Don't get bogged down

By all the technical details. I will be happy to go over all of this during our preliminary discussion about your goals for your web project.

After that, I will give you a written proposal for the project that outlines what is included and the costs.

Only once we agree on everything, do you make the down payment and I begin work on your site or other web or graphics project.

Be sure to check out all of the services I offer in web design, hosting, and graphics

Send me a message today to find out what I can do for your organization.

Components of a Web Site

Basically:
Domain + Web Design + Hosting = Functioning Web Site

I offer all of this in one package but it can be useful to understand what you’re paying for and which fees are recurring.

Domain

This must be renewed annually and costs about $13 for each domain name.

The domain is the address of your website - www.yourdomain.com. For example, the domain of this site is lotuspetaldesigns.com (although you can also get here by lotuspetaldesigns.net and many other addresses because I own multiple domains).

If you own a domain, you control where it points to. For this to do you any good, you need to have files on a server to point to - that's where the other parts of your site come in.

Web Design/Development

This is usually a one time fee, although updates may require additional fees. Please see the "Easy Updates" section on the right hand side of our Hosting page for additional information on options for avoiding update fees.

Web Design creates the files - words, images, meta tags for search engines - that make your site useful to customers who are looking for information about your business.

The cost varies depending on a number for factors, like the complexity of your site. I can create a site for almost any budget. If you want a web site - don’t assume it is out of your price range! Just let me know what your budget and goals are and I'll let you know what is possible.

Hosting

This is a monthly fee, although you can pay it quarterly, semi-annually or annually through Lotus Petal Designs. The best prices are for customers who pay annually.

The reason you need hosting is that the files I described in the Web Design section above need a place to be stored. This is also the place that you will point your domain to - this place is a web server! Every time someone types in your domain (www.yourdomain.com), it directs them to the web server you have told it to point to. That web server then gives the files that make up your web site to the browser (Internet explorer, Firefox, etc.) so that customers looking at your site can view the information. If you use domain e-mail (you@yourdomain.com), this is also handled by the web server and is part of your hosting costs.

This also brings up the issue of bandwidth, which is a big factor in hosting costs. If you have a basic site with maybe a few hundred customers a month viewing it, you won’t need a lot of bandwidth and will pay less for hosting. If you have a large site - with videos, flash, large PDF files and probably lots of customers viewing it each month - you will use a lot more of the server resources and bandwidth and will pay more for hosting.

Please see the Hosting page for more information on hosting plans.