A businessman called me recently needing a website. I asked him why he thought he needed a website. He told me that potential clients asked him for his a web address. He had to tell them that he didn’t have a website. After that happened a few times, he realized that he was losing potential customers. Not having a website was costing him business.

These days, if you have a business, you should have a presence on the web so that customers can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.

What do the business experts say about this? Steve Strauss, one of the country's leading small business experts, advises his readers that a well-crafted website is essential for any business. In an article in Entrepreneur magazine, Steve wrote, "So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online? Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt."

It’s not enough to just have a web site. A business needs a web site that is professional-looking and well-organized. "Your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost . . . With a well-designed site, your operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them."

The bottom line is “if you don't have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do."

The cost of a website will vary according to your needs and wants. Do you want to sell your products and process credit cards on your website? You'll need a shopping cart website. Or, do you just want the information about you or your business online? Of course, an "informational" website costs a lot less. These are the most common types of websites.

Every website will have three different kinds of cost:

• Web design and development
• Hosting
• Domain name registration

The web design and development of a website involves planning, creating a graphic design, coding, and a few other things. This initial cost can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more, depending on your wants and needs. We can accommodate just about any budget.

Once your website is ready to be publish to let the world know about your business, your files need to be uploaded to a web server. The space you "lease" on a web server is call hosting. Hosting only costs a few dollars a month. Most businesses pay their hosting fees on a yearly basis.

In order for people to find your website, you will need a domain name. A domain name is basically the address for your website. For example, the domain name for this website is elanwebdesign.com. Domain names need to be registered with a domain name registrar. We charge only $18 to register your domain name and set the nameservers. Domain names need to be renewed once a year.

So, there you have it. The web design is the most costly part of getting your business online. If your budget is tight, ask us about our predesigned website plan. This substantially reduces the initial cost of a website because the website is already designed!

Yes, we accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. We do not accept American Express.

Web hosting is renting a space on a web server. In order for people to access your website, your web files need to reside on a web server. A web server is a computer that delivers (serves up) web pages. For example, if you enter our web address, http://www.elanwebdesign.com, in your web browser, a request is sent to the server whose domain name is elanwebdesign.com. The server then fetches the requested page and sends it to your web browser.

A domain name is the address for a web page. Just like your street address tells people where your house is located, a domain name tells a web browser where your website is located. You need a domain name so people can find your website. Domain names are regulated and overseen by ICANN, the organization that is responsible for certifying companies as domain name registrars. These companies charge a yearly fee for domain name registration.

If we register your domain name, you don’t have to worry about transferring your domain name to our web server because we will do it for you. If you or someone else has registered your domain name, you will have to change the name servers to point to our web servers. The name servers are the computers that contain the information relating to your domain name, including the address of the web server that contains your web files. There is a primary name server and a secondary name server. Transferring your domain name essentially means supplying the name servers with the address of the web servers that contain your web files so web users will be directed to your website.

This is easier than it sounds. Your domain name registrar probably has instructions on its website on how to change your name servers. If you can figure out how to do it yourself, you will need our name server information:

Primary Name Server: NS553.HOSTGATOR.COM
Secondary Name Server: NS554.HOSTGATOR.COM

If you are completely lost (and most people are), don't worry. We can walk you through this process or do it for you at no charge.

Yes! If we host your website, we will set up free email accounts for you using your domain name. It's not very impressive having your customers email you at a yahoo or gmail account. It's more professional to offer an email address that contains your domain name. So, instead of using messagebydana@yahoo.com, Dana could use dana@massagebydana.com. Much more professional!

What if you are use to using gmail or yahoo and you want to stick with one of those accounts? Well, we can set up an email account, like yourname@yourwebsite.com, and foward it to your yahoo or gmail account. This way, you can continue using the email applications you are used to but still have a professional email address that you give out to people interested in your products or services.

Web-based email is accessed from a website that contains your email messages. Hotmail is an example of web-based email. Web-based email gives you the ability to send and receive email without the need to configure your email client. The benefits of this include the ability to access your email anywhere, on any computer as long as you have web access and your login information.

If we are hosting your website and you want to set up Outlook to send and receive e-mail messages, call us if you need help.

One of the easiest ways for spammers to get your email address is to post it on a website. Spammers have automated programs called spam bots that crawl the web harvesting email addresses. Once they have your email address expect to receive a lot of spam in your inbox on a daily basis.

We discourage our clients from posting their email address on their website. Instead, you use PHP web forms to enable visitors to email you. These web forms are processed on a web server so your email address is protected.

Once we have completed your website, we need to resolve your domain name to our servers and upload your files. On an average, this process usually takes a few hours but can take up to 48 hours. If we registered your domain name, then we could have your website online within a few hours.

Of course! That's one of the things we do. Just give us a call and we can discuss what changes or additions you want to make to your website.

Our websites are search engine friendly which means that the pages are coded and optimized to organically attract search engines. We code our pages according to the highest standards of the W3C. This results in clean and valid code which makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site. We also work in key phrases in the content of your web pages so that they will match what people are typing into the search engines.

The W3C is an abbreviation for the World Wide Web Consortium, the international organization that oversees web standards. As a web designer, one of my goals is to write "valid" code that meets the standard of the W3C. Anyone can use its validators to test any page on his or her website. If you look in the footer at the bottom of this page, I have included buttons that validate this page.

To create a "search engine friendly" website, you have to optimize your website for the search engines. But search engine optimization can go beyond this basic optimization to include detailed keyword searches, analytics, and other very time-consuming and expensive tasks.

Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing that focuses on generating buzz and traffic by participating in various social media websites such as Facebook, Dig, YouTube, and Twitter.

If we created a custom website for you, you own the website and all the files for that website. If you are "leasing" one of our predesigned websites, we retain the files for the website once your lease is up.

We are based in San Diego, California. However, we design and create websites for businesses throughout the country. All of our services can be delivered via the Internet. If you are not happy with the quality or prices of web services in your area, contact us!

The best way to get started is to call us. We'll get started immediately! We will start by getting to know your business, your customers, and understanding your goals.