Web Site Development Process

Define and upload

1. Describe the site you imagine, or reference one or more similar sites, and tell us which of the following you would like us to perform, so we can better estimate the time and cost required to develop your site.
2. Develop content - Scan existing graphics and text, use optical character recognition software to convert the text to digital form and use graphics programs to optimize the graphics for Web use, or use existing computer graphics, or create text and graphics anew on a computer, preferably using a tool that automatically generates HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
3. Convert the text to HTML - Web browsers like Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer will display text, but HTML must be added to format the text into something more readable or attractive. HTML references to the graphics tell the browser where to display the images.
4. Link the various pages together to make it easy and natural for someone to navigate the site.
5. Establish a folder/directory of the appropriate name on a computer (server) permanently connected to the Internet.
6. Send (FTP) the HTML and graphic files to the folder.

Acquire and register a domain name

1. If you want your site easily found on the Internet, search gandi.net or another domain name registrar for the desired domain name. Pay gandi.net to reserve the domain name for one $12 Euro (approximately $11 US) or more years. Read the aggreement of the registrar. Some maintain ownership of your domain and only give you permission to use it.
2. Add the site to the virtual domain database system (InterNIC) and create a domain name server (DNS) entry for it.
3. Inform a secondary DNS server of the new site.

Promote

1. Add a description and keywords to your home page header metatags to increase the likelihood that a search engine robot will find and list your site among the top 10 or 20 listings. Many people have specialized in adjusting keywords, content, links and other factors to increase the likelihood that your site will be among the first ten listed on the more popular search engines. They are competing with others of their profession to similarly position the sites of your competitors, so it is a never-ending battle of wits and time that costs about $500/month.
2. Register the site with appropriate search engines. Some sites will automatically register your domain with many seach engines for free and more for a fee. AnyBrowser.com has such links. The most popular search engines require a fee to register or be placed at the top of the list. The more popular the search engine, the more expensive the fee. Unless you have a truly unique product or service, your site will be lost among thousands of competitor sites. This is why well-funded web sites are promoted on television.
3. Engage selective Usnet User groups, blogs and other forums to interest the participants in visiting your site. Dialoging is labor intensive. Unless the audience for your product or service can be extremely targeted, or your product is so good that word-of-mouth (email, blogs) will continue with it's own momentum once it is started, this can become an expensive promotional effort.
4. Email and fax press releases to receptive media. We have a database with the email addresses of 33,000 media.
5. Pay a distribution service about $300 for small classified ads in hundreds of newspapers and magazines.

Expand to other languages

1. Develop multiple versions of your site and set their metatags to be receptive to the language preference of the visitor's browser, provide links to sites that automatically translate the page, or at least, include a link to a translation web site.