Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to some important questions we’ve encountered in the past
How much does a new website cost?
I have no clue where to start. Can you help me?
Why should I hire Ten West Design?
Another company says they can build my site for under $500. Why shouldn't I just hire them?
Can you help me with content for my website?
Does Ten West Design offer hosting services?
How do I get my website on search engines, like Google?
What will my website look like?
My company is not based locally can I still hire you?
How much does a new website cost?
Website prices depend on so many factors, it’s impossible to say in one sentence. Avoid any web developer who can answer this question without a long talk.
To get a better idea of the cost of what you want to build, give us a quick phone call. We’ll ask you a few questions about the nature of the site, what sort of interactivity the site will have, your graphic design needs, etc. Then we’ll be able to give you a ballpark figure. If you’re still interested, we’ll come to your place of business and come up with a firm quote.
If you talk to a web developer who gives you an instant quote, be cautious. Imagine telling a builder you want to build a house and having them immediately give you a price for a house. Any fair and honest builder would want to know the size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. of the house you’re looking to build, right? The same goes for building web sites.
Keep in mind that your website should be an investment, not an expense.
I have no clue where to start. Can you help me?
Of course! We will guide you through the entire project, from securing your domain name to going live. Even if you decide to build the site yourself or hire another design company, we will give you the information you need to get started.
Why should I hire Ten West Design?
Every website needs more than just a pretty design. All web design and development services include configuration of custom email accounts, monthly traffic analytics and basic search engine optimization services. Basic SEO includes submission of your site to the major search engines, and the setup of your primary metatag information (Page Title, Description and Keywords). Additionally, every site is built with search engine friendly technologies and methods.
Another company says they can build my site for under $500. Why shouldn’t I just hire them?
If you’re lucky, you get what you pay for; a brand new website that looks and performs poorly.
There’s really no shortage of web designers willing to build a $500 website. Be wary of anyone who says they’ll build you a web site or sell you a car for $500. It’s likely that they’ll take your money and run. What’s more likely is that they’ll take your money and then build your site from a faulty template. They may have a lot of free templates to choose from, but they’ll all be rather generic. They’ll ask you for five pages of text and then slap it into a template and that’s it. You can’t have custom graphic design; you can’t have any interactivity; your site won’t be optimized for search engines and it will look like a $500 site.
Remember, a consultation with Ten West Design is always free and we just might be able to prevent you from wasting hundreds of dollars.
Can you help me with content for my site?
Sure can. In fact, copy writing is included in all proposals as well as some photography and access to some stock images.
Does Ten West Design offer hosting services?
No. In fact, be cautious when other web design companies say they do.
Most real web hosting companies have massive data centers that have hundreds of employees, triple power redundancy (in case of a blackout in the region) and 24-hour security staff guarding the facility.
When a local web developer claims that they also host web sites, they’re almost certainly just a middleman (reseller) for a real web host. That means that they mark up the cost of hosting and pass it along to you. If they’re hosting websites on their own server, make sure they carry both General Liability and a Professional Technology insurance.
We host all of our sites at SiteGround, a company that meets technical needs and has great customer service at a reasonable price.
How do I get my website on search engines, like Google?
Submitting your site to major search engines isn’t very complicated. What’s more important is where your site ranks after it’s been submitted. No matter how much you spend on having your website built, it’s wasted money if no one can find it.
We take great care to ensure that your website is built using industry standard SEO methods…with some extras of our own as well. No one can guarantee a #1 spot on a search engine ranking (Google even says such claims are bogus), but we do our best to get your website as close to the top spot as possible.
What will my website look like?
Every proposal created will include a design “mockup.” This is a non-functioning image representation of an initial design concept. If you don’t love it, it can be changed until you are satisfied with the design.
My company is not based locally. Can I still hire you?
Yes, of course! We create websites and offer our usual great customer service to clients who operate anywhere. We have several clients out-of-state.