How much does a website cost? |
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How much does a website cost?Honestly, that has no answer. We all know that a price that says "FROM $397" will NEVER cost $397. Some costs can be fixed - for example, hosting and setup of the underlying CMS. Many simply can not - for example, the look of the site. The final cost of your website will be almost entirely influenced by how you want it to look. There will be other factors, like if I have to add any advanced or unusual functionality, but the appearance of the website is incredibly important. It has to represent you in an appropriate way so the correct impression is given to your website visitors. I will ask for your budget and I will make every effort to stick to it. You can always tell a website that didn't have much money spent on its design versus one that was properly designed by a professional. Most "average" websites get around 1,000 visitors per month. If that many people walked into your office next month would you make sure it had a fresh coat of paint and was decorated tastefully? If those website visitors do not like what they see then they are gone and you will never get to tell them about the excellent work you do. If you are tempted by a cheap price then please read this first. |
How long does it take? |
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How long does it take?This largely depends on you. Before I start I will need a lot of information and you will have to find or prepare it. Why? Because your website is really only a way to dress up that information so that people will absorb it. I will often be given a list of pages to go on the site but never receive anything to go in those pages. This takes a lot of time. The contents of your site will also have an impact on how it looks. It may turn out that some information is very well suited to sidebars. Or a scroller. Or a cycling banner. Or we may find the opposite - for example, there is nothing to put into that pretty sidebar after all and we have to leave it out. That means I do not like to commit to a site design before I have a good idea of what will go into it. That means I will give you a list of things to prepare and then I am waiting for you to get them back to me. Once that is done then the next thing that determines timeframe is agreeing on a look for your site. We may nail this on the first try. We may not. This will add some more time. I do not grab off-the-shelf templates or designs and throw them onto a CMS and send you a bill. As you can see, the process is professional and considered. They say you can only have two of quality, speed and price. Quality is not negotiable as far as I am concerned, and I will refuse to give anybody something I am not happy with. This is a competitive industry and, as frustrating as it is to some of us, prices are kept down by constant undercutting and loss-leader market grabs. That means the speed of delivery will be the thing that gives way, so sometimes your work will take longer than you may like. |
How much for a 5 or 6 page website with a contact form? |
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How much for a 5 or 6 page website with a contact form?You are in the wrong place. Your website is too important to treat like this. It's the first - and last - thing many people will see about your business. Skimping on it is throwing customers away. I would prefer to help make your website successful. Let me do that. If you really want that kind of site then you will end up dealing with dishonest companies that give us a bad name. |
What is the difference between a web designer and a web developer? |
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What is the difference between a web designer and a web developer?In short, a web designer concentrates on how your site looks, while a web developer concentrates on how your site works and what it does. They are two different roles and usually require two different ways of thinking (creative versus logical). Both roles need eachother to be successful. |
My brother-in-law/cousin/nephew is an expert in this stuff. Why can't they make my site for me? |
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My brother-in-law/cousin/nephew is an expert in this stuff. Why can't they make my site for me?They probably can. When you hire my time you are not paying for a grab-bag of downloaded software being put together by somebody who makes sites as a hobby. You are getting a skilled and educated expert with over 15 years of experience of making websites. And not just simple websites with a few pages - In the late 90's/early 2000's I had a large hand in the creation of Commonwealth Bank's intranet, Honda Australia's website and intranet, Toyota's website, the Sydney Airport website, Caltex Oils, and many more major projects. GMAC Internet Solutions has already established itself as a quality developer of both websites and software. The fact is that if you do a job every day of your life you will be better at it than somebody who doesn't. There area lot of tricks and gotchas that only experience will teach you. Think of it this way... would you get them to give you a filling if you had a sore tooth? Or fix a broken arm? You already know your website is important, so get a professional to work on it. As they say - if you think the cost of hiring a professional is high, wait until you hire an amateur. |
How do I be number one on Google? |
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How do I be number one on Google?You pay for it. There is no other answer and anybody who says otherwise is telling you a lie. You might have heard of SEO and SEM. SEO is Search Engine Optimisation - which means making your site easy to index by search engines. It involves making your site have all your important keywords so Google can correctly index it. This is getting less relevant by the day because porn and drug sites have been desperately gaming the system and Google have to keep making changes to stop them. It's also because the real money is in SEM. Search Engine Marketing is paid advertisements and the real reason why Google provide a search engine in the first place. Think of it like TV. The programs, news, current affairs, dramas are all there to get you to watch the ads between them. That's where they make their money. Google is no different. Most people who promise you number one on Google are really just selling you ads and taking a cut for themselves. When you go down this path the results are predictable but expensive so choose somebody who knows what they are talking about. I can assist with this AND keep an eye on them for you with my own reporting. What about Yahoo, Bing and all the others you ask? At this point in time they are irrelevant. Google still commands almost the entire search engine market and that is not changing. Somebody may tell you that they can get you number one on over 140 different search engines but that is a collossal waste of money in most cases. In fact, be very suspicious of these people. At the end of the day my attitude to this is simple - you are making your site for PEOPLE. Whether they arrive via traditional advertising or Google, they need to be taken care of and educated about what you do. Do not sacrifice the experience they have in an effort to make Google happy. If it was only about "getting number one on Google" then there would be no TV ads, no radio ads, no stuff in your letterbox. Interesting isn't it? For more detail about this topic, including videos and links, see our SEO / SEM - 'Number 1 on Google!' page. |
