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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need shared hosting or dedicated hosting for my company website? The four primary considerations when determining whether your site requires shared or dedicated hosting are: 1) Bandwidth Transfer 2) Web Space, 3) Support for Proprietary Software, and 4) Security

Bandwidth Transfer: If during a one month period, visitors download more than one GIG of data, you might consider a dedicated hosting platform. This rule is not an absolute; it's just a guideline.

Web Space: If your website requires 20 GIGS of storage space, then your site might require a dedicated hosting platform.

Do I need website maintenance? If you plan on keeping your website up to date with changes or additions to products and services, company bios, and news and press, then you need website maintenance. A website is an online extension of your business; as it grows and changes, so too should your business' online presence.

How do I know who is coming to our company website? Almost all website hosting packages include website statistics reports. These reports include comprehensive information about the traffic to your site, including number of visitors over a specified period of time, average length of visit, key phrase used in a search engine to find your site, and navigation or path a user has taken though your site.

How will customers find our company website? They won't find it if you don't promote it. There are a number of ways to promote your company website. Offline promotion includes basics such as having your website address on all of your company collateral: business cards, letterhead, and brochures. Online promotion includes techniques such as search engine marketing, a process that develops higher rankings in search engines for a company website.

If I set up an e-commerce, how do I get paid? When a customer enters his or her credit card information into your company's e-commerce site, the payment processor (such as Paymentech, Verisign, GeoTrust, etc.) denies or authorizes the transaction, depending on the validity of the credit card information and availability of funds. Then, details of the transaction are forwarded both to the issuing consumer bank, which debits the consumer's card, and to the acquiring merchant bank, which credits you with the purchase.

What is search engine optimization or search engine marketing? Search engine optimization is an online marketing practice that involves targeting keywords and phrases that describe your business—its services and/or products. Through a multi-step initial process and ongoing maintenance, this marketing technique produces top placement of your website on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The result is a significant increase in the number of targeted visitors to your site - visitors who are specifically searching for your products and services. Search Engine Marketing includes Search Engine Optimization as well as Pay-Per-Click Advertising.

What is the difference between a template-based site and a custom site? There are two primary differences between the two. First, in the design of the website. A template-based website features a predesigned or "cookie cutter" design. That is, the design of the site is developed in absence of a specific business. Conversely, the design of a custom website is developed with a given business' unique objectives and audiences in mind.

Second, the difference is seen in the organization and layout of a website's content. A templated site requires that you select from pre-set layouts into which each of your site fits. But contrast, the development of custom website will include the construction of what's called an Information Architecture (IA) which is a detailed sitemap depicting how a site's content is organized and the best way to lay out this content to achieve a set objective (i.e. selling a product or marketing a service).

What type of website is right for my company? The type of website you choose depends on your business objective and your audience. A small static website might meet one business' objectives online. Whereas another business may require a comprehensive database-driven content management system. See SCORE Workshop Presentation for more information on the various options a business has in establishing or redesigning their corporate website.

Frequently Asked Questions

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