Bristlecone Web

Profitable Web Design For Your Organization

Frequently Asked Questions
General FAQ PDF Print E-mail

bristleconeWhere did the name Bristlecone come from?
The bristlecone pine tree is the oldest living thing known to man, with some approaching 5,000 years!  At this lifespan, the tree is sure to have endured every type of hardship mother nature can whip up.  Simply looking at the garbled, twisted trunks gives a powerful suggestion of just how tenacious these trees are.  The bristlecone pine tree reflects our commitment to a long term perspective, and to develop businesses that intend to survive and grow event when the market dies or the competition becomes fierce.

I need hosting for my site, who do you recommend?
Getting a good host that keeps your website live 24x7 is critical for success to most businesses.  Trial and error have allowed us to experience dozens of hosting companies and their respective service levels.  We now recommend two companies.  For the majority of our clients, we recommend Host Gator .  Host Gator has excellent uptime, 24x7 live support, and their prices are extremely competitive.  For enterprise level hosting, we recommend RackSpace .

Are your designs custom?  A custom look is very important to me.
We fully customize the design you chose to meet your organization's needs and tastes.  You can get an idea of how these processes work by visiting our Website Services page as well as our Web Design page.Depending on the client, the final product may not look anything like the original design.  Our design gallery has thousands of designs and many categories.  Not only does our website design gallery speed the time from start to finish, it also lets you choose a starting point before your site even begins!  Once the design is approved, we implement the design to what is known as a 'template' which will drive your entire site.  The amazing thing about the template we develop is it will allow the website to contain any information while retaining a consistent look and feel throughout the entire site.  Suppose you want to change the design a year later?  Its a snap!  We simply develop the new template and pop it in...the actual switch is instant! 

How much do you charge to build a website?
This question is just as broad as asking how much it would cost for a new house.  We do not bill by the hour, and we will stick to our original bid and time frame no matter what challenges we encounter during development.  We have worked very hard to streamline the development process, thereby reducing development time and total costs to our clients.  However, for those looking for cheap / budget websites we recommend looking elsewhere.  We offer a high quality service and our most basic website package runs over $1000.  In fact we often find clients who come back after wasting much time and money with another firm.

I am computer illiterate, can I, or should I have a website for my business?
A very large portion of our efforts are directed towards educating our clients on how to maintain their website.  If you can find this website and have used a word processor before, we can build a website for you that you will understand.

Does my business need a website?
We feel that an internet presence is just as important as a phone listing; and for many businesses - it is critical to success.

Does my business need an E-COMMERCE website?
Usually your business should already have sales of over $500,000 per year to justify an enterprise level e-commerce website, but this can have a wide fluctuation depending on the nature of your business.  To sell on the internet, you should consider: product shipping costs, amount of competition, your very large time investment, capital investment.  We recommend speaking with us directly to help you make this decision.  We can quickly estimate the value of online sales for your business.

Do you build FLASH websites?
We usually discourage using flash for most clients.  Using flash may actually cause free traffic to your site to decrease!  Additionally, flash is much more expensive, time consuming, and difficult to develop and maintain.  Overall, flash just isn't practical for most businesses who want their website to be a profitable venture.  A flash site may be a good choice in some cases, such as night clubs, artists, and band websites.

Do I need to layout the look of my website?
No.  Part of the reason our sites are successful is because we design them from the ground up to be easy, accessible, and optimized for search engines.  We also have an existing design gallery with thousands of website designs so you are sure to find a few which work for your website.

How much time will I have to spend on my website?
The more time you spend, the more successful your site will be.  We require our clients to spend at least a few hours per week updating and adding new information.  If this is not possible, we can outsource this work for you.
 

 


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