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How are the payments for my professional website handled?

Website Payments

Payments are usually broken down into stages:

  1. The first half of the total amount is due when the customer gives Midwest Web Design Inc the “green light” to get started with their website project.
  2. Then Midwest Web Design will begin creating the look and feel for your professional web design. The second payment is due after the customer agrees on the look and feel. This second payment is half of the remaining balance that is due (or 25% of the total original amount that the project was bid for).
  3. After the look and feel is agreed upon, Midwest Web Design will build your website with all the text and pictures, etc. When the pages are built and the website is finished, the final remaining balance is due (the remaining 25% of the total original amount that the project was bid for).

Another way to think about how we handle payments can be viewed by looking at the following pie graph:

How the payments for your professional website are handled



5 Critical Key Factors to Keep In Mind When Building an Affordable Website Design

Affordable Website Design

When building an affordable website design, there are 5 key factors that can help guide the project to completion while keeping it affordable. These factors tame the project from going out of control and spending unnecessary money. Follow these factors and you will be well prepared and shouldn’t have a problem building an affordable website design:

  1. Know the goal of the website before you get started with the project.

    This rule is listed first for a reason. It is very important to know where you would like to go or what you would like to do before you put out any money to get something done. It may seem like a no-brainer, but people sometimes jump into building an affordable website without any idea of what to do. When this step is skipped, there isn’t a focus and clients tend to get a little of everything and often not in the areas that they had expected. This step is crucial when trying to keep within the boundaries of an affordable website design.

  2. Building an affordable website design can take time.

    There is an old saying in the design business: “quality, price or time, pick any two.” This explains the trade-offs when working on a design project. For example, the project can be made with “price” and “time” as factors, but the “quality” of the project will suffer. Another example, the project can be made with “price” and “quality”, but the “time” or the quickness of getting the project done will suffer. With an affordable website design, the “cheap” or price is the focus of the project right away, pick the other factor: “good” or “fast.”

    “…it is important to focus on providing easy ways for the customer to get the information they want.”
  3. Put less focus on the overall design and make sure the usability of the website is clear.

    When building an affordable website design, it is important to focus on providing easy ways for the customer to get the information they want. The design of your website doesn’t have to be revolutionary. We have seen websites that offer “cutting edge” design, but when it is placed in front of users they get confused and leave to find the information they were looking for on a competitor’s website. Most of the time in business, your customers don’t care about how fancy your website is, they want to know what you can do for them. Information that is readily available and easy to read helps them with their decision making process.

    “It may seem like a no-brainer, but people sometimes jump into building an affordable website without any idea of what to do.”
  4. Help your affordable website design grow by including it in your other advertising.

    This is one area where you can help, that not every business takes advantage of. It seems like a no-brainer, but some businesses do not put their website address on their other marketing items. We see this as a huge waste of such a valuable resource. It is similar to shutting the door in the face of a person who wants to do business with you and then sitting down and wondering why your business is struggling. It takes very little effort to include a website address on all your marketing materials for your business and it helps tremendously. An affordable website design can help convert traffic from your other marketing activities to your front door.

  5. Talk with your professional website designer to see what options might be available for you.

    When you deal with a professional web site designer, they know what certain items and features cost and can make suggestions of what is possible within a certain budget. This can be a very useful tool when trying to build an affordable website design. It is best to know what options are available to you so you can make the best decision when utilizing your resources.

In conclusion, keep these 5 factors in mind when building an affordable website design. Know the goal of the project. Realizing that the project will take time to complete. Focus on usability for your customer. Include the website address in your other advertising and keep the lines of communication open with your website designer. These factors will help guide the project and make sure that it gets done effectively, efficiently, on time and on budget.



Why You Should Have Your Web Site Built by a Professional Web Site Design Company

Professional Web Site Design Company

We hear it all the time…”My brother (son, grandma, uncle, etc.) knows how to build web sites and they do it for cheap! Why would I have a professional build my web site?” The sad truth is that eventually the majority of these companies wish they would have started with a professional web design company.

It’s too much work for a non-professional web design company

As time goes on, these companies who have a “cheap” web designer come to us because their designer has one of the following symptoms:

  • No time
  • Went out of business
  • Not available
  • Sick and tired of making updates

And all while the company is not getting the results they had hoped for.

It is easy for us to understand why a company would shudder when thinking about hiring a professional web design company: affordability.

“When you work with professionals, you get professional results and the peace of mind that your web site is doing what it is supposed to do.”

