Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you are interested in launching your first website or looking to upgrade, you might have some questions about the basic terms and functions of website development and maintenance. We’ve assembled some of the most common baseline questions and answers here in order to get you off to a good start.

• What is Web Hosting?

Effective websites are accessible on the internet 24-hours a day, 365-days a year. In order to ensure that the site is never down, the files for the site must be stored on a computer that is always connected to the internet. This computer is called a “server” and contains specialized software that presents your site to every user, whether they land on your site by bookmark, search results or specifically typing in your URL or site.

Every website must be hosted on a server somewhere in order for it to be available on the internet. Web hosts offer dedicated high-powered equipment that ensures that your site is autonomous and always available. Servers are expensive, costing anywhere from several thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on the amount of traffic the hosting agency anticipates they will need to support.

In general, the very largest companies, such as Google, YouTube, Ebay and Microsoft maintain their own web servers, which are designed to handle millions of users at a time. But the vast majority of websites rent space on the servers of a web hosting company.

Hosting fees vary from site to site – some sites offer free web hosting, but their support services and technological support are minimal. Others may offer large storage options that support advanced technologies for a king’s ransom. FutureWaveDesigns offers affordable, technologically advanced web hosting for its customers for as little as $6.99 a month.

• What is Web Design?

Web design employs passive marketing tactics to define the personality … the look, feel and functionality – of a website. Graphic designers utilize electronic media and the psychology of color to engage the visitor as part of the web browsing experience. The goal is to make your site visually appealing, logical and consistent.

A well-designed site greets the visitor and offers multiple subtle options for site navigation. Even the first-time visitor will find it easy to maneuver through your site, will be able to access the information they are looking for and will know how to accomplish their purchase or contact with a minimum of trouble.

• What is Web Development?

Web development includes a wide variety of tools and technologies, Rich Internet Applications and database-driven websites. Specific web programming languages support advanced interactive features as well as frequently updated content. Examples of these features are blogs, wikis, forums and message boards, photo and video galleries, interactive presentations and content management systems.

Some well-known sites that use interactive features extensively are Wikipedia, YouTube, Yahoo! Groups and personal pages, social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and e-commerce sites such as Ebay and PayPal.

• What is E-commerce?

E-commerce sites may echo the look and feel of an online catalog, such as Amazon, Overstock and BestBuy, or they may be more interactive and personally driven, like Ebay, Bidz and Liquidation. This is a site option that allows your customers access to browse your inventory and accomplish their purchase no matter the time of day or their location in the world.

Like traditional paper catalogs, e-commerce sites can contain pictures and extensive descriptions of products and services offered, such as color and size, but here’s where the similarity ends. E-commerce sites empower your customers to place orders and process payments right from the Web.

Some of the most effective interactive e-commerce options are the ability for customers to leave feedback on items and their purchasing experience, or to allow the merchandiser to drive clients to specific “recommended” or “featured” products (call to action marketing) and to create personalized pages for each customer based on their previous activities.

• What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimzation, or SEO, is the process of improving your site's rankings in search results when someone types a search string into a search engine such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, or Ask.com. Research shows that 50% or more of a site's traffic can be derived from search engines, so ranking well in search results is critical to ensure that your site is receiving optimal exposure.

In the early days of search optimization technology content developers would write keyword-saturated content for websites thereby manipulating the search returns. It didn’t take long for the search technology firms to catch on, however, and they devised defeatist strategies that would drop keyword-rich sites from the search results altogether.

Modern SEO includes metatagging sites based upon competitive strategies and web analytics to ensure that your site gets the exposure it deserves while meeting the threshold criteria of the major search bots. But site rankings jockey for position based on user activities on the various sites, thus SEO must be an ongoing maintenance strategy to ensure that your site stays at the top of its game.

• What are Web Analytics?

Web analytics are comprised of a set of tools and reports devised to measure every quantifiable aspect of how your site performs in the real world. Customized reports identify your visitor demographics, what other websites they visited before they landed on your site and what they did once they reached your site. Monitoring your site's performance ensures that your ongoing efforts to attract the right kind of traffic is translating to hard sales.

Most companies consider web analytics as a fixed advertising expense akin to hiring an advertising agency to devise and monitor results-oriented advertising campaigns. Web media campaigns can be tested affordably and changed frequently until the right mix of options is devised to achieve long-term goals.

• I already have a website. Can you help me improve it?

Absolutely! We will analyze your site to find out how effectively your existing site is performing for you. We will employ web analytics to show you how your site is being read by the major search engines, where your site traffic is coming from and whether your current e-campaigns are successful in their efforts to attract the right traffic to your site.

FutureWaveDesigns professionals will also test your sites ability to protect information and deflect tampering from hackers. We will provide you with detailed information on what is working, what isn't working and why. Finally, we will develop a comprehensive list of options to improve your site’s performance utilizing the advanced techniques that have made us a leader in the web consulting industry.

Contact us for more information on how FutureWaveDesigns can optimize your website’s income-generating potential.

• Why don’t you post pricing information on your site?

Our website consultation services range from relatively straightforward to very complex depending upon the needs of the client. No two organizations require the same e-marketing options or combination of services to be successful, therefore, we customize the quote to meet the needs of the client.

For example, web design can range from a basic 5-page site with a few images to sites with thousands of pages and interactive features such as dynamic database options, e-commerce, photo galleries and blogs. Others are better suited to pay-per-click ad campaigns or social networking, while web analytics offers a wide range of tools and customizable reports that will vary in detail and complexity from one site to the next.

Just as you strive to streamline the sales and service you offer to attract the right consumer, FutureWaveDesigns offers free consultations to define the appropriate tools for the size and scope of your business. If you have a specific budget and timeline for a project, we can advise you on the best tools to employ to achieve the results you desire within that budget. Contact us for a no-obligation free quote and learn what we can do for you.

• How long will it take to build my website?

Time is another asset that must be managed in direct relation to the needs of the client. The exact time required to develop a site depends on the complexity of research and the mix of strategies that are selected.

As a general rule of thumb, basic sites can be completed in 1-2 weeks while large, more complex sites with advanced features can take 8 weeks or more to finalize. Some services, such as SEO or web analytics reporting, can be established fairly quickly, but results take time to compile and evaluate.

Contact us to discuss the size and scope of your project and to determine how quickly your new site can get of the ground.

• Do you offer service discounts?

FutureWaveDesigns makes every effort to offer fair and competitive pricing for all of our diagnostic, consultation and implementation services. Once we know the particular details of your project, we will offer you our best price for the scope of the project.

We will occasionally offer limited-time discounts for certain services or types of projects and regularly suggest tiered development programs designed to open your income stream and provide critical funds for long-term build out

Current discounts and specials, as of January 2009:

Web Hosting : $6.99 per month for unlimited space and bandwidth. This package includes powerful tools to make the most of your website including email accounts, MySQL databases, support for scripting languages, and more. Limited time only.

Web Hosting : Buy 10 months of hosting and get 2 months free ($69.99 per year). Limited time only.

Web Hosting : 1 free year of web hosting when you purchase web design, web development, or other services of $499 or more.

Early bird discount: We offer a discount of roughly 7.5% for customers that sign a contract within three business days of receiving our proposal following the initial consultation. This discount will be reflected in the proposal.