Website Development:
Website Design and Renovation
Why are more and more companies and consumers doing business online? Primarily it's because of the marketing and promotional power of this flexible new medium. No matter what your line of business, the Internet will expand your market exposure and enhance customer support in almost every case.
Our combination of network and publishing experience puts Western Canada Internet in a unique position -- able to take your website project from concept and production to hosting, having as little or as much involvement as you desire. No need to complicate planning by finding both a designer and a host ISP -- WCI is both!
Web-Based Marketing
With the web's impressive marketing and display abilities, more and more businesses are using this affordable medium to increase their productivity and sales. If you want new and existing clients to know about your services, the Internet provides a convenient and flexible addition to or even replacement of traditional print marketing.
- Marketing and Display -Promote your products and services to local and global markets. Buy and sell online with interactive catalogues and brochures. ( Color on the web is a lot cheaper than in print and not many catalogues include sound, video and animation!)
- E-Mail and Fax - Send documents and messages without long-distance phone charges. Enhance your customer service abilities.
- Information Management - Optimize and publish your databases with network management systems. Get more power from your information.
- Communications and Research - Contact new and existing clients, distributors and suppliers. Quickly and conveniently gather information on your market and competitors.
The opportunity to
effectively utilize the Internet to gain a competitive marketing advantage exists for
businesses by offering their services and products to a wide customer base on the
Internet. The biggest problem for business will be designing an effective web site to take
advantage of this new medium. This can be a difficult task for most people and impossible
for others.
The Internet is
changing our lives. These changes are not readily apparent in most cases, but examining
the trends, it is easy to forecast where we are headed. Today's generation of children
think of the Internet the way most of us think of television. I grew up with television as
a part of my every day life. The Children of today are using the Internet dynamically in
their every day lives.
What can your business do to take advantage of the
Internet? Will you ignore it and hope that it goes away? This approach does not work. A
few years ago, the appearance of the FAX machine was just beginning. Most companies today
couldn't imagine running any business without the FAX machine. Soon the Internet will be
even more popular than the FAX. The impact of the Internet will soon demand that your
company CAN do business on the Web. Imagine trying to run a business without a phone- soon
the Internet will be just as vital.
Website Price Ranges and Details
Asking what a website costs is like asking for the price of "a car." It depends on what you need. A Volkswagen and a Porsche are both cars but their ticket price is a pretty good indicator of the different performance each provides. You generally get what you pay for and shouldn't expect much from any designer who claims that they can create a detailed and productive site for $100 ... even if they happen to be your niece or nephew who just graduated with a computer science degree.
A website requires skills in publishing, marketing, graphics and communications, not just programming! A good way of understanding this new marketing medium is by comparing it with the most similar traditional medium - television advertising.
Most businesses rely on some form of marketing program to help promote their products and services -- from catalogues to brochures and print/electronic media advertising. The Internet provides a new medium that expands the power of all the above and for a lot less money.
In the print world for example, a typical 48-page, b&w product catalogue (10,000 copies) runs in the $19,000 range. Of this, about $5,000 would go to the design/typesetting team, $7,000 to the printer, and another $5,000 to cover postage, mailing list purchases, and the envelopes. About a 5% or 6% response would be considered average from this one-time offering.
Now compare this to a website equivalent. To promote and display the same information on the Internet (a rapidly expanding market of over 50 million potential clients) would average from $1500.00 to $7,000 for design/typesetting and about $750/yr in storage and access services ... less than one half the price of its printed ancestor with a much wider market reach and longer functional usage !
Consider the other advantages that an online presence can offer you and your clients: Emailed requests and online purchasing replace costly long distance calls. Common questions from your customers can be answered 24 hours a day without tying up customer service personnel or your phone lines. You have the freedom to update your catalogue and price lists without expensive reprints of the original material, allowing you to keep up with current market factors.
A website can lead to substantial cost savings even in the short term!
Your website can provide detailed instructions and posted FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), auto-reply forms, and departmental e-mail addresses to better direct requests.
When mailing out a catalogue, you rarely get feedback or even know if it's being looked at. A website can be easily monitored to see how busy it is (how much traffic) and -- even better -- what pages your Internet visitors are using a lot (effective) and which pages are sitting idle (need enhancing).
Further improving on its printed counterpart, a website needn't be limited to small (2" x 3") b&w photos -- color doesn't cost you extra on the Internet, You can even replace the pictures with video or sound clips, 3D interactive models, or include a custom search engine to make indexing more efficient!
It can be your corporate brochure at the same time, eliminating the need for maintaining two publications. Beyond all this, few trees are killed in the process of web marketing -- making it a very environmentally sound choice.
When added to your existing marketing campaign, a website will vastly increase your sales-reach and reduce your time spent answering common customer service calls. With e-mail addresses and URLs included on all your business cards, stationery, ads, and printed marketing tools, you're giving potential clients access to information about you and your services at their convenience and from remote locations -- clients like that.
You can spend $100 on a budget ad or $300,000 on a TV commercial. The cost varies by how much space, how many pages, or how much air-time you're buying. In the same way, no two sites are the same -- ranging from small business systems to very dynamic corporate services. This is why all Western Canada Internet website designs (new or renovation) are quoted on an individual, fixed-fee basis.
Hire a professional!
Remember, you can only make a first impression once. You don't get a second chance. Your
website will be an example of your companies overall appearance. An amateurish web site or
an out of the box first attempt may not convey the message that you wanted to put out to
you clients.
It pays to work with a professional. Someone who can
guide you through the development process from start to finish. Western Canada Internet
and our Web Developers are here to provide you with expertise in these areas. We
understand the complexities of The Internet and the challenges of providing an effective
message to the consumer. Our skilled design professionals can guide you though the process
of getting your company started on the Internet. Whether you are designing your new site
from scratch or updating an existing web site, Western Canada Internet Web Development can
provide you with the results you desire.
What can a web presence do for my company?
A properly designed page will compliment your current advertising, and will give you increased market place for distribution of your companies information. In general terms, a web site will make it easier to promote what you do to a larger market.
What type of web presence does my company need?
The Web is the great equalizer. An effectively designed web site can make small companies look large. (there are no small companies on the web) Your site size will be determined by how much information you want to provide your customers. Be careful however of information overload! Give your customers enough information so they can make an informed decision. The key is to provide your information and services to the consumer in an appealing way and to offer something that keeps them coming back to your site, whether it is new information or products. Combining an effective advertising campaign and an attractive, informative web site can greatly increase the business you are doing.
Great design needs great site storage/hosting.
The best design in the world gets you nowhere if you
can't get to it. Western Canada Internet is a Premier Internet Service Provider (ISP)
offering our customers the fastest, most reliable unrestricted access to the entire
Internet & World Wide Web all for less than our competitor's charge.
We offer a more varied line of services
and better quality service than our competitors for less cost.
Our pricing can range anywhere from $250.00 to $40,000 or more, this fee is based on your site's level of complexity, amount of programming, graphic design, and term of development. Western Canada Internet never generically quotes on a "per page" basis (a "page" could be very small, requiring little effort, or vastly huge and detailed).
The process involves setting up a meeting with us where your objectives and parameters are discussed. We'll help you understand all your Internet options and work with you on a design that improves your business and sales potential -- providing a proposal that includes a price estimate, our approach to the project, a visual concept for the design, a summary of the anticipated production and computer service options and fees, and an estimated production time required to complete your website.
If you already have a site that simply needs some repairs or update maintenance, and you're used to looking after things yourself but don't know quite for sure where you went wrong, you may want to consider Western Canada Internet's maintenance services.