Just how easy IS it to edit an Easy-to-Edit™ website?

When you're viewing a page on your website that needs to be updated, altered or added-to:

1. login
2. click the edit link
3. paste or edit the content in plain text
4. click the save button
5. repeat steps 2-4 until you're happy!
6. You're done!

With an Easy-to-Edit website it's easier to edit your content than find your designer's phone number.

If you want headlines, bold, italic text, etc. there are buttons above the edit form, and if you require more tricky formatting, you can see our Website Video Help.

What is a website hosting fee?

A website consists of data (pictures, text, program code, design elements, etc.) and this data must live on a computer which is set up to answer outside requests from the world for your information. The computer that this information lives on is called a web server. The web server is hosting your website.

The hosting fee is a rental fee for the set-up, service, maintenance, updates, upgrades, etc. to keep your web server up and running and your files on the computer. In my case, I maintain the web server and your website data, you pay me a hosting fee every year (guaranteed to be no more than $60/year). I periodically check how many people are currently hosted on the server versus my cost for renting the server and adjust the hosting fees. The more clients using the server, the lower the fee will become.

In return, I will also periodically perform upgrades on your websites's software or plug-ins especially if there's a security fix involved. This protects your website data, the server security, and the security of everyone else also hosted on the same web server.

I'm happy with my current web hosting service. What are the technical requirements for the Easy-to-Edit package?

For package requirements, see Requirements. If you're still not sure whether we can install our Easy-to-Edit package on your hosting service, please give us a call.

What happens if I don't pay my website hosting fee?

You make me very sad. And you're hurting a small business person. And anything else I can say to guilt you.

I really don't like taking down my clients' websites. Some companies will cut you off immediately if your hosting fee is late. We don't do that. We give a minimum of a 3 month grace period before we will take your website offline. If your account has been in good standing for years, if you have an emergency, etc. and you cannot make the payment -- LET US KNOW!

At the same time, for myself and your fellows on the web server with you, pay your bill on-time whenever possible. It pays the rental fee for our shared server. It keeps me in business, which keeps all of you in business. It helps when someone on the server really has a true emergency (i.e. I found out in the beginning of 2014 that one of my clients on our server is in the hospital with a potentially fatal disease and I told her to ignore the invoice and please get well!).

Our website fee is comparable to others in the industry (currently about $4/month, paid annually), and far lower than many others. Paying your bill on-time helps keep the cost down for everyone, and allows us to extend a courtesy to someone truly in need.

I have no technical ability. Are you sure I can use your Easy-to-Edit packages?

The system for editing pages was created for content authors. You can type in double spaced paragraphs and call it a day, and when you want links, photos, and more added in, you can use the buttons above the text edit box, refer to a cheatsheet that I give to my Easy-to-Edit (E2E) clients during training, or use our Website Video Help.

I have no time. Can you maintain my website for me?

I can readily maintain Easy-to-Edit (E2E) websites for clients, since working with them is easier for me -- I get more done in less time and it's cheaper for you. We can discuss maintenance plans for both E2E or HTML websites that work for you, from paying a la carte, through recurring fee plans that you might find at other designers. I will not do regular upkeep on an e-commerce website, due to the sensitivity of the environments the applications are used in, but I can do periodic updates, add new plug-in functionality, or fix problems on e-commerce websites I've installed.

I want you to maintain my website. Should I switch my HTML website to the Easy-to-Edit (E2E) website package?

The E2E websites can be maintained much more easily and quickly than a normal HTML website. All maintenance plans are hourly plans of one sort or another. If you plan to have website maintenance for the long-haul, you will certainly save money on maintenance fees over the long run by changing to an E2E package. Some HTML websites are poorly created, and any overall design changes or navigation changes have to be done to every page on the website. If you have a very large website, ask about bulk page transfers to the E2E system.

Do you do odd jobs?

I've been doing a variety of odd jobs for businesses since going into business. Email administration, website programming, giving advice about content development, etc. Please call if you have an odd technical request, and if I don't have a good answer, I probably know someone who does. Many of my clients are odd-job clients.

We're a non-profit, and we have no money. Can you do our website pro-bono?

