• Design: The process of creation of the aesthetic aspects of a website as well as the planning of navigation and flow of contents. It is typically charged up front and cost will vary according to the size of the project. If constant changes are required then you can expect fees every time you change your contents unless you buy training with the project and you learn to do the changes on your own. You can also pay for a maintenance program so you can make changes at a fixed price, some providers offer that kind of service.
• Programming: Consists of the special features your website can have to make it more appealing, smarter, more communicative, interactive or what is called "active" (active sites are those that change contents according to information requests of a visitor). Typically the languages of programming used to integrate on a web page will vary but the most common are Javascript, VB Script, CGI, ASP. PHP, Cold Fusion, Macromedia Flash and databases (SQL, Microsoft Access, Lotus, Oracle, Etc…). Prices for programming will vary depending of the level of sophistication of the tasks required, it is common to have charges on programming ranging from $50 to $250 per hour. Many times your website developer will include sophisticated programming features with the initial price of the project, your developer can detail what languages are used for the features and what the features are.

• E-commerce: One of the most popular services requested on websites today. It is basically the integration of commerce capabilities on a website. If your site will sell products without your supervision, if it will have the ability to ad items on a session, calculate shipping and totalize, if it can allow the visitor to checkout and send you feedback of the transaction then your site is an e-commerce site. E-commerce is a key application in today's market. The most typical systems to integrate e-commerce on a site will include solutions in languages like ASP, CGI, PHP, JSP and Cold Fusion. Traditionally E-commerce solutions are paid upfront and if you require changes on contents you might pay a monthly fee or charges per changes you request (unless you ask for training to do it on your own). E-commerce solutions traditionally will generate other forms of charges related to the ability to bill the client online, those charges are the payment methods and are traditionally divided in 2, the payment gateway (system used to verify the method of payment used by the client, which traditionally will be a credit card and in some cases an electronic check) and the merchant account (the account that has the ability to receive the funds from the transaction processed by the payment gateway). Both services will be charged monthly and also per transaction. This means you can pay to say $10 per month for the payment gateway plus $0.10 per transaction and then your merchant account will charge you another $30 per month and another 2.5% commission from the amount billed and $0.15 per transaction (these are sample figures, numbers will vary depending on services hired).

• Hosting: Web hosting is the service that stores your site at a location were it can be seen by online browsers. Traditionally a web host will have infrastructure installed at a location that has high speed internet access, proven reliability and the ability to respond in the even of contingencies. Web hosting services are paid by time periods. Traditionally you will get billed by the month but some firms bill tri-monthly, others every six months and others charge you a full year upfront. The costs will vary and they traditionally range from $5 per month to up to $150 per month depending on size required, monthly transfers of data, bandwidth required and number of services included.

• Promotion: Once you have a site people need to know you exist, and having millions of websites online today promoting your site and letting people know can become a challenging task. Many people are discouraged and even disappointed with their websites when they realize a website with no promotion sometimes will render no results at all. The most important thing when developing a site is to have a clear view of the strategies that will be implemented to promote it. Some traditional methods to promote a site can include search engine submission and search engine optimization, e-mail campaigns, paid traffic (paid banners, banners can be paid as banner impressions or banner click-throughs), online classified ads, link exchanges, affiliate programs and even conventional media like newspapers, magazines, display ads, phonebook ads, television, radio and many other techniques. Costs of promotion can vary depending on the types of services required, it is common to find that promotional costs are considerably higher than the cost of developing a website.

• Presentation sites: Some sites are created with the sole purpose of giving the company the prestige of having a nice presentation online, this positions their businesses against their competitors. Other sites are created as the means of easier and quicker interaction between consumers and the company, for instance the sales force of the company can acquire prospects and potential clients through conventional means and then use the website to show them products and /or services in a simple fashion instead of sending them faxes or conventional paper formats (like brochures, catalogs, fact sheets, price lists, etc..), A presentation site can also have means to gather feedback from visitors (through online forms).
• Key items in presentation sites:
  • Animated or graphic presentations (typically macromedia flash, sometimes slide shows)
  • Simple flow of contents (Site created as a tour of the company)
  • Detailed explanations on what makes this company better than others and why the company is the best option on the market
  • Means to gather feedback from visitors

 

• Informative sites: Sites created with the sole purpose of providing information to visitors. It is common to create informative sites when there is consumer issues regarding a product or service (for instance when there is a recall on a product someone can create a site to detail what is happening with the recall, the reasons, places to return products, etc.) Sometimes informative sites are created to detail the evolution of a case in court, as outlet for a company or an individual's opinion on certain issues or just to publicize information someone might need.
• Feedback sites: Some sites are created with the sole purpose of having visitors communicating with the website owner. Traditionally a feedback site will have online forms where visitors type messages and the site owner receives the information via e-mail. Feedback sites are traditionally used for surveys, order processing and as customer service outlets.

• Key items in feedback sites
  • Form fields have to be concise (you need to ask exactly what you want to know, no more no less)
  • Smart Programming Solutions (you can verify fields have been filled and you can also verify if certain fields are tru or false, like a field for a credit card number matching with the number of digits a credit card should have)

   

• Storefronts: Sites created with the sole purpose of selling items online. A good storefront will include as much information as possible about the company and each of the products and/or services offered. Also it will be as automated as possible when it comes to adding up items, estimating shipment fees, taxes and other charges. The idea of a well developed storefront is to eliminate the contact with your company's personnel.

• Key items in storefronts
  • Number of items to offer (never offer more than what you can control)
  • Smart navigation (determine if by brands, by categories and sub categories, by price range, by size, etc…)
  • Information details (determine how much information you will provide, the more the client knows the less you will need customer support or sales labor)
  • Visual and interactive aides (the more visual information you show the better a client can understand a product)
  • Easy ways to update pricing, shipping, taxes, details, etc… (if you cannot control what you will show on the site is better not to show it, if you show it and you don't have it available or if the total price does not match the total price you will charge you can deceit your clients)

   

• Online database: Site created with the purpose of gathering information from a database. A very common application of a pure database site can be a simple search engine like google.com Some companies require to have quick means to their clients to find items or cross references, a database site does the job quickly and the company can eliminate the need of dealing with the client. For instance an oil filters company can have a cross reference of models and applications and return the part number your automobile would need. Online database sites are rarely seen in pure fashion, instead it is common to find presentation sites or storefronts that include sophisticated database access.

• Forum: A website created to post feedback for others to see, created in threads, a visitor comes to the forum reads or posts a question or comment and other visitors read and post responses to the comment or question, others can see the messages posted. Many sites include forums even if they have other intentions (like presentation, storefront, database, etc…)

• Prospected new sources of clients: Many people make the biggest mistake here, they believe the site itself will bring traffic and new business and that is absurd, It is absurd because when you compete against the world it is impossible to believe your site would be as special as to attract attention among millions upon millions. You need to have a defined strategy on how to bring new clients. You have to understand the world wide web has businesses from around the world and also many businesses from your domestic market so if you think of the internet as the yellow pages for the world and your entire country you can easily guess it will become harder to find you in those yellow pages.

Find methods to reach audiences, test them and keep the ones that work and discard the ones that are a waste of money and time.
For online campaigns search engine optimization and monthly search engine submission can be helpful, also targeted e-mail campaigns but within new anti-spamming laws. Paid click-throughs and banner ads in key sites can also be helpful. Conventional media but with emphasis on your website's address can increase your traffic. Remember you can mention the name of your site but once people go there they can stay there for several minutes and discover the many benefits of doing business with you. In other words, you can use a not so expensive ad on conventional media only to make people go to your site and once in your site you will lure them into buying. It is a combined effort.