In this article we point out some of the things to take into consideration when you have a web site professionally built.

Benefits of a professionally designed web site
Some benefits of having a web site built by a professional organization are:

  • They have the technical expertise
  • You can focus more on your business
  • Being found on the search engines
  • Clean crisp professional design
  • Easy to use and easy to navigate
  • Increasing traffic to the site
  • Future growth and expandability

The time and money are better spent on dealing with a professional in the field that knows these areas. Those in business know that time is money. Do the math! You are here to find out how to build your business. Your neighbor down the block does this in his spare time…who would you want to do business with?

Web design professionals know all the in’s and out’s

There are many areas to be considered when thinking of getting an online presence:

  • Goals of the site
  • Usability
  • Professional, clean, crisp design
  • Future expandability
  • Who is going to keep it updated
  • The information you should we have on your web site
  • How your web site will be found on the internet

These are just a few areas that are analyzed when you decide to work with a professional web design company. Some areas are obviously more important than others. The company’s goals for the web site have much to do with the priority of each of the areas.

This is what we as professionals are trained to do: enable business owners to focus more on their business, and let us focus on doing what we do (building your online presence)

For example, I wouldn’t even think about designing and building my own cabinets. Considering the time it would take me to build a cabinet myself, it would be a better business decision to hire a professional carpenter or cabinet supplier to build my cabinets, so I can focus on my core business. Likewise, you have a core business model which you should be focusing on so that your business grows.

Let the pros do their work, so you can focus yours.

You are reading this article to get an education about possibly making a business decision in the future. Your neighbor down the street does this in his spare time (and their work on your business web site will show it)…Who do you want to do business with? Who would you work with to showcase your professional image?

When you work with professionals, you get professional results and the peace of mind that it is doing what it is supposed to do.

Having an online presence is not enough. Your web site should be optimized for the search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN, are just a few of the search engines the professionals work with. Professional web designers have industry knowledge that help your web site rank higher and be more useful to customers. Your web site should be easy to read and to navigate. The layout should be attractive and the text should be readable.

“We enable business owners to focus more on their business, and let us focus on building your online presence.”

Future growth and expandability

One characteristic that professional web design companies focus on is the future expandability of the web site. This is very important when looking at the overall design. There are many packages available that will help you build a web site, but when the support for that package goes away or they go out of business, all the money that you invested into your web site is gone with the package. The professionals use industry standard coding practices so their code can be easily understood. This translates into a higher value web site that is faster to expand and grow, saving you and your business time and money.

When you invest in a professional web design company to build your online presence, what you are paying for is their experience in the field. However, the professionals aren’t for everyone, at least in the beginning. Eventually those businesses who wish to get a web site professionally made, but don’t want to spend the money, will fall into one of the following categories:

  1. They will go out of business, or
  2. They will end up paying a professional to build their web site

What we as professionals have seen

In our experience, the businesses that don’t invest in a professional web site eventually wish they had invested in a web design company. Considering all the important factors listed above, it is highly recommended to look closely at the benefit of working with a web design professional.

The task of building a web site and having it work for your business is too time intensive for non-professionals and the business simply won’t get the results they had hoped for without spending much time and effort learning the techniques that work well for businesses on the internet.

Conclusion

In conclusion, your job is to build your business which takes both time and energy. Save both and let professional web design companies use their time and energy to help build your business the right way.



What is the process for having a website done by Midwest Web Design?

What is the process for having a website done by Midwest Web Design?

  1. Get in touch with us via phone or email

    The first step of the process is to get in touch with us when you have some time.

  2. Set up an appointment

    We will set up an appointment with you to discuss your goals for your website in more detail.

  3. Goals for the website

    Our staff will go over goals that are important for you and your website and discuss many options available including:

    • Budget constraints
    • A professional, custom, look and feel for your website
    • Custom website programming
    • Domain name registration
    • Hosting
    • Navigation on the website
    • Website structure
    • Email setup
    • Search engine optimization
  4. Decide to move forward

    When all the necessary topics are covered, if it makes sense, both parties move forward and your professional website design will start to be built.

  5. Start the project

    Midwest Web Design Inc will talk with you to figure out the look and feel of your professional web design and give you some samples of what your website
    will look like.

  6. Get information from client

    After the look and feel is complete, the client will give us the necessary information (text, pictures, etc) for the website to be completed.

  7. Wrap up the website project

    After all the pages are built and loose ends tied up, the project will be complete. It’s that simple.