already have a domain and or host. The reason why we suggest you wait is to ensure that not only do you have a name which can be easily remembered, but a hosting service which runs smoothly and gives you the support you need.

Also, don't forget to view our WEBSITE PRICE QUOTE WORKSHEET AND MATERIALS CHECKLIST, it will help both of us considerably in deploying the finished result.

Not to worry! In many cases we can apply the use of stock images.

If you need specific images of your business, installations, products, most design companies will actually subcontract the photographic work out to another company and we will do the same for your project.

With our experience in photography we can view the portfolios of photographers in your area and decide who has the best skills (as well as fees) for the project at hand.

We will then negotiate a fair price and give you the photographer's estimate and website address so you can review their work. It will be entirely up to you as to whether or not you contact them.

In no way will you be obligated to use that particular photographer.

No, photography is an additional service we provide along side our web design and development services. The discount you receive is when you contract us for photography in addition to web design.

Since all photography is in-house, we reduce the price of photographic services considerably in comparison to being contracted strictly for photographic work.

This really depends on the size of your site; what some people don't realize is that even a basic design can, in some cases, require hundreds of man hours to accomplish

This is not to say that your site will be such a site, but depending on whether or not you require special applications, shopping carts, etc, the price will be based accordingly to the amount of work which is needed; there are no "basic" packages or the like, each site is tailored to the real needs of the client.

Websites are no small matter and should be considered one of the most important fundamental aspects of investing in yourself and your company/product; if you have a website which looks low-end it can reflect negatively on the perceptions of those who visit your site.

Prices are based on the size and requirements only. The only other costs which you will have to plan for is for hosting, domain registration and any third-party applications integrated into your site, such as a newsletter system. Also some monthly fees may apply in regards to shopping carts and or reservation systems.

Here at OptoSplash we are dedicated to helping the "little guy", we want to give professional grade websites to those who may have found it cost prohibitive with other firms and that's precisely why we offer such extremely competitive quotes.

In the end that is entirely up to you, but the fact is this: How else can an individual and/or company build relationships and partnerships if they are simply listed in the phone book? Even in emerging markets within the third world people are increasingly turning more to the internet to find their information.

With the internet you can make contacts from Hong Kong to Patagonia, you can take advantage of new trade agreements, or let people know that when they visit your city you can provide them a service they need.

When all is said and done, it's about information and who you want that information to be available to.

Websites are not magical they, on their own, are an extension of your persona and business, they can't magically drive millions of dollars into your pockets, but can let people on the other side of the world know what your company is offering to the marketplace.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is essentially a technique to help websites place better in major search engines such as Yahoo!™ and Google™

There are several factors to take into account when speaking about SEO; does Google™ see each page title, header, content, and links in a way that gives it a better idea of EXACTLY what your site is about? Is your website built around code which is structured properly for search engines? There is a wide assortment of issues which needs to be addressed in order to make your website more effective with regards to search ranking.

Now, the reality is, though there are many, many companies that are dedicated to SEO, there also seems to be just as many, if not more, companies which exploit website owners. Even in Google's own guidelines it states to be very wary of some of these companies. If you would like to read more about the pitfalls of SEO go to Google's page on SEO.

What we can do for you is to give you a site which will be indexed and read correctly by search engines and suggest some things that YOU, as a site owner, can do to insure a better placement among search engines. One of the important things to remember is not to expect a number one ranking for a search term like "cheese" if you own a bakery. But, it is realistic to assume that if you own a bakery whose specialty is Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake and it is located in Bakersfield California, that you could very well land within the top hundred for a search like this: "Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bakersfield"; search placement takes time, effort and patience.

Like everything business related, 99% of it is networking, and more networking, and when you are finished, some more networking.

It also requires content, as the saying goes in this industry: "content is king". What do we mean by that? Well, in order to insure that your site can be returned for searches relating to your industry, you will need to write. This is why static websites are disappearing at an incredible rate and sites need a content management system to backup the front end design. The more content you create, the more likely search engines will be able to gather important keywords and keyword phrases.

We can if you like, but that requires an additional fee. So for example, if you have already made the final payment and then you decide to make a change, then you would have to pay an hourly rate.

We do however perform regular backups of the website and updates to the Content Management System free of charge.

Do keep in mind though that unlike a static site, your site will be built around a content management system so whenever you want to add/delete a page or modify text and create entries you will be able to do this yourself.

CMS stands for Content Management System, it is essentially code that works behind what you see on the web. What you see when you visit your web page is the "front-end", it's the exterior of the house if you will. There is, with a CMS, a "back end" where you can login to organize, modify and create documents.

