FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions about website repair or maintenance costs, reasons, reliability, site generators- Wordpress, time required, updates, direct user edit-inpur areas, changing programmer, moving a site, etc.

How much does it cost to get updates to an existing site?

The cost depends on type of update or repair required, and extent of work. Usually adding items, text or images to existing website pages doesn't take much time.
Much less time is required to update sites we build, by about half as much time or less than some poor designs. The following examples are from sites we design or customize from a template:

Examples:

Adding images approx. 10 min per image prep time plus 15 min per image enlargement (pop up) if thumbnails are used on the main page plus 5 min on main page to add the image and any text additions. (time estimates are averages)

Adding text depends on positioning of text on the page and if new table structure must be created to house new text. An estimate will be given per instance. If only text changes with no revision to the page structure are required, then the update will take approx. 10 min per page. (minimum time will always be 30 min for billing purposes)

Do you do one-time small jobs or repairs?

It depends on the type of site and its complexity. Some site repairs or updates require a fair amount of study of the site so we don't break something or miss something important. That may require a small charge, like $30, to cover our time to get into and study your files/system.

New clients have to have an interest in improvements to the site, and some appreciation of our experience, our web business knowledge, and the importance of what we do.
We mainly do maintenance or repairs on sites which we either revised or where substantial revision is planned. Let us know your plans and perhaps you qualify as a business serioiusly seeking to improve, which is necessary to succeed.

What kinds of repairs or updates do you do?

We prefer to work on HTML sites with some JAVA, but we accomodate User edit or posting areas. Our priority, which should be yours, is reliability, hacker resistance, easy of changes (maintainable - updatable) and keeping the site standardized enough to easily fix or move. We do a lot of Gallery adding, pages adding or revising, adjusting layouts, eliminating bad table structure (time consuming), upgrading obsolete code that might quit working or mis-align in browsers, adjusting, resizing and enhacing images, and similar work.

What about medium redesigns, updates?

We usually recommend 2 or 3 stages of change toward any major redesign, to allow customer and search engine adjustments and to retain your trade dress, general style and appearance. That also allows some testing of appeals and customer reactions.
We do beautiful redesigns and new sites reflecting much of those elements of the prior site, but with MUCH easier changes possible in layout or style, with simpler code a programmer can understand quickly and not break a site, which is easily done with older complex or generated sites.

Why would a website need re-designing?

Several reasons: Most code and scripts out there are obsolete and many will quit working correctly in the next couple of years. Some shopping carts and other scripts must be updated. Further, browser compatibility and monitor and mobile screen sizes have added many complexities and requirements in the last two years. Foremost to us is that most websites don't really sell or communicate fast and clearly and some may still look good, but are hodge-podges of clunky amateurish coding or Site builder-generated code that is completely unmaintainable and takes hours to begin to figure out.

Or the site is a Web 2.0 program-generated site that is likely to break, be hacked or have browser compatibility problems, and really looks way too much like most other Web 2.0 sites. Modern has become blase' and pase' and usually is based on a blog generator like WordPress or Joomla, which is very limited in doing certain layouts, and when it breaks is unfixable, and untransportable to another host. There are other reasons also.

A better site is usually one built around a reassessment and refinement of the style, tradedress, colors and updated images with content improved by testing, all installed in a customized tested template unlikely to have bugs, giving a modern but distinctive look. The re-designed site may have more pages or landing pages focused on target segments of customers, their needs and features of your product that meet those needs. That is, the pages are designed around focused targets and appeals, tested using Adwords or similarly, to better distinguish (differentiate) your business from others.

For example, our website here doesn't look like our competitors in any way. We are differentiated in how we work and why we work that way. That way we attract clients who are more likely to succeed.

Isn't it a good idea to use popular programs?

How much does adding a shopping cart cost?

This varies a lot. Many brands are out there, and can be simple or complex using original programming or purchased software packages or using Open Source free software. Although our basic hourly rate is $35/hour for html portions of carts, it is $45/hr for PHP script install and set up for shopping carts or simple cart programs or services. Certain types of web carts take more time to configure and customize due to the changing nature and modules of the many types of cart software, and methodologies of providers andhow they are handled on hosting companies.

The number of hours required per shopping cart system can vary greatly. In some instances, programming hours are required to modify or add options to a free cart. When we get into customization or debugging scripts, the rate is $65-$85 per hour for PHP depending on complexity of the task. On debugging we are often successful, but regardless you pay for time spent. (Many times in programs a change can cause other unanticipated problems.) Programming is strictly by time basis of work in good faith.

Total hours can vary greatly by the number of pictures and items for sale, links/bookmarks between pages and other web sites. Customization of size of boxes, text added, etc can add to cost. Complete testing of the web pages to make sure everything works properly is time consuming but necessary for a business site.

Can you fix my do-it yourself Site Build programs?

