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                         Website Design

                   IDEA to ROLL OUT

Website design includes different components to make it all work. We break it down as follows:

Layout Design:	This is the defining and construction of the layout of the pages, the colors, and the coordination with existing marketing materials or the current corporate presence.
Navigation Design:	This involves the design of the look and feel for the navigation menus as well as design for how a visitor will navigate through the website.
Image Creation:	This involves picking relevant imagery that fits the purpose of the website including giving users that desired feel as they visit the web site. In addition, imagery also involves choosing and formatting photos for products and services.
Content Formatting:	This involves taking written content from you, the customer, and fitting it into the body of the web site pages. We will make suggestions as to how the written content needs to be structured. Writing for a web site is not the same as writing for paper. People?s attention spans are MUCH shorter.
Search Optimization:	This involves the structuring of your site?s code, file names, image names, and other components to include key words and phrases so that your web site will get recognized and ranked by the major search engines. Don?t be fooled, there are only about 5 major players in the search engine market. In general, if you optimize your site for those, you will get the best return for your effort. NOTE, we do not guarantee specific rankings within the search engines due to the nature of the number of factors involved that are out of our control; dynamics of the Internet, competitors jockeying for similar results, and unknown proprietary search engine algorithms among others.

Personal Attention:	You can expect wonderful personal attention. We make you part of the design and production processes to the extent that you would like. We prefer it this way, it creates excitement and improves communication.
Idea Flow:	We take our projects personally. You will get to know people on the design and production teams. We will inject ideas and actively expand on your ideas. We have years of experience with website design and we will make suggestions and recommendations so as to make the outcome better than the original idea. This is one of the main reasons we are here.
Great Results:	We go to the N?th degree to make sure you are very pleased with the results. Our production process assures this because you are directly involved in the design and production process so as to ensure your complete satisfaction. Please see Staging Environment: below.
Flexibility:	We understand that most projects start without a crystal clear understanding of the final outcome. Not having a crystal clear idea of how things should be put together is probably one of the reasons you are looking for a professional website design firm. We anticipate you not having a perfect plan for the project. We are prepared and willing to work with you to develop your ideas into reality. We do ask that to keep the project scope creep to a minimum once the project is under way. On our side we manage expectations and scope creep by getting as much information from you before starting the project and then we build in a cushion for changes. We do our best to get all the necessary and relevant details from you to ensure the project is proposed, planned, executed, and delivered in a smooth and timely manner. We maintain a constant level of communication through phone and e-mail to keep you involved.
Staging Environment:	We use a three-tire design and roll out structure. We develop internally on our own development servers and then present the work in progress to you in stages on our own ?staging? servers. This way you get to see the project come to life. We encourage you to get in and play with your project and give us feedback.

WHAT TO DO NEXT ?
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We would urge you to take us up on a FREE quote. Or, feel free to call or e-mail us.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED - ACHAEAN CAN HELP
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1. You Need a Domain Name:

What is a Domain Name:

A domain name in short: is the name that identifies a machine or other resource belonging to someone on the internet. For example: www.achaean.com

The www.achaean.com domain name identifies our www (world wide web) server as part of our Achaean corporate identity as a part of the com section of the Internet name space (little technical there). Please don?t confuse a domain name with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The URL contains the domain name within it. An example URL is: http://www.achaean.com/index.php. You may notice this line of characters in the ?Address Bar? somewhere towards the top of your Browser window.

The http:// indicates the hypertext transport protocol (http) used to transfer files from the computer you are sitting on looking at web sites and the computer serving the web site you are looking at to you. Generally speaking, the http is a protocol or a set of rules of communication that computers use for the purpose of transferring information in the form of web pages between each other.

The www.achaean.com is the domain name. Please see above for the explanation.

The /index.php indicates the exact file or web page that you are looking at. A web site can contain many pages of files. The /index.php is telling the web server which exact page you want to look at.

All in all the URL pinpoints an exact file or web page index.php on an exact computer www.achaean.com and tells the computer you are sitting in front of that it should talk the hypertext transport protocol http:// in order to get the web page. This is the cool part, with a simple URL you have just defined and asked for a single web page located on a computer somewhere on the entire face of this planet ? neat

Domain Name Defined by: www.whatis.com

Uniform Resource Locator Defined by: www.whatis.com

Why Do I Need A Domain Name:

You would need a domain name to allow your website viewers to more quickly and easily remember and type in your website address.

In reality you really don?t need a domain name to get to a website. Domain names were put in place to help us human beings remember things via words as opposed to numbers.

All you really need is what is called the Internet Protocol (IP) address. For example: 66.175.24.104 . This IP address is the address for the Achaean web server. To get to our web site using just the IP click here: http://66.175.24.104. Notice that you got to the www.achaean.com website. That is because at the end of the day the servers care more about the IP address than the domain name. I am grossly generalizing of course.

So, if you want your audience to be able to remember your web site better, it is best to register a domain name. It is going to be tricky trying to find a short one these days that is not registered by someone else.

What Does a Domain Name Cost:

Between $5 and $40 USD / 1 Year.

Well, first of all, you really can?t ?buy? a domain name you essentially register the ability to use it ? you are ?renting? the right to use it on the Internet on a yearly basis. Yup, if you are thinking what I am thinking ? why didn?t I think of that ? getting money for renting words to the planet ? hmm.

So where can you rent a domain name, you pick. There are many, many places that will allow you look for an unregistered domain name and register it on the spot with a credit card. So what makes ones different from the others?

Choosing a Domain Name Registrar:

I usually shop for a good domain name registrar based on cost first. The prices vary from $5 USD / 1 year to $40 USD / 1 year. Then I look for how good their service ratings are when it comes time to manage or make changes to your domain name. Also keep in mind the validity of the domain registrar itself.

If I were you, I would look at the following domain name registrars and pick one YOU like best.

www.dotdnr.com

www.networksolutions.com

www.godaddy.com

www.register.com

Remember, these are merely 4 of the many many registrars out there.

2. You Need a Web Host:

A web host is essentially a computer that will run 24/7 and make your web site available to any other computer out there on the Internet that asks for it through the domain name. This computer is known as a server, and it serves your website to the Internet. You have several options today for getting a web host; host it yourself on a server you own, get a hosting account with a hosting company, rent a dedicated server provided by a hosting company, rent a managed server provided by a hosting company. All these alternatives have varying costs in time, knowledge, and money. The different options are briefly outlined below.

Choosing a Web Host Company:

We shop for a good web host company based on service more than price. We are willing to pay a little extra for better and more responsive service. Then again, we are developers and constantly mess with stuff and code to the limit of the servers. So we need good responsive help.

Check out the following web hosting companies and pick one YOU like best.

www.hostrocket.com

www.cedant.com

Remember, these are merely two of the many many web hosting companies out there.

3. A Desire to Watch Your Website Develop:

Achaean will help and guide you through the design and development process. You will be able to see the progress on our staging servers and constantly give us feedback. We would love to help you advance your business on line !

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