Building a website will vary. How much content will be in the site? What functionality is required? How does your marketing strategy work with the site? Will you supply content or will our content developers create it? Are there security requirements? We consider these important issues when determining the best and most cost-efficient approach to your web project. Package based pricing can be tricky. You could end up paying more by the time you've added all th whistles and bells. When you contact us request a detailed proposal that includes pricing, timeline, and suggestions for building your site. We will integrate your site into your internal process and marketing strategy.

A major frustration for clients occurs when they receive wildly varying quotes for web design projects. The best way to avoid this, and to ensure work is completed to the highest standards, is to have a detailed discussion between Student Housing Guide and the client, in order to accurately gauge all aspects of the work to be completed. When we receive exact specifications will ensure that you receive an accurate quote for your project. Only then can you see the best value of the price -- without compromising quality. We establish exact needs after multiple discussions with our clients. It can be difficult for people inexperienced with the Internet to know exactly what can be done to serve best your specific goals. Specialties to consider include: Experience, Expertise, Past projects completed, Previous projects success, Reference and testimonials, Specialist skills (SEO, Flash), Equipment. Student Housing Guide's team of Researchers, Internet marketers, Web designer, Internet Security Expert and Graphic Artist extensively review your site for critical issues such as load time, browser compatibility, and navigational.

A site is typically completed within four weeks from the order being received. The time of completion quite often depends on the time it takes to develop the pages and how quickly we receive feedback and changes from you. The more upfront dialogue we have with the client creates better communication and less time on changes.

After it is created and all outstanding invoices are paid, the client has exclusive rights to the website.

The site needs to be marketed on an ongoing basis. Fresh information also needs to be put into the site to keep it up to date and interesting. You can do this yourself if your company has the resources available in house, or we can maintain it for you through ongoing communication. You can supply current information to us and we will maintain the content of the site to keep it relevant to your consumers. We can provide consultative support or we can take on maintaining the site ourselves.

Effective marketing of your website is achieved utilizing a variety of techniques and includes:

• Links -- Being linked to a site that has a lot of visitors can attract visitors over to your site. Examples we establish are 1) Suppliers, 2) Clients, 3) Relevant sites.
• Search Engine Submission -- Up to 85% of all websites are found after search engine request.
• Structure -- Text and meta-tags (areas hidden within a site that search engines find) hold key words that are relevant for your site -- a process called Search Engine Optimization.
• Off-line Advertising -- Advertising the website on all business literature, 'postcard' strategy, and others.

This is the term given to the company that actually puts your website into cyberspace. Think of the website as a newspaper advertisement a copywriter has produced for you. You then need to place that advertisement into a newspaper for it to be effective -- that is the same idea as your website host. The important aspects to know about your host are 1) Can they cope with the 'type' of site you have? 2) Will their system be able to cope with the number of visitors your site attracts? And 3) Do they provide backup service in case of problems?