Q: How long has WebTY's been in the web business? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: We have been doing this for 7 years. That's an eternity in Internet time. We have done just about every type of site for every different type of client imaginable. And we must love what we do because we're still doing it.

Q: What makes WebTY's better than other web development firms? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Besides the fact that we've been doing this for 7 years and have a ton of experience? We'll let's see. When web development firms get big (read: bloated), they become impersonal. They become unable to give clients the specialized attention that they deserve. Instead of having a company that thinks of you as a partner, you get a company that thinks of you as a line in their balance book. That's not the WebTY's way. Read this to see what can happen when you go to a "big" firm.

When it comes to less experienced firms you may get a lower price. Why? Because their lack of experience doesn't allow them to charge like the big boys. However, because they lack experience you will run into a totally different set of problems. If you want Cold Fusion, they may not know Cold Fusion. But they may tell you they can do it and then learn on your project. This will lead to missed deadlines, tons of unexpected errors, and just plain shoddy work. Ever hear the old adage, "You get what you pay for"? Sometimes it's true.

Don't take chances with your money or your reputation. Go with the educated choice... choose WebTY's.

Q: What does WebTY's specialize in? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: We specialize in enabling our clients. We enable schools to reach current, future and past students more effectively. We enable businesses to easily scale and adapt services to the web. We enable the web to champion your organization 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

When it comes down to what we do best though... it's Flash. Flash is a tricky beast that is not easily tamed. Most inexperienced developers take Flash and make a site that is easy on the eyes, yet frustrating to navigate around. They animate everything for the sake of animating it. Trying to find a particular item in the site? Good luck. Trying to figure out what button does what? Good luck. Can't find a way to turn off that annoying music that keeps looping OVER and OVER and OVER? We feel your pain. Because we know how to make a site useable as well as how to make it enhance your brand, this... is our specialty.

Q: How do you pronounce WebTY's, and how did you choose that name? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: It's pronounced WEB-TIES. The last word is that thing that most business people wear around their necks. We chose that name because we wanted to be a complete link to the web for our clients. Essentially we wanted to be their tie to the web. Because our business is centered around the web, the word web went into the name. Since WebLink has absolutely no personality, and our founder's last name is Tyson, the TY got tacked onto the end. The end result is what we are now... WebTY's.

Q: What is the difference between a web PAGE and a web SITE? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Well a web PAGE consists of one screen where you can scroll up and down and see everything. A web SITE is a collection of pages with links between them. The larger your site, the more information you can provide your audience with. Larger sites usually have a wider variety of goods to sell and oft times have better features built in. Making SITES instead of one big PAGE usually makes it easier for surfers to find what they are looking for. For example, we could have this FAQ on our opening page, but that wouldn't make much sense would it?

Q: How much does a web site cost to develop? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Good question. The answer to that question depends on the site to be developed. A web site can be as cheap as a couple thousand dollars or as expensive as a couple hundred thousand dollars. There are two ways you can think of a web site. The first way is like a piece of your marketing campaign. That should be part of your marketing budget, unless of course the web site IS your business. In the latter case you may want to think of your web site as an employee that works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If the site is the core of your business, it will probably cost more than if it was mostly for marketing. A good rule of thumb is to remember that the more feature-rich you want the site to be, the more expensive it will be. At the extreme right of the spectrum of expensive sites are sites that do things that no other site has done before. New business models are expensive. A site like Priceline.com costs MUCH more to develop than a site like Amazon.com. You get the point.

Because we are big advocates of small business as well as very charitable people, we have lower rates for small businesses and non-profit organizations. If you have a budget you are working within (and we recommend that you ALWAYS have a budget), let us know what it is and we will see what we can do for you. If we can't help you, we can refer you to someone who can. Soon the entire world will be online, don't get left behind.

Q: What advantages does having a web site provide? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: One way to think of a web site is as low-cost advertising on a global scale. Both current and potential customers around the globe will be able to access your information in a matter of seconds. This is also an extremely dynamic media. A person can make a change in the information on the site and have it presented to the public in mere seconds. When used in conjunction with your existing advertising the returns can be staggering. There is only so much you can say in a 30 second commercial. You can say all you want for as long as you want to on your web site.

In addition to marketing, some businesses do business on the web through the sale of goods and services. These businesses have access to a global customer base along with billions of dollars in potential consumer spending. Some businesses use the web to streamline their current operations. Customer service, supply chain management and accounts receivable are just a few of the many aspects of business that can be seamlessly transferred to a web site while simultaneously cutting costs by several percentage points.

We like to think of our web site as another employee on our team. We give it as much support as we can and in return it works hard for our business. In fact, it's working right now while you are reading this. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The other side of this coin is not having a web site. Not having a web site is like watching opportunity pass you by. You're in business to make money. The only way to make money is by capitalizing on opportunities as they are presented to you. Would Bill Gates be where he is if he had passed on DOS or passed on Windows? Of course not. They were his opportunities. The web might be yours. Don't let it pass you by.

Q: Why do some sites have ALL TEXT versions? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Let's face it, the best way to grab someone's attention is with graphics. Studies have shown that the first two things a person's eyes gravitate to when surfing/reading, are headlines and graphics. Unfortunately some people have no sight with which to see these things. Approximately 40 million people suffer from serious vision loss or blindness. A lot of these people surf the web and ALL of them spend money. All TEXT sites are designed to be handicap accessible. They don't use all those fancy tricks that confuse "site readers". They allow the visually challenged to access your business.

