GENERAL POLICY

COST ESTIMATES

• Our estimates are based on the time needed to fulfill your requirements, based on our experience of similar projects.
• We rely on your initial explanation of needs to come up with an accurate estimate upon which our project invoice is based.
• Changes or additions to originally explained requirements may affect the original cost estimate.
• For instance, when we estimate that a project will fall within our normal-sized project that usually takes 20 hours, this is based on an average number of pictures, as well as on the client supplying all pictures and all text, as is normal when dealing with web designer services.
• If the client wants specific extras such as a large number of images, special graphics, logos, different banners on different pages, additional pages over and above the average number of pages upon which the initial estimate is based, the time charge will be beyond the initially quoted time estimate and will vary according to those specific needs.
• If the client adds to their initial requests, or if they opt to use our "content writing services"[see below for an explanation of the difference between content help and content writing], or they want us to do research and find all the pictures and graphics for the website, all of these extra tasks take extra time.
• In such cases, if the client's needs put us beyond the original time estimate, we are happy to do all extra work, but any time beyond the initially quoted time estimate will be invoiced at our normal hourly rate.

BASIC BUSINESS BUNDLE

• The purpose of this type of starter website is to give you an online presence to which you can drive your customers through other means, such as flyers, business cards, advertising, etc.
• These "online brochure" type of websites are comprised of 4 pages and a limited amount of pictures.
• They are not large enough to allow us to properly incorporate Search Engine Optimization parameters to help you be found through internet searches. If your business needs to be found through internet searches, we recommend our custom website design.

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CUSTOM WEBSITES

The general estimate for our custom website base design is 20 hours of project time ($1800) and approximately 10 pages.

• All projects use this initial estimate as a base, upon which we then add whatever the client needs in additional time.
• The initial estimate is based on receiving all text in a "page ready" electronic format, to be supplied by the client.
• The initial estimate assumes that your needs together with what you have supplied us will fall into the average timeframe for the "package" you have chosen
  
  1. Approximately 5 hours for the "Basic Business Bundle starter websites"
  2. Approximately 20 hours for an average business website [10-12 pages]. This initial estimate works very well for most small business websites.
• Our starter sites and our basic customized websites are static websites, which means that you will send us changes or updates to your website whenever you need to make changes to your site. They do not contain code that non-designers can look after themselves.
• If you feel that you will need to make changes yourself on a regular basis, we offer an easy-to-use content management systems at additional cost to be determined by your exact needs.
• We will let you know if any of your requirements are actually beyond what is normally included in our 20-hour estimate before we begin your project so that there are no surprises.
• The one-time cost of the web design does not include any future updating, changes, additions, or deletions. All such work is welcome but must be charged out at our usual hourly rate.

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CONTENT HELP / CONTENT WRITING

Most web design services require the client to supply all content exactly as they want it.

Affordable Web Design Ltd understands that many people simply have no clue what to put into their websites, therefore we are happy to help those clients who are struggling with content.

• We offer two different options with regards to supplying content:
  
  1. Content Help - we will recommend the best division of pages (how to most effectively divide up your information into different easy to navigate pages) and we will guide the client with regards to what content to supply for each of those pages, at no additional cost.
  2. Content Writing- we also offer a content writing service, where we will write all the content of all pages, based on an in-depth study of your products and services. The cost for this service is based on the time it takes and is charged at our normal hourly fee.

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YEARLY WEBSITE HOSTING

Hosting is provided by a reliable third party affiliated with Affordable Web Design Ltd and troubleshooting for server-side errors is included in the yearly hosting cost.

• Hosting is a yearly charge paid out to our affiliated hosting service. Hosting fees are collected once a year, in advance, and are not refundable.
• Hosting is the provision of technical computer services necessary to allow a website to be visible on the internet.
• Hosting services are offered by Affordable Web Design Ltd in order to provide a "one-stop-shop" to our clients, however Affordable Web Design Ltd does not assume any liability with regards to third party service provision, temporary equipment failures, or other issues which may be experienced by any third party providers.

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YEARLY DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION

First time name registration and domain name transfer services are provided by a reliable third party affiliated with Affordable Web Design Ltd.

• Domain Name Registration is a yearly charge paid out to our affiliated Domain Registrar. Domain Registration fees are collected once a year, in advance, and are not refundable.
• Domain-related services are offered by Affordable Web Design Ltd in order to provide a "one-stop-shop" to our clients, however Affordable Web Design Ltd does not assume any liability with regards to third party service provision, temporary equipment failures, or other issues which may be experienced by these third party providers.
• When a client wishes to transfer their domain names from another registrar to our affiliated registrar, we will do the necessary steps to initiate the transfer process.
• Issues arising from the original registrar side of the process are the responsibility of the domain name owner.

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EMAIL ACCOUNTS

Provision of basic email services is a free bi-product of the hosting services.

