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Information For Creating A Web Site
Creating a web site can be an exciting experience.
Suggested below are steps for
creating a web site.
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Pick a domain name - this
is the name of your site. This site
will let you "test" various combinations of names.
Names with the words Maz and Mazatlan are widely available.
Don't register the domain on this site – just find a name you
like for your site.
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We
can help you find a company to host your site based on your budget and
technical needs. For about
$60 a year you get
all you need including email, domain registration, and all support services.
One option is a company called Start Logic. Another option is Yahoo Small
Business hosting, but this service is a bit more expensive.
We strongly recommend that you get your own
domain name and your own hosting services. Building up a ranking
in search engines can take years. If you are simply part of
another site (e.g., /xyz company/), you will lose your ranking
should you ever wish to move your site or change your web design
company. In other words, you don't really own the site or the
domain name, you are just renting space on someone else's site.
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Next, we sit down and
look at what kind of site you want. The more time you spend looking at various sites, the less of
our time you will need. Type
in a few key words that represent your business and see what other people have
done. Somebody probably has a site
that will be to your liking. You can also look at prepackaged
templates (purchase may be required) for ideas on color and layout. We have the required
tools to modify many of these pre-designed HTML templates to address
your particular needs. We have also built a small collection of sample
packages which can aid in your site design.
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Logos
are can be an important part in the overall design process of a web site. Below
are some sites that have gotten awards.
Notice that the "logos" can be quite
simple:
Notice how the colors in these 4 logos -
define many of the site's colors and appearance:
Colors are an
important consideration and here is a
place to start. The 4 sites above concentrate their simple design
around just 2 or 3 colors.
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Next we create the actual
site and publish it online in a test location for your private viewing.
This process typically is a review and revision procedure.
A very simple site can take 5 hours, start to finish.
Typically, a business site will take a little longer.
Simple business sites generally run about 10-12 hours in total. Our fees for local website work are $25 US an hour.
So, for around $250, plus $60 a year in hosting fees you can set up a site.
Complicated graphics or logos, lots of photos or video, and special effects
like Flash or Java can
add to the cost of a site.
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We work with local
graphics design companies that can produce special graphics work for logos or
banners. Most
people don't need these services, but this is an option. We also offer translation services
for dual language sites.
Another
important
consideration in the design, besides the content (information) of the site, are
keywords for search engines - how
people will find you on the web. Try
looking at this site
for more information.
If you
can't create a simple tree diagram for your site, then it will be hard for
others to navigate your site as well.
Look here, to understand the
creation of
a simple Tree
diagram.
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Last, and maybe most
important, is registering your URL (domain) with all the search engines.
We generally register your site upon completion of the design and
publishing. Normally, it takes 2- 4 weeks before the search engines will pickup your site and begin
the process of ranking it. If you
go to
Yahoo.com or Google.com or any of the top search sites and search on "mazatlan web design".
Mazatlan Design is usually ranked #1.
That didn't happen overnight.
Search engine ranking is a difficult process, but
we can simplify this for
you and the number of sites we maintain allow us a lot of cross-linking which is
also important in ranking.
We also offer search engine optimization
services. This is the process that helps increase your ranking in
the various search engines.
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That's about it
- the whole process usually takes just a few weeks.
We are a local company here in Mazatlan and can provide tax
deductible “facturas” for your site work.
Maintenance (changes to your site) on your site, if needed, is billed quarterly.
During the
design and development process it is important to stay focused on the purpose of
your site. The look of the site is certainly important, but the message
(content) and physical presence on the web is more important. The difficult part of
this process can be narrowing your ideas and content to a manageable solution
for your needs. Your budget for
a site may also be an important consideration. The more time you spend
considering content and style, the faster we can develop your site. |
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