The other reason has nothing to do with the visually impaired, but is still an attempt to make a web site more accessible. Some people use text browsers such as Lynx to surf the web. Graphics are once again useless in this environment. In all text sites, the lack of graphics enhances the speed with which the pages load into the browser. For people in a rush, or for those who are impatient, the blazing speed of purely text pages can't be beat. Having both versions is an attempt to please all the people, all the time, and is a very safe way to web.

Q: What is FLASH and what is it good for? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Flash is the utility that most people on the web use to play animation. Statistics say that approximately 96% of the computers used to surf the web have the ability to play Flash animation. Some sites are entirely done in Flash, while others simply use Flash to accentuate the static content. Flash is not a tool that is easily used by amateurs however. Some developers create graphically brilliant sites that are horrible from a usability perspective. What good is a great looking site that no one can use efficiently. That's one of the main reasons why boo.com went out of business. $80 million dollars buried behind an unusable site. To find out more about if Flash would be the right solution for you, contact us anytime.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: If you don't know the answer to this one by now then you are far beyond even our help now.

Q: How long does it usually take to create a top-notch web site? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: The truth is that there is no average time. Some sites can takes months worth of work while others have been created and honed in a matter of days. The two major factors involved are CREATIVITY and SIMPLICITY. The more elements you wish to add, the longer the process will take. Also, the more tricks and complex scripts/programs needed, the longer the process will take. In the end however, you are guaranteed to be completely satisfied with the finished product.

A lot of businesses want to have massive sites like Amazon.com. A site of that magnitude can be very deceptive when it comes to showing its complexity. A site like this would be very expensive to make and would not be completed quickly due to all of the complex logistics that are present beneath the web site.

A site like this one however, although it uses more graphics than Amazon does, can be much less expensive and much quicker to create due to the lack of customized mechanics behind the scenes.

Q: How will people learn about my web site once it has been established? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Marketing! Big corporations usually know how to market their business so this answer is for the small businesses. The first step in promoting your site is including the site's address in all your promotional material and advertising. Other things like registering with search engines, sending out targeted e-mails to prospective customers, and getting other sites to link to yours are all things that can be tailored to suit your needs and your budget.

Q: What maintenance costs are involved with a web site? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: If you have your own server, you have to have an IT staff to take care of it. If you go with a hosting service for your site, monthly costs can run from $20 a month to $200 a month depending on your needs. Other than the monthly cost of the web account that houses your site, the only other costs would be for updates to the content. To this end we can put together a maintenance package for you, create web based tools that will allow you to do a lot of the updates yourself, or teach a seminar for you and your staff to educate you on how to do the updates and maintenance yourself. Both WebTY's and your site can be as flexible as you need us to be.

Q: I already have a web site, how can I improve it? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: The answer to that one depends on the current state of your site. Some sites will benefit from a more professional look. Some sites will benefit from a navigation overhaul so that the site becomes more usable. Some sites will benefit from back-end improvements that will make it easier for you to maintain the content. The list goes on and on. For an evaluation, contact us and we'll take a look at your site free of charge.

Q: What if we don't want to outsource and opt to set up our own server? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: We have several partners in several states that are experts at setting up and fine tuning web servers. Should the need arise, you will be in very good hands.

Q: Did O.J. Simpson do it? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Can we please just let this subject die already? Please?

Q: Is there anything WebTY's can't do? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: No.

Q: Do people really ask these questions? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: You bet your life they do. If you have any questions that you would like answers to that are not listed here, please feel free to contact us. Questions about the secret of life and the like may take us some time to figure out though so you may want to take those elsewhere. We look forward to making your project the best it can be.

Q: What are content management tools? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Content management tools are administrative tools that allow you to easily, quickly and conveniently update your web site via a secure web based interface. Clients first define a set of people who will have access privileges to update the site. These people will then be able to change just about any content on the entire web site in very little time and with very little effort. WebTY's has been building these tools into web sites for quite some time now and can retrofit any existing site with them should the need arise.

Q: Can WebTY's tie a web site into our legacy applications? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: That's a yes and a no. We can link SOME applications into your web site, but some pieces of software are just too arcane for us. The only way we can give you an accurate answer to this if if you tell us what applications you use. We can then give you a solid answer.

Q: Can the content we create with the content management tools be repackaged easily? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Of course. Because the content management tools utilize a database as a method for storing information, that information can be packaged in any form you want it to take. You can import it into your legacy applications, export it into reports, and show it in any number of permutations on your site. You can even allow other sites to access your data if you have affiliation or distribution deals.

Q: Can WebTY's build us a site that will grow along with us? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: Of course. We always build sites that will grow with our customer. One can never tell how much traffic lies ahead in the future. A client may be selling 30 items in his store today, and 30,000 next year. We make sure that our clients are prepared for the future. Of course this means less business for us in the future, but we would rather see our clients succeed instead of getting steamrolled by unexpected circumstances.

Q: We have very specialized needs, like a web-based distance learning application? Can WebTY's help us? [ Contact Us ] [ Top ]
A: 9 times out of 10 the answer is yes. The 1 time out of 10 that we can't help you, we can refer you to a trusted partner that will be able to help you. Let us know what your needs are and we can give you a concrete answer.