Please read about common questions new prospective clients often have before working with Viv Web Solutions.

How long does it take to make a website?

The timeline of a website design project is often dictated by the client. If you have a deadline in mind talk to us and we will probably find a way to meet it. All out proposals have a timeline in them.

The most common delay in the creation of a new website is waiting for content (text/images) to be sent to us by the client. If you want your web site quickly, but don’t have the time to write, we can have a professional writer help you

Will my web site be mobile-friendly?

Yes, we build all our sites with mobile devices in mind. We can also build a special mobile version of your site or make it responsive, like this site- resize your browser to see how it works!

How will customers find my site? Can you help?

Search (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the honing of a site and strategic positioning for strong placement in search engine results. Company from Apple to Zoots are working to game these systems in honest and dishonest ways and for a small to medium size business you need to set realistic goals next to some of the big fish. We can help you set those goals and solid strategies to achieve them.
Read about our SEO services

Sorry, we only work with “White Hat” SEO -that is the honest kind, which works best in the long run.

Some useful guidelines are provided by Google itself and we can guide you in following these guidelines and build your site following those principles.

Here is the Google SEO starter kit.
Google publish a nice basic small business SEO guide.
The guide for webmasters is one we use.

Online Advertising
Google Adwords and Adsense are powerful advertising tools that have become the the Yellowpages of yesteryear. For Google most of there $29 billion of revenue in 2010 comes from search engine advertising. You can carefully hone your settings so your ad only shows up for certain searches and you can control how much you are willing to pay. It is an option more small businesses should use. Of course, getting people to your site isn’t worth anything if what the potential customer will find there isn’t compelling.

Referral
A website is an easy and simple way that people can refer you. If you don’t have a professional website, your customers often won’t be bothered to refer you.

“My landlord is great, and I can give you his number to check if he has any suitable vacancies.”
vs.

“I see that my landlord has a vacancy right across town, here is the link to see the property.”

Social Media
Your web site should support your Facebook page and vice-versa.

The Basics
Of course, people can go to your web site if you put it on signage, business cards, newletters, in your email sign off. Your email can come from the web site- like kalman@vivwebsolutions.com Also, get people and businesses to link to you- these links will drive traffic and raise your search engine ranking.

Can you register a domain for me?

Yes, but you can do it yourself at Godaddy.com or numerous other sites.
Don’t buy there hosting though. We offer hosting and prefer to work on our own host.

Are there hidden costs?

No. We are proud to have come on or under our original quote.
Hosting and design are usually quoted separately and we make this clear on our contracts.

Can you do ecommerce?

Yes…see ecommerce

Why does a small business need a site?

The real answer is it depends on the business.

Do people expect you to have a web site?

Search for your competition or similar businesses in other areas-how do you think they are using the web to grow their businesses-could you do the same?

Some common reasons:
The Yellow Pages isn’t cutting it anymore.
You can’t control what the top entry on Yelp will be about you.
You may be able to get new customers with very little effort. – You will be surprised how easy it can be.
You probably have information that would be useful for existing customers.

We constantly hear sad stories from people who say someonw, “started their site.”
With ViV making a site doesn’t have to be a headache- many businesses find that the process helps them refocus on important things and can help get consensus in the business about what differentiates them

What are you waiting for, call us and get your business online already.

Do you have a proven track record? Can I have references?

Yes, please look at our portfolio- any of our clients will vouch for us.
For specific contact information of our clients, please call or email.

How do I host my site? Can you host my site?

Yes, we offer hosting. read more.

What sort of warranty do you offer on your sites what sort of service comes with a site?

Add Service and Maintenance from Services section

Can I see a standard/sample contract for a web site?

Yes, call or email.

We write our proposals in the form of a contract, that maximises the time clients have
to look over the terms and conditions.

How do I get better search results? Can you get me on top of Google?

SEO is an art and a science.  See Search Engine Optimization (SEO) service – link.

What does a web site cost to make?

Sorry, it really depends. We find people making web sites also want some writing, copyediting, a logo, and sometimes photography and these things drive up cost but are extremely useful in the long run and end up in other marketing materials of the business.

Take a look at this price guide. A simple
Please call or email with your project and we can usually get a quote to you in 1-2 days.

Why not use Wix or another free service?

You generally get what you pay for. These web site makers never end up looking good.
Choosing fonts to match your logo. Tightening your writing. Finding a design that truly matches your business well. If you want to spend the 5-10 hours grueling through the system and then send us your site for us to point out the problems, I am always curious,.

Sometimes this process does help people organize their materials and sharpen their focus on what they want. the problem with most of these systems is that they use proprietary systems that are hard to edit, so when you inevitably have to step out of the template, you can’t.

Why not make the web site myself?

It’s not worth the effort to learn how and your first site will have problems. Build is smart for mobile and search engines. Builtd it smart for various browsers. Make it look professional.