• We provide a basic Pop/IMAP email system that is ideal for regular email usage.
• Should the client's email needs be beyond what is considered "regular email usage", we will recommend more robust systems better suited to higher email activity, as supplied by specialized third party email providers and maintained by them.
• Initial setup of a new client's email account with up to 5 email addresses on our affiliated server is included in the cost of hosting.
• We will provide all access information to the client (incoming server/outgoing server information, user name and password) to enable them to set up their email on their own devices, such as computers, laptops, phones and other devices.
• Please note that setting up email accounts on the client's own desktop computer, laptop, SmartPhone, Tablet, etc, is the responsibility of the client and is not a function of either web design or web hosting.
• Client email issues with their own devices, which is not related to the email server provision of services, do not fall under our free email service. We will ensure that the email account itself is working properly at all times, but issues with devices such as computers or phones must be addressed to the device or email software provider.

WEBSITE MAINTENANCE

The lowest cost option if you just want an informative website is to have us create a static website for you.

• There is no monthly fee.
• Just send us your changes when you have them, and we will do them within a maximum of 2 business days.
• We only charge for the time it takes to make the requested change, based on our current hourly rate.

MAINTAINING THE SITE YOURSELF: many people think they need to maintain a website themselves, but there are some questions that must be asked before you should choose that option:

• Do you plan on making changes only a few times, or less, a year? If so, then you are better off simply sending us the changes and letting us do them for you.
• Do you have the computer skills, the time and the computer programs to be able to work with pictures so that they don't slow down the opening of pages on the internet?
  
  • If the answer is yes, then you should be able to work with our Content Management System, which allow the non-technical person to make changes on a page without needing to know computer coding. Click here to view the additional cost.
  • If the answer is no, then you should leave it to us to upload your pictures and updates for you.

Online Stores or Catalogs are different and do not fall under "maintenance"

• A store or catalog includes specific coding for your store, as well as the creation of an administration panel which makes it easy for you to upload items to your store.

CONSULTATION AND OTHER SUPPORT

Consultation with regards to marketing help, the writing or changing of website content, or help with normal computer functions not related to web design or hosting, whether in person, via telephone, or via email, is provided by our team but must also be charged out on an hourly basis if it causes us to go over the originally estimated timeframe.

NON-AFFILIATED THIRD PARTY REGISTRARS OR HOSTING

• Follow up or changes which may need to be done with any non-affiliated third party, such as another registrar or hosting service other than the ones used on a regular basis by Affordable Web Design Ltd are the responsibility of the client.
• We are happy to help our clients who may be unable to do such follow-up, but this consultation must be charged out at our current hourly rate.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

• Although we at Affordable Web Design Ltd do our best to help our clients rank highly in internet searches, such searches are governed by external third party providers, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc, and as such are beyond our control.
• We will incorporate the current SEO parameters at the time of the initial web design work for all our customized designs. This service is offered at no extra charge and any search engine optimization work incorporated into the website for the client is a one-time service only.
• Depending on the client's type of business, it is usually quite important to update your website on a consistent basis to keep it from becoming "stale".
• Updating of SEO related factors after the initial web design creation is charged at our normal hourly rate.
• Although we are proud of our high success rate in helping our client rank highly in their respective top keyword searches, due to the vast number of constantly changing variables, no one can guarantee high ranking through the third party search engines.

PROGRAMMING

• "Programming" is the incorporation of code which allows a non-technical person to make changes to web pages, or which allows interactivity with website users (website users being able to upload files, such as in the case of a website with "membership" or similar ability to upload files to the website).
• In the case of issues caused by user error or by the uploading of corrupted information by web users, we will help solve any issue but must charge for the programmer's time to troubleshoot and repair.
• Any changes in requirements after the initial programming quote may necessitate some additional charges to the client although we will do everything we can to accommodate the client's request.

• Our programming costs include up to one hour of instruction on how to use the administration panel interface, depending on the type of programming that was required.
• When a client requests a Content Management System so that they can make their own content changes, there is the assumption that the client will have the ability to do many common computer functions, such as where to find files on your computer, how to upload photos and .pdf files, copy and paste functions, etc.
• Should the person assigned by the client as their "administrator" need further instructions beyond the initial first hour of explanations, or should the client change administrators and need new instruction, Affordable Web Design Ltd will be happy to offer such instructions at a normal hourly fee.
• Technological advances in servers, software, and other computer-related situations can sometimes cause older programming to fail in certain circumstances. Although we use the latest technology at the time of working on your project, we are not responsible for changes in techology affecting any programming which could potentially happen over the years. We will be happy to try to rectify any issues, but will need to charge the current hourly rate to do so.

WORDPRESS SITES

• We will create websites using Wordpress if requested by the client, or if the client requests a blog on their site.
• However, since Wordpress is created in such a way that allows full access to the layout and setup of all files, we caution all Wordpress users to be very careful when making changes to pages or blog sections.
• Any issues caused by user error when using the Wordpress module will be addressed, but will be charged at our normal hourly fee to troubleshoot and fix.