I can take on a limited number of pro-bono websites a year. I will not be able to maintain your website once it's finished, but I will offer the same support terms I offer other clients (usually 2 hours of training and 2 hours of support over the next 60 days after project sign-off). I need to limit pro-bono work to local companies, and prefer to take on pro-bono clients supporting causes I feel strongly about. If you're in need of a website but have no ability to pay for it, please don't hesitate to contact us about pro-bono work.

I'm starting a new business and I have no money. Can we work something out?

Normally my jobs are 50% deposit, 50% upon completion. Work won't start unless I get that first 50%, and the final 50% is payable within 15 days, with a 1.5%/month finance charge thereafter, similar to credit card terms (about 18%APR). Alternative 1: I accept credit cards through PayPal (you don't need to have a PayPal account) -- if you have better credit card terms than 18%APR, you should take advantage of it. Alternative 2: I have several discounts and incentives set up to help new businesses: If you belong to the Orange or Sullivan County chambers of commerce, I extend a 5% discount. If you can pre-pay (even by credit card) I can take an additional 5% off. If you are a childcare organization, holistic or organic business, I can extend an additional 5% discount. That's the extent of my ability to knock my price down. Alternative 3: It is possible that we might barter, but I have a hard & fast rule about barter: I won't barter for any service or product I wouldn't pay money for if I had sufficient money. For example: you sell lobsters and want to barter 1000 lobsters for a website. I'm sorry, but I don't really like lobster and certainly would not pay for lobster, so I can't barter for lobsters. On the other hand, there are many products or services I would pay to use. For example (yeah, this is a wish-list item :) ), I could use 2 NEW twin mattresses (no boxsprings) for my kids. I'm not able to buy them at this moment, but would in the future, and would gladly barter with them as part of the payment. Note: All barter is above board -- receipts/invoices required. Barter is taxable by the Feds and the State.

Can you add music, video, and pictures to the Easy-to-Edit websites?

Yes! The best example I have for audio is at the http://crollproductivesynergy.com website. I have YouTube video on this page. Pictures are easy, such as the portfolio gallery at http://simplyflawlessfaces.com. Audio/video on the websites requires add-ons. Inquire for the price.

$XXXX seems like a really high price for a website!

A website is a marketing employee who works tirelessly, all day, every day to promote your business, never takes a vacation, and doesn't require health insurance. Why wouldn't you pay $5,000 or even $15,000 for that?

While that's not usually the type of project fee you'll see coming out of Eclectic Tech, take a moment to think about it: it's up to you whether to pay a professional to create the best website possible to represent your business to the world. Sure, you can toss something up on the web for very little money, but your talents are probably better used elsewhere, or at least meeting potential referral partners, while an expert hand-crafts the best website possible for your company.

So get a website you can be proud to own and get on with doing what your business does. Your website is a beacon for potential customers and clients, why would you hold back on your budget? You want to attract the right clients, answer their initial questions -- it's all going to be far lower than minimum wage! Your website is always loyal and dedicated, never gives you lip, you don't need workers' compensation or health coverage for your website, and is an easier way to give people more information about your business when you're out of the office than a phone message system.

You shouldn't hold back, and you should really think through what you need.

What should I budget? Should I reveal my budget?

My prices are on my website. I'm not going to jerk you around for money. If you have an $100 budget for an entire website, I'm not going to laugh at you, but I'm going to try to make some recommendations.

If you come to me and say you have a $1295 $495 budget, I'm going to hand you a website package similar to my Economy package. This package has enormous perks -- because I know the software so well, I can create terrific websites and keep the price affordable. You're paying for my knowledge and comfort with the package, and my time holding your hand through the learning process. You don't get something particularly customized for your money, but you get a site, and you get the ability to expand it yourself -- and that's a lot for $1295 $495.

If you have a huge intricate custom website project to develop, and you come to me with a $1295 $495 budget, I'm going to have to recommend you try something else. Conversely, if you have a $15K budget for a huge custom project, you will have instantly convinced me that you take it seriously and it's worth my time to listen, and given me an immediate clue of the complexity the project may entail.

Call for a consultation. I will hear out your needs and the features you want, and honestly tell you whether what you're looking for exists, whether I can do it, who can if I can't, and work out a more reasonable price expectation for what you're looking for, if possible. There's a good chance you'll get a boatload of free advice too.