Why not hire a print designer?

answer here… answer here…

Why not hire a full-service “creative agency?”

It depends, but you will pay out of the nose for people who are print designers and really want to be writing a TV commercial scripts. Ad execs who handle multi-million dollar accounts will not take your small or medium business seriously.

I wrote my copy. I can write — why do you recommend copywriting services?

Why not hire my cousin / niece / nephew?

I have a logo…do I need it overhauled?

Thanks for asking! Send it along. The logo can uplift a site as well as bring it down. If you are stuck with a logo you don’t like, we can diminish its prominence on the site, but wouldn’t it be better to have a logo you are proud of and confident in?

Why do I need a logo for my business?

All you need is a nice font to put your name in, right?…kind of. There are tens of thousands of fonts to choose from, so which one will have the right “voice?” Then there is foreground and background color, spacing, font weight, texture and other styling. Even if you think, “I don’t need a logo,” we call that a “wordmark,” it is one of five types of logos along with Brandmark Symbol, Lettermark, Emblem, Mascot…and many logos are a combination of these.

A logo distinguishes you from competition, can make you look professional, and can cement you in people’s memory. Other than good customer service, there are few moves in marketing your business that are more important.

Read more about our logo design service

How can I be sure you design a logo that matches what I want?

We work until you are satisfied. Because of our in-depth process writing a design-brief early on, we have never had a logo design customer who was not satisfied. We take the time to understand what you want and what is appropriate for your business thoroughly enough that our design can be perfectly on message.

See our logo design process to understand how this goes.

I want a web site.  What can I expect for a process?

1) Tell us about what you are looking for and perhaps a budget and we either meet to discuss it or talk on the phone

2) We give you a detailed quote/offer with a list of included features, a schedule and approval cycle.

3) You sign a contract and we write a design brief-we analyze your competition and seek inspiration from the best web sites in your industry or other similar industries. We agree one which sites are best. Simultaneously, our writers familiarize themselves with the content and add new life to it.

4) We propose an outline for the site and we sending you preliminary design mock ups exploring color, texture, font and layout choices.

5) We refine those mockups and you approve the mockups

6) We code the site

7) We test the site and the site is proofed

8) We test the site some more.

9) We “soft-launch” the site. Meaning the site is online at its final location, but it hasn’t been announced.

11) Depending on your business, you may have a launch party.

12) We work with you on a maintenance and building plan, potentially including additional updates, blog entries, advertising and other promotions of your business through the site.

We keep an eye on the site and follow the traffic to the site and see if it is operating in an ideal way. If you have advertising landing pages, we may be doing A/B testing.

What are the different types of logos?

Generally, there are considered to be six types of logos: wordmark, lettermark, emblem, pictoral, abstract, web 2.0. We can help assist you in figuring out what makes sense for your company.

What is your logo design process?

Please read about our logo design process on a dedicated page.

Can you handle a data-driven site?

We have a proven track record of developing difficult and complex sites.
See our portfolio.

Why don’t I hire a single freelancer?

At minimum a team should include a designer a developer and a copyeditor. It is quite rare to have someone who can do all these jobs truly well. The cliche, “you get what you pay for” holds true with web development- there are some freelancers who do great work but they are rarely less expensive than ViV.

You could act as a contractor and hire for the design, writing and coding. It’s similar to acting as your own contractor when building your own house. You may find that will need to go back and forth between various professionals wracking up charges and frustration

For instance, it turns out the designer didn’t format his or her files right for the developer- it turns out the developer doesn’t code what the designer did right. It turns out new copy needs to be written for the way the designer arranged the page. Having someone experienced manage your project, with a team that is well coordinated, will save you time, money and will create a better result.

What is your payment policy? What type of payments do you accept.
Generally, we design with ViV is payed one-third up front, one-third upon acceptance of mockups and the last third after testing and launch. We accept Paypal and Check, with a slight preference for the latter, because of the fees associated with credit card transactions.

What is a Content Management System (CMS) and do I need one?

Copy from CMS service description

Can my web site integrate with Facebook?

There are different things this can mean. For NewsParticipation (an online community of lay and professional journalists), we built a system so their users could register or log in using their Facebook accounts. They could then post videos, comment and do anything else a registered user can do on the site..

Many web sites could benefit from commenting being driven by the Facebook engine.

More commonly, we add a Facebook “like” button to a site and sometimes a Facebook “feed.”

What’s Twitter all about and should I be using it?
Twitter is used by many in a quite similar way as status updates on Facebook and LinkedIn. Because the messages on Twitter are short, they can be transmitted by traditional text message, and this is what has made the service especially relevant in the “Arab Spring” revolutions in the Middle East.

Whether you should depends on who you think would be making up your audience and what you have to say to them. If you want to discuss, feel free to call.

Of course, we can add a Twitter feed to your web site->let’s make sure it’s the right thing to do.