Web pages and stuff

Ok fellas, this is what I wanna know!

I will go on the net and have a loo but first hand knowledge is the best as far as I have seen.

A few quick tips from the board of 'spurts will be most appreciated.

A web site for an international business. The business entails hiring care, health aged and disability carers and nannies.

The business is already established but the operator wants to move to Australia from Canada...Now don't you blokes that have memory bring up anything from previous posts. Promise!!!

Who builds web sites and what costs would be reasonable.

What server would be the best in your opinion...I will take the survey result.

Anything Blokes or blokesses...point me in the right direction.

Peter R

That's a bit of an open question. What is the web site going to do? Is it just an online brochure, or will it take bookings, accept credit cards, etc. etc.? You (they) need to think about these things before talking about costs. A web site can go from a simple affair that you build yourself to a full blown online store with shopping baskets and online credit card payments.

A simple setup that just advertises the service and provides an online booking form that sends you an email when someone fills it in would be straight forward and shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks to establish, depending upon who does the work.

There are also online 'malls' where you pay a fee to become a virtual 'vendor' and they set the page up for you, provide the ecommerce stuff, and charge you a fee and probably a commission as well. Might be an option but depends upon the volume.

Peter, that's like saying "I'd like stuff made out of wood - how much?"

How big is the website?
How many graphics? And not just a lot of graphics either. Have a look at my site, there's bugger all graphics in total but it adds up. Just those book covers would cost you in the order of $200 (no, I did them myself, that's why they look like I did them myself). Just creating and uploading one of my sales pages is a day's work - doesn't look like it does it, but that's what it takes. Pay someone $60 and hour to do that, and it get's pricey, and there's a good chance they won't be as fussy as you are (to save you money).
And it's not just knocking it together - there's the testing, the putting it up, testing again.
And who writes the text?

Tell your mate to work out what she wants and how much she is willing to spend. Then look at how to bring the two together.

But there are ways of keeping the costs down. A mate of mine has his website working on 'cascading style sheets'. Basically, there's a template and all pages use it. He paid someone to create the template, he just fills in the text whenever he wants to create a new page. It's boring but it works.

Once the website is up, you can't just ignore it. You have to maintain it. It can be a big job and even if you think your page isn't going to change, it will, and sooner than you think (how can tell my website is out of date? It's on the internet). The smart move is to learn how to do it yourself, and it's not hard - if you can drive a wordprocessor, you can create websites.

Then there's attending to all the emails that come through. I had a mate who used a website to promote his business here in Adelaide - and kept getting emails from Americans who couldn't understand that Australia isn't part of mainland America.

Webhosting. Like hardware stores, there are thousands of services out there, and some of them are even good. I use Namesecure for my domain name but my site is hosted by my ISP. However, Namesecure do host websites and apparently are quite reliable. But that's just one name out of thousands.

It's a big job but, obviously, not impossible to get a grip on (hell, I managed it). The important thing to do first is to work out what she wants - style, content, etc. Is she going to be selling things from the site or just advertising her services? The more detail in this stage, the less it will cost you if you pay someone and the easier it will be if you do it yourself.

Cheers
Richard

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$60 and hour

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I don't get out of bed for less than double that!!

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Originally Posted by silentC

I don't get out of bed for less than double that!!

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OK, so how much are they paying you to go to bed in the first place. :eek: :D

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Originally Posted by silentC

I don't get out of bed for less than double that!!

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Do a lot of work in your pyjamas, do you?

Who wears pyjamas? Oh, that's right, you're in Melbourne. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D :rolleyes:

Ok, so Daddles is on the track, great.

I looked at the net and there is one that offers a free template, Daddles comment on that now gels.

I will explain a bit further: this lady hires care workers and etc, as mentioned, from all places around the world, and sends them to all places around the world, so her web site will be to attract the interest of prospective employees and employers.

This lady's name is Apple, so I will refer to her as that.

This business is fairly new but has achieved a good bit of success. but there is really no centralised office, so a world wide web site seems, to me, sensible.

I did read about the upkeep of a website, but again Apple has a Proficency in Computer Literacy and other computer operations...Not sure how much,,,Must not be enough to know about web pages. Still working here on all this.

Money is of major consideration until the business is fully functional,and I guess that, not only would she be looking at the web page as a contact point but as an eye catching advertisement.

Does that narrow the question a bit...How much to make something out of wood, but with these details attached? I liked that one...May I use it.

Peter R.

Peter, there's a lot of work in a website. If you are going to pay someone, it will cost you and you get what you pay for. There is a lot of time involved so cheap cost usually equals quick, superficial work.

If your lady knows computers, tell her to learn to do it herself. It's not hard to learn how to do. Background images are easy to get because you just do what everyone else does - filtch them from the internet. The modern WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors are dead easy to use - if you can drive Word, you can use them. You can even use Word to create your web page, though I've never been happy with the result - a dedicated program such as Front Page (yes, I know about its problems) is best.

I have never used a template. I write all my stuff from scratch, though with the help of a program (I'm not nerdy enough to write html in a text editor, though only through laziness).

Tell her to design a single page. If she's running a business, she probably knows advertising fliers. Just think of it as a single page advertising flier and start your web site with that single page. Have a browse on the net for examples. You can expand it later.

Buy or download a free html editor, but I would advise buying a good WYSIWYG one such as Front Page - I've yet to see a free WYSIWYG that was worth a crumpet ... er ... pancake. You can download a free version of Front Page that I hear is good though limited - I haven't used it though.