How quickly will you have my website finished?

Time is my one finite commodity. -- Criss, Eclectic Tech.

Completion times usually vary most depending on clients getting back to me quickly with their contract, their deposit, their information, their design decisions, content for the website, etc. Some projects go very quickly, some take a very long time. Most of the bottleneck is how quickly materials and approvals are supplied by the client. That said, my usual turn-around is about 2 weeks if all materials are supplied on-time.

If you want a website faster than that, my usual rush rate is 1.5 times the normal price. In other words it's an additional 50%. If you think you have a rush job, please give me a call at 845-820-0262.

Why do you have a rush rate?

I charge a rush rate under certain circumstances because I have to push other work (designing, programming, marketing, advertising, billing, accounting, networking, client relations, projects...) aside to handle rush work. It causes me undue stress, causes me to juggle my commitments, which has health and social implications, and I'm afraid you have to pay for those in terms of money, since you can't give me anything else to compensate for it.

Why do you charge project rates instead of hourly rates?

I'm generally efficient when working on client projects. AND sometimes there's a snag requiring research, learning something new, exploring uncharted territory, or doing something I've never encountered before. I feel that making my hourly rate public is necessary for my ethics, but contracting by the hour on well-defined results-based projects is unreasonable. I discourage using hourly rates for my package-based work. The beauty of flat rates is that it creates a win-win situation: If I am efficient, I get a bonus. Whether or not I am efficient, you'll never be surprised by the final bill: you know exactly what you're getting and exactly how much it will cost.

What discounts do you offer?

There are only 2 types of discounts offered on the Easy-to-Edit Economy package: non-profit discounts and maintenance agreement discounts.

I offer specific discounts on Easy-to-Edit™ websites & add-ons as follows:

A 10% discount to:

• child care professionals (including teachers, schools, and child care centers)
• holistic businesses & practitioners
• organic businesses
• Registered educational non-profits

We also offer an additional 5% discount on Easy-to-Edit™ websites if the client pays in full at contract signing.

Will you create my e-commerce website?

Eclectic Tech is no longer offering e-commerce websites to new clients, but we can integrate PayPal buttons & shopping carts or other integrated solutions on any Easy-to-Edit™ website. As an example of an integrated solution, see http://pineislandherb.com

What is a domain registration fee?

A domain name is the human-friendly address that will locate your website when anyone requests it. For example, it's "eclectictech.net" versus a computer-readable address such as "192.168.0.1".

These human-friendly addresses are brokered out by domain registration companies (I typically use GoDaddy for domain name registration), who in turn pay a (small) fee for every domain name registered to a top-tier registrar (in this case, it's ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)). The other service that GoDaddy provides is called a DNS (domain name system) entry - a publicly-accessible record that helps computers match the domain name (eclectictech.net) to the computer (IP) address of the web server (192.168.0.1).

If you want the safe route, you should register your own domain name. You can use the http://GoDaddy.com web interface (complicated) or call their toll-free number to register a domain name and we'll give you the information you need to have the name point to our web server.

Eclectic Tech does register domain names for people who feel uncomfortable with this process. We also will hand over your domain name when you're ready to take it over. It's your intellectual property, we have no desire to keep it and it is not a money-maker for us because it's time consuming to invoice you, and go to the website to pay the registration fee.

We would rather empower you to take care of your own domain name, so if you're ready, please let us know.

What happens if my domain name expires?

If a domain name registration expires, GoDaddy gives a grace period during which the name can be reinstated for a fee. If that grace period elapses, GoDaddy turns the domain name over to an auction.

In the meantime, while expired and until someone purchases the domain name from the auction, GoDaddy puts up a page with ads so they make money off of ad revenue on what was your website a few days ago.

You don't want any of this to happen! It's very very important to pay your domain name registration on-time.

If you have chosen to have us register your domain name for you, we may opt to pay the fee (depending in part on your account history with us, and our current cash-flow) before receiving your payment to keep your website up and accessible to the world. If you register your own domain name, we will not pay the bill for you.

We have nothing to do with taking down your website if you fail to renew. This is GoDaddy's doing.

More to come....