For more information about what a CMS is, have a look at this article.

Absolutely! The moment the website is turned over to you we will provide you with a step by step PDF (with images) which will guide you through the process of managing your website's content.

Yes, but remember that an online retail site will cost more than a basic site.

Yes, adding a reservation system is no problem, but as with a retail site or any site which requires special features, the cost will increase.

Yes, matter of fact, having your site in more than one language makes your website more accessible to international clients and/or residents in your area who predominantly speak another language.

Do keep in mind though, that creating multi-language sites do require some additional work.

This really depends on how large your site is, on average a site can take between 4 to 7 weeks.

We can certainly help you find the right host and domain registrar for your business needs.

For more information on finding a host have a look at this article and this article on choosing a domain name.

Remember, before choosing a host and a domain name, we should have a meeting to discuss your website's needs.

After our initial communication and once both parties have decided what size and structure the site will have, the process will begin with a contractual agreement and a deposit of 50%. We will then start on the designing of a mockup (digitally drawn examples of what your website could look like).

After reviewing this and coming to an agreement as to which one we are to use as the base for your site's design we continue onto the next step.

During this process we will begin the coding of your site, this is the longest period of the project and requires that we have all the materials asked for in the WEBSITE PRICE QUOTE WORKSHEET AND MATERIALS CHECKLIST

In the final stage, you will be shown your website hosted on our own servers and if you enjoy what you see, then final payment will be made and the site will be transferred to your host under your domain (example: www.mybiz.com).

There are actually six milestones or stages that we follow: 1.Mock up review/approval 2.Design 3.Coding 4.Copy writing 5.Pre-launch 6.final deployment and transfer of ownership

There are quite a few things a client can do to help get their site deployed in an efficient manner. Here are a few examples:

• There is a misconception among many that little changes are "simple", this is not always the case, when asking for a change make sure it is truly needed and that it is asked for early in development. Asking for changes during the production period can result in the deployment time-line being pushed back, and may result in extra hourly fees.
• Don't rush to make changes because somebody mentions "You should do this." or "You should do that." everybody has a friend with an opinion.
• Try to avoid micromanaging the process, we work for you, but if constant changes are asked for, the site takes longer to finish and twice as much work has to be put into it.
• Once we have agreed that we are to create mockups for you, you should go over your WEBSITE PRICE QUOTE WORKSHEET AND MATERIALS CHECKLIST and return it as soon as you can, preferably within one week. This questionnaire and material check list will let us know what your business is about in-depth and give us the materials we need to get started.
  The faster you return it to us, the faster we can get started with the next stage of the work and the less likely a deadline will be pushed back.
• All materials needed for the website such as photographs that you want placed in the site, copy (the actual written text that you want to appear on your site) needs to be done and given to us as soon as possible.
  For example if you have mission statements, text for your about page, descriptions of your products, i.e. everything that you want to be specifically used within the website, then we need that during the design process. If you want us to write it for you, the aforementioned questionnaire goes to helping us achieve this. (there is no charge for copy-writing)
• Don't add features to your site mid-stream, this will only create disruptions and cause a reevaluation of the agreed upon price. Be sure of what you need, not just what you want, before the designing process begins. Our initial communication will go a long way in determining this.
  For example, if you already have channels for the sale of your products but want information available for other distributors/buyers on your site, and no time to maintain an e-commerce site, then a site with a catalog without a shopping cart may be the best course of action to take.
• Be realistic with what you want, don't base the structure of your website on well known powerhouse sites on the web. For example, you may want a shopping cart, but don't demand that it be modeled after Amazon.com™. Sites like these have an army of developers and IT personnel working behind the scenes 24hours a day, seven days a week and can cost tens of thousands of dollars to create.
• Remember that there are several stages to the process; concept, design, developing, debugging (the process of ironing out the behavior of the website's code itself and the appearance of the code across different web browsers) and then finally the actual deployment. This can't be finished in one week.
  A set of milestones will be placed, where you will be able to review the work done, once a milestone has been approved and passed, then any changes can and will delay the project and may incur a reevaluation of fees or a cancellation of the contractual agreement.
  The milestones are as follows: 1.Mockup review/approval 2.Design 3.Coding 4.Copy writing 5.Pre-launch 6.final deployment and transfer of ownership.

We can design a web site for almost any kind of business; from private medical practices to restaurants.

We WILL NOT design sites for any morally questionable businesses whatsoever.