• Do you need a web site?

• Web sites are the best use of your advertising dollar; here's a price comparison

• Why you need a professional to design a site for you

Do you need a web site?
If you feel you need to advertise your business or organization, then yes, you need a web site. Why? Because chances are, your competitors are online. And if they're not, all the more reason.

Web sites can provide key information about your products or services until more tangible and traditional literature (like catalogs, brochures, and flyers) can be mailed. But don't think that web sites are only for selling products or services. They're great communication tools. If they're designed properly, sites can answer questions both basic and complex any time, any day. And because anyone with a computer and modem can reach your site, your potential customer base becomes infinitely larger than your immediate geographical location.

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Web sites are the best use of your advertising dollar; here's a price comparison
The Internet is simply the best use of your advertising dollar. Consider this:

 

MEDIA	SIZE of AD	CIRCULATION	TIME	COST
NEWSPAPER	Quarter page	Around 21,000	1 week	$3,500 or more
WEB SITE	Around 5-10 pages	Anyone IN THE WORLD with access	1 year	Less than half that*
*This includes setup fees, domain registration, and hosting for one year.

After the first year, the annual cost to host the site is around $350, less any design/update changes.

So stop wasting money on small, one-dimensional, ineffective ads and let The Digital Pen develop a professional, unique web site—including multiple email addresses, domain registration, and hosting fees.

Find out more about my work on the Portfolio page.

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Why you need a professional to design a site for you
Let's face it, you can go out and buy one of many web design software packages on the market today and create your own web site.

But you know all those bad web sites you hit every day? The ones with poor contrast between the text and the background? The ones that take you somewhere you didn't expect, then wouldn't let you go back? The ones with broken links, pictures that don't display, and outdated content?

Or what about the sites you didn't see because the designer didn't know how to create search engine-friendly pages? Many of these situations are due to people who lack the necessary education and experience to design and maintain a web site. Sure, they get an A for effort, but how bad is their message suffering for it?

Now, some web designers may try to dazzle (or purposefully befuddle) you with a bunch of acronyms like HTML, XML, URL, PERL, CGI, GIF, JPG, etc. Having knowledge of programming languages may be impressive, but it doesn't mean you're a good web designer. It's kinda like the guy who can tell you how a car works, but can't drive well to save his life!

Good web designers:

• know how people use and interact with web sites and the Internet

• listen: so the site is designed the way their customers want it, not the way the designer wants it

• recognize the importance of web pages that download quickly

• understand that content is more important than pictures and flashy multimedia

• promptly respond to customer requests

Ultimately, how the designer goes about building the site is irrelevant so long as the above objectives are met.

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The Digital Pen | 17 Berkshire Dr. | Rome, GA  30161 | 706-346-8731
jarratt@thedigitalpen.com

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