I use Eversoft's, 1st Page 2000 which is free and a bloody good editor. It works at the html level so it's not the simplest to use first off, but it does have an 'easy' mode for beginners. The advantage of this sort of editor over something like Front Page, is that the code is cleaner, but it's harder to learn to use.

Once she's got one page up on the net, she can then expand it at her leisure/sanity. It's the cheapest, most effective way to do it, BUT, start small and build on it. Too many sites (like mine) have references to stuff they plan to do but haven't got to yet. My site started as three pages - 'tis a tad bigger now, and every one of those pages has been modified multiple times.

Cheers
Richard

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Originally Posted by Peter R

This lady's name is Apple, so I will refer to her as that.

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Soooooo, taken a bite??

Al :p :D :rolleyes:

Dont know much about your business but re the web site, a business colleague of mine wanted to do the same recently and i suggested that he find a university student studying computer science or similar and offer that as a project to him. I used to use these kids for all sorts of projects and market research in a previous job and they always came up trumps, fresh ideas etc.

Anyway he did and it didnt cost much and by all accounts the young lad did a great job.
beejay1

http://community.webshots.com/user/eunos9

Somewhat off topic but still very relevant... Has Apple checked to see if she can legally work and or set up a business in Aus.

Having been going through the immigration process for the last year I've gained a fair bit of knowledge on it and it's not easy getting a visa to start a business in Aus.

She should have a look at the DIMIA website for details and find out what the best plan of attack would be for her.

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Originally Posted by Peter R

Ok, so Daddles is on the track, great.

I looked at the net and there is one that offers a free template, Daddles comment on that now gels.

I will explain a bit further: this lady hires care workers and etc, as mentioned, from all places around the world, and sends them to all places around the world, so her web site will be to attract the interest of prospective employees and employers.

This lady's name is Apple, so I will refer to her as that.

This business is fairly new but has achieved a good bit of success. but there is really no centralised office, so a world wide web site seems, to me, sensible.

I did read about the upkeep of a website, but again Apple has a Proficency in Computer Literacy and other computer operations...Not sure how much,,,Must not be enough to know about web pages. Still working here on all this.

Money is of major consideration until the business is fully functional,and I guess that, not only would she be looking at the web page as a contact point but as an eye catching advertisement.

Does that narrow the question a bit...How much to make something out of wood, but with these details attached? I liked that one...May I use it.

Peter R.

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Originally Posted by beejay1

Dont know much about your business but re the web site, a business colleague of mine wanted to do the same recently and i suggested that he find a university student studying computer science or similar and offer that as a project to him. I used to use these kids for all sorts of projects and market research in a previous job and they always came up trumps, fresh ideas etc.

Anyway he did and it didnt cost much and by all accounts the young lad did a great job.
beejay1

http://community.webshots.com/user/eunos9

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You hit on something there. It was only two years ago that I was talking to a kid that wanted me to have a web site even though I didn't have anything to web.

Why didn't I think of that. One of our local council candidates used him to develop her web site, and asked $150 to do the lot.

Thanks mate, will look into that now.

Peter R.

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Originally Posted by silentC

I don't get out of bed for less than double that!!

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I get out of bed for $60, rub my eyes, then decide it's not worth it so I go back to bed :D :D

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Originally Posted by MathewA

Somewhat off topic but still very relevant... Has Apple checked to see if she can legally work and or set up a business in Aus.

Having been going through the immigration process for the last year I've gained a fair bit of knowledge on it and it's not easy getting a visa to start a business in Aus.

She should have a look at the DIMIA website for details and find out what the best plan of attack would be for her.

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Thank you for that, it has been a difficult one to comprehend. I do not know how much Apple knows about immigration and I would really take on board any help in this department.http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...cons/icon6.gif

I sent her the link to the DIMA web site. Another complication is she has a 12 year old daughter.http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...cons/icon5.gif

Apple will be here in March or early April...then I might have a little nibble, if it is any of your business Al...Just get back ot your pancakes Old Mate.http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon10.gif

Peter R

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Originally Posted by Peter R

Another complication is she has a 12 year old daughter.

Peter R

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:eek:

For what it's worth, these are the sort of websites I develop however I would never give a quote up front, without getting some more details.

Hosting? It's not unfeasible to find a host for anywhere from $150 pa upwards.

Another lead maybe Daryl from the aussiewoods info website, the site he developed uses the same prinicples that Apple is looking for.

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Originally Posted by namtrak

For what it's worth, these are the sort of websites I develop however I would never give a quote up front, without getting some more details.

Hosting? It's not unfeasible to find a host for anywhere from $150 pa upwards.

Another lead maybe Daryl from the aussiewoods info website, the site he developed uses the same prinicples that Apple is looking for.

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Can you send me an email, I will keep you in the file for future reference. There has been some good stuff come through here. Helpful bunch when they get down to it.http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...cons/icon6.gif

Peter Rhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ons/icon14.gif

my boyfriends dad has just gone through the process of setting up a website for a small business with mail order access, he was hoping to attract sales from the american market.

There are some really crap websites out there - they either have no information or they don't give contact details or they are so fancy that they run like dogs. Its really worth getting someone ( or a number of someones ) to play with any finished site and give feedback. You don't want to rely on potential customers getting frustrated and going away never to return and not telling you what the problems are.

BTW don't forget that any business which is international will also have tax implications.

There are tafe courses out there about running web based businesses. It could be well worth the investment. And don't forget your local library as a resource.