Piano Concerto in A Major (Theme from Elvira Madigan) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
We Only Work At Low Tide
We offer reasonably-priced home pages and web sites for small businesses and individuals. We can find you a free hosting service for your site and free e-mail. For those who desire, we can put your site on major search engines and periodically check its ranking. So, what's a reasonable price? Check out our price list.
You may want to visit the following sites that we have designed: Dave Drummond's Huntin' & Fishin' Site, Cape May County Archery Association, Frank Warburton Plumbing & Heating and W. Scott McGonigle & Co. Two sites use frames and two do not. We'll be pleased to explain the advantages and disadvantages of frames.
We can locate almost any kind of background you want. This link takes you to a few of the backgrounds we have in our files. We also have 153 MIDI files that range from classical to country. If you have a favorite piece of music you want for background sound, we can probably find it.
The Zen question, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound?" is also appropriate for web sites. You may have a fine site with loads of information, but if no one visits it, does it really exist? That's where meta tags and search engines come in. First, meta tags describing the site have to be entered on your home page. Next, that page has to be added to the major search engines so people can find it on the web. We enter meta tags on all sites and we have software that will list your site on 300 major search engines - and some minor ones, too.
What do you want your site to accomplish? Do you want to promote your business, educate your visitors, provide a central site for your family, or proselytize a goofy - or not so goofy - cause. In a word, your site must have a raison d'être.
Who do you want to attract to your site? The NRA, for example, wants to promote it's policy on gun control and obtain new members. A restaurant wants to increase its customer base. Victoria's Secret, well, you get the idea. Define who you want to visit your site and what you have to offer them once they get there.
What kind of image do you want your site to portray: useful, friendly, high tech, wacky, etc. Your background, images and music should follow the style you have decided upon.
Navigation. Your site must be easy to get around in with thoughtfully placed links. Most visitors do not have a lightning-fast connection, so keep information manageable and concise. Several short pages load faster than one long one. Last, but most important, all the URLs must work.
Finally, plan for the future. A good web site is not static; it grows and evolves as needs and time dictate. Consider expansion from the beginning.
Using the above five factors, decisions on how the information will be presented and the site navigated are determined. There are many options from which to choose: frames, tables, numbered lists, unnumbered lists, images, etc. In summation, before a web site is designed, know what the site should do, identify the target audience or market, what image will the site portray, what navigational techniques will be used and how the site will evolve.
The devil, it is said, is in the details. Some of the details we need to know are listed below.
The above only touches upon the details that make the difference between a useful, interesting site and a boring one. An important detail that is seldom stressed in the how-to books is spelling, grammar and punctuation. Few things are as distracting as improper English. It's a literary speed bump that detracts from the best of sites and is rampant throughout the web. We spell check all pages and edit them for grammar and punctuation. We don't charge for this because we don't want to be associated with slovenly work.
Throughout this site I have illustrated some of the terms I have discussed. Five Major Considerations is a numbered list. The Details is an unnumbered list and tables are used for the price list page.
The final decision about what goes on - or does not go on - the site is yours. If there is an element you want and we disagree, we'll tell you so and why we disagree. Then we'll make alternative recommendations. If, after that, you still want it, you got it. It's your site.
Scott McGonigle
609-886-2587
Member
Visitors since 16 May 1999