What is DNS and why do I have to pay for it? |
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What is DNS and why do I have to pay for it?Recently one of my customers purchased a domain name for only $19 and then needed to to pay an extra $55 per year for "DNS hosting". The obvious questions were "What is DNS hosting?" and "Why do I have to pay extra for it?". Your domain name doesn't really point too anything. The real address of your website is a four-part number that looks something like 203.18.235.22 (type it into your web browser and see what you get). It's like a telephone number. Obviously remembering thousands of those numbers is impossible, so your internet service provider maintains a list of Domain Name Server records that can translate each website name into a number that computers use to find eachother. It's like a massive, world-wide phone book for web browsers. DNS hosting effectively adds a record to this phone book for your website. There is some management required by the people maintaining DNS records, not least of which is making sure everybody has a copy or can access the contents. This used to be included with your domain name. Now companies selling domain names are leaving it out and selling it to you as an extra. That means my customer's $19 bargain domain name really costs $74. Yes, you can buy separate DNS hosting. It will still cost you money. Prices vary but you will almost always find that DNS hosting is an extra these days. I recommend that DNS hosting be handled by your domain registrar or by the company that manages your email. Websites do not need many changes to DNS, but email spam filtering often does. |
Why can't I use my current hosting? |
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Why can't I use my current hosting?Hosting has changed. In recent years Content Delivery Networks, Load Balanaced Web Servers, Auto-Scaling, Denial of Service protection and other advanced technologies have matured to a point where everybody should be using them. See the following for some information about the new technologies we use: https://www.gmacinternet.com.au/blog/2018/01/more-speed.html&P=3915670645980872434 |
What happens if I decide to move to another developer? |
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What happens if I decide to move to another developer?Simply transferring a site from one place to another is typically a lot more complicated than people realise. Even between versions of the same software there are database differences that mean your data can not be restored (Nuke is an example of this). There may also be third party plugins (PDF generation, Excel spreadsheet import, graphing libraries, etc) that are not compatible with your new hosting provider. |
So it's just you? |
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So it's just you?Normally, yes. I have a great deal of experience in project management and team leading so I will grow and shrink GMACIS as required. I only use trained and skilled contractors if required. The very impressive portfolio of development work is testament to the quality control I insist on from myself and anybody who works for me. Many non-software people do not realise that the hard part of any development project is not the writing of the code. That takes skill, but the real skill is designing and specifying what needs to be done. I will also put a lot of my own ideas into each project and that always works well. So yes, GMAC Internet Solutions is normally Gerard McDermott and you will be dealing with me. But when required I am able to put together a team that can handle more complicated projects. In one case I even left the developer in place with my customer when the project was completed and they have been working closely together since. |
Should I use Flash to make my site look awesome? |
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Should I use Flash to make my site look awesome?NO WAY. Apple devices do not support Flash and this will NEVER change. Why not? Because every Flash game you play online and every Flash video you watch is a purchase you didn't make from their App Store. It's as simple as that. How many people do you know with iPhones? If your website uses Flash then none of them can use your site. iPads are the same. You will be excluding not just a large section of the market, but also a (typically) cashed up demographic who also tend to be at a decision-making position in their companies. There are ways to get similar results and I will explore them with you. |
Can I have a quote for my website? |
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Can I have a quote for my website?No. I am not shifting boxes with a markup on each one. Developing a website or software is a time-consuming and very labour-intensive process. I will need your feedback and I will need to make changes based on that. I can not tell you in advance how much feedback or extra requirements you will have. For most websites the time spent writing a quote will be longer than the time spent actually making it. And that cost would have to be passed on to you. I will give you a ball-park estimate based on what we both know at the start and I will tell you if there are any changes to it as we progress. |
Can I have a quote for my software or database project? |
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Can I have a quote for my software or database project?Yes, but writing a quote for databases or software requires that the entire project be strictly designed at the start and that no changes are made to that design during development. That may have been an acceptable way to do things 20 years ago but it is a crazy way to do things in the world of the internet where things move so fast. I prefer an approach that involves regular demonstrations and feedback so that the end product is exactly what you want and need. There will ALWAYS be great ideas or better ways to do things. Why stick to a path of development that turns out to be not what you really want just because we wrote a design when we started and refuse to alter it. No matter how much you pay, a product that does not do what you want is a waste of your money and my time. I would prefer that the work I produce for you is something we are both proud of. |
How can I make my website a success? |
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How can I make my website a success?By committing time and money to it. |
Do you put "Site by GMAC Internet Solutions" at the bottom of my site? |
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Do you put "Site by GMAC Internet Solutions" at the bottom of my site?No. As far as I am concerned, you paid for your site so it's not mine to brand. It looks cheap and tacky so I do not do it. If you view the source of any of my sites there is a mention there but that is all. Many graphic designers insist that their name goes on the site when I set it up for them. I do not stop them if they insist but I would prefer they did not and I make that clear. Branding customer sites is a habit I hope the industry breaks as it matures. |
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