If you're using such a program, it should only be for getting started. At some point you need a real website. If it's broken, investigate or get help re-doing it with better software.

Be aware that sophisticated buyers recognize a homemade site and are wary of businesses that don't spend some money on the main image and promotion of their business. There are many pros and cons on website generators, but most weigh against it for anything but a draft to get started. See our Web-Success article on Do It Yourself Website Generators.

For businesses that mainly sell through their websites, a homemade website with hurriedly produced store or cart service can cause problems when changes are necessary, when a neighbor on your host gets hacked or banned, or your code becomes "broken". Hiring a professional to do the work can help ensure your web pages are cleanly coded, reproduceable and portable,and changes will not interrupt orders coming in.

Beware of cheap pretenders and out of country programmers. Many claim to be web designers but use automated software to produce pages and to make changes. If they are not really coders, the automated software will eventually "break" after multiple changes have been done. Worse, all the improvements and code cleaning done by a good programmer will be lost.

How soon can I get my online store up and running?

A simple store with static pages and shopping cart code on your web page can be ready to go "live" in about two weeks. There may be other customers ahead of you, so allow an extra week or two. That is not for a complex large somewhat customized sophisticated shopping cart. That can take quite a bit longer.

How do we make content and text changes?

Several possible ways. But code integrity requires there be one main control point with backups. If you need to post new info or changed text often, we can set up a special edit area directly to the site.

Much time is oten spent in design work waiting for a customer to send in text or pictures and decide on design questions. Completing a web design and producing the pages for review can take anywhere from five days to several months depending on complexity and customer changes. If a customer knows exactly what they want and has the information all planned out and ready for us to use, ten to fourteen days is normal for going "live" with a small to moderate-sized store or site. Try to plan and have your content mostly ready to avoid delays.

How easy is it to make changes to the web site store in the future?

Simple changes, updates, deletions and/or additions to an online store are available within one to two days. These involve changing or adding text, pictures, minor rearrangements of information on a page or movement to another page. The more organized and planned your information is, the faster the turnaround time. It also depends even more on whether we installed the cart or know the cart system already. See our Services Fee List.

Addition of new store pages involves a bit more work to make sure the page "fits" the overall site design, has all the correct links and is positioned correctly on the site. This may also require a change in the site navigation menu and links/bookmarks which affects all the pages on the site.

I am dissatisfied with my current designer/programmer. Is it simple to change to a different web designer if I want to try your service?

Yes, it's usually easy to change web designers, if you have good access to the site and the password. We can study your site code and change or redesign as appropriate. It can take a few hours to understand the site layout and how it works. This is why we have a one-time time setup fee for a new customer (unless a very minor fix or change).

We ask you to describe or discuss what substantial changes you plan for the site within six months-- because we no longer do maintenance on sites for which only one repair is needed. We work on sites that the owner wishes to improve and fix up or redesign.

Many of our customers transferred their existing web sites to BG Design from other web designers or were abandoned by their old web designers.

BG Design specializes in creating and managing changes to HTML Websites and online stores and simple payment systems and forms. We may also maintain other shopping carts other than Agoracart, Zen Cart, or similar on a case-by-case basis.

What do you do for artwork or design graphics?

Being a good "coder" does not mean a web designer is a good artist/designer, or vice-versa. Many better programmers are not great artistic designers or graphics artists, or even have good taste for a good business website with a marketer's eye for design.

BG Design personell fortunately have more than 30 years of experience in business management, design, marketing, services, computer programming and last but not least, art and graphics.

Do I have to keep updating my web site? Isn't it enough to just put my business information and leave it at that?

Customers and visitors should not see old, stale information or they suspect the business isn't doing well and can't afford updates. Actively changing/updating information is a good sign to a repeat visitor that the business is alive.

Also weak companies are often reflected in weak websites that look out of date, poorly designed, unattractive, out of style or worse--not working right or broken!

Why is a really nice website so important>

Weak sites seem to indicate a generational gap and unwillingness to learn adn to compete with technology. A site is the business to many people and says a lot about the company. People want to get fast information on your business & products in about 2 minutes, from anywhere. They are grading you constantly against others. Keep your website NICE, modern, informative and up to date.

A mediore site also reflects on the abilities of management to even manage a website project. It's one more test of the business. Pass or fail? We find it an excellent test of management ability and willingness to learn and avoid pitfalls. We can judge a company's management considerably just by glancing at their website and some of its source code. It tells us a lot about how they choose contractors for one of the most important functions of their business.

Updates can include news items, sales, promotional information, product specials, more recent testimonials, new product introductions, newsletters, recipes, tips/tricks, etc. Adding a customer feedback posting, a survey, or live chat or bulletin boards or help desk can give a business valuable feedback of customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Many businesses are adding Blogs to their websites to invite customer comments.

View Sitemap

Please see our Services page for more details.

Contact Us for more information.