What process can I expect if I contract with PlasmaLink Web Services for the development of a web site?

Why do you charge a "project rate" and not an hourly rate for your design work?

If you want people to know "up front" what work will cost them, why do you charge an hourly rate for consulting work?

Is accessibility really that important in the design of my web site?

For what kinds of projects do I need a databases to manage my web site?

How will people find my site? How long do I have to wait before I can start getting hits from search engines?

What is magnet content?

Does PlasmaLink have a "Privacy Policy?"

Phase 1 - Project exploration (1-7 days)

Phase 2a - Bid development and Draft proposal (1-3 days)

Phase 2b - Secure domain name and transfer DNS (if necessary)

Phase 3a - Database development (1-14 days)

Phase 3b - Customized layouts and graphics (1-14 days)

Phase 3c - Text editing and/or creation (1-14 days)

[Phase 3a, 3b, and 3c concurrent]

Phase 4 - Beta site uploaded. Comments and suggestions collected (2-7 days)

Phase 5 - Refinement of beta site (2-7 days)

Phase 6 - Final approval - site is made live

Phase 7 - List site with major directories and search engines

Total time: 7-45 days (depending on the size and complexity of the site)

Single page "business card" or placeholder sites can be created and made live within 24 hours of our receiving the requested information.

We want people to know, up-front, what a project will cost. It is our responsibility to estimate the time it will take us to complete a project, and our "loss" if we have an error in judgement.

Some clients may need only an hour a year of networking or system advice while others, with more complex systems, may require one hundred hours. The contact time needed also varies depending on the prior knowledge of the client. Charging by the hour allows us to charge only for services actually received.

Is it important to you to make every visitor to your site feel welcome? Since it is not possible to know, in advance, if a visitor to your site will have impaired vision, limited dexterity, or an outdated browser, why not spend a few extra minutes to create a design to guarantee all visitors have a good experience? For statistics and more information on the need for accessibility, please visit, "Web Design for Accessibility: Policies and Practice," an article published by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Some of the common uses for databases include: managing shopping carts, mailing lists, bulletin boards, and online subscriptions. If you have large amounts of information, databases may turn out to be cheaper in the long run. Suppose you have one hundred different products and your prices change regularly, then the cost of updating your products and prices might result in a $100-$200 a month maintenance fee. Having your product information in a database that you can update would pay for itself within a few years.

Some search engines are faster than others. Below are some of our results getting sites placed in search engines. The table below tells when the site was first listed and what its current ranking is in different searches. We'll try to be fair and list our "low" ranking along with our high ones. As our test search strings, we are using the two-word string that best describes the core information or product on each site.

Search engines link people to sites based on the closeness of the fit between the word or phrase they search for and the text on your site. Magnet content is text (and sometimes graphics) constructed and linked to your site for the purpose of attracting users to your site. To be effective, magnet content must be related to your core business (so users will want to explore your site after they have read the magnet content) and at the same time unique enough that other sites will want to make links to your content. As more search engines improve their image searches, graphical magnet content will become more important. For now, adding a paragraph or two of highly targeted "educational" text to your page can push your site to the highest ranks in search engines. Provide users with what they are searching for, and make your company's web site "magnetic" to users.

PlasmaLink's "Privacy Policy" is brief and straightforward. Personal information submitted to PlasmaLink Web Services will be kept strictly confidential. Information may be released only to proper government authorities and only if mandated by law.