I am usually pretty ‘hands-on’ with my clients. I usually get an idea of what my clients want and then give then a number of solutions with my recommendation of the best one. From there I work with clients to achieve the best solution at the most reasonable rate.
I wouldn’t really worry about it. You’re welcome to give us a call at (908) 509-1013 or you can check out some articles we’ve written on this very subject:
I mean…you tell me?! I can do what you tell me, I can take a shot at it. If I take a shot at it, I’ll probably ask you a few questions about what you’re trying to convey, etc…but I think we can handle it.
Some of this might be a little complicated. Here’s some basic definitions to help you get started:
Storage Space – Storage space is the amount of space you’re allotted on the server. You can think of it as your own personal hard drive on that server. Files on your website, pictures, email and anything else associated with your website.
Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of data that is able to be transferred (usually per month.) For example, the home page of I Heart Blank is a little less than 1MB. That means, anytime someone comes to I Heart Blank they are transferring 1MB of bandwidth.
Computer Measurements – KB (Kilobyte,) MB(Megabyte,) GB (Gigabyte) – ‘bytes’ are measurements of files. They measure how big or small a file is on your system. The size of your storage space is measure this way. The measurements (pretty much) are measured using the metric system. 1000 Kilobytes equals 1 Megabyte (and so on and so forth.)
- 1,024 KB = 1 MB (Megabyte)
- 1,024 MB = 1 GB (Gigabyte)
- 1,024 GB – 1 TB (Terabyte)
Now, these numbers mean nothing without being put into context. So, think about a music mp3 on your computer. An mp3, on average, takes up about 4MB on your computer. If you have 1GB of storage space you will be able to store (about) 250 songs on that hard drive.
Sub-Domains – Sub-domains are a way to organize your website. For example, if you have a website that has a shopping cart in a section, you can set up a sub-domain to easily organize your website (ie – shop.iheartblank.net, or test.iheartblank.net.)
Add-On Domains – Add-On domains are additional domains your can link to your hosting account. The most common reasons to utilize an add-on domain are:
- To simply utilize a different domain name that goes to your site. For example, if you go to hackettstownwebsites.com you’ll see that it just leads to iheartblank.net. I did this to make it easier when I was making some radio announcements.
- To set up different email addresses. Typically used if you’d like to create email addresses that aren’t your ‘main domain name.’ With an Add-On Domain, you can have your website at www.site1.com, but your email addresses at johndoe@site2.com.
- To point to a specific page on your website. I’ve done quite a few promotions through I Heart Blank. One of the most popular is the Going Social Media Package. Instead of direction people to a long URL in my advertisements, I simply bought goingsocialnj.com and pointed it to that page. It made the advertising way simplier!
When you’re website is created it has to be stored somewhere. Technically, you can store your website on your computer, but whenever someone visits your website it’s going to use the resources (CPU & RAM) on your computer. There is also a question of how fast the internet is at your house. At the ‘dawn of the internet,’ a solution was found to have a data center that is full of computers (or servers) that websites are stored on. These data centers have all the ‘works’ including a temperature controlled environment, generators, and very very fast internet connections.
When you buy hosting you’re technically renting space on one of those computers. You’re renting a certain amount of space and bandwidth a month that you can use.
Super easy. Just hop onto yournextdomainname.com and start typing in domain names. You can check up to 15 domain names at a time.
As a general ‘rule of thumb’ it tell people between 5 – 7 business days of the order. About half of the time, printing is done in New Jersey and arrives within’ 3 business days. That’s not to say it’s guaranteed. Give yourself a good 7 business days just to be safe. : )
Logo Design comes generally in three phases.
Phase 1: With a provided color (or color scheme) I Heart Blank, LLC will generate a series of 4 to 8 different types of logos with different fonts, icons, etc. At this point you will pick your favorite icon and font.
Phase 2: A second round of logos will then be made based on your decisions with different variations of size, effects, etc.
Phase 3: The final phase will consist of any final tweaks or effects that will be put on the logo. The logo will then be exported and saved in various formats, as well as a ‘one color’ (black and white) version of the logo.
Print Advertisements are all about capturing someone’s imagination and getting them to put a picture in their mind. A picture, of course, about your business. More times than not the picture of what you want to implant is the truth about your business. When we sit down with someone for the first time to talk about advertising I’m really interested in answering three questions:
- What is your USP or Unique Selling Proposition? (Basically, “What sets you apart from the pack? What do you do that no one else does?”)
- How did you get started doing this? (I wanna know where you passion comes from. Why did you get into this? Why do you love it?)
- What colors do you like? (That one really just helps me)
Answering those three questions sincerely and honestly can pretty much drive a marketing campaign for a quite a while. Maybe even for the life of your business. If you don’t have an answer for one of those questions then we will have to figure it out together. I don’t have a problem with that. I’m pretty nice.
If you’re not sure how hosting works, we’ll spend a quick second to go over it. There are typically three pieces that make a website work. The hosting, domain and website itself. The first is the hosting which is basically where your website is stored. Basically it’s a computer in Texas in a warehouse with plenty of generators to make sure you have 99.9% uptime. Now, my job is to put your website on that computer in Texas. When your website is on the hosting server it’s actually given an IP address. It looks something like 72.45.182.45. Now you’re not going to put that IP address on your business card, are you?! That’s where the domain comes in. The domain is what actually points your URL (i.e. – www.iheartblank.net) to the IP address. See it’s not too complicated, you just need a basic understanding.
No. Our job is to present the information you provide in a creative way. One that adheres to your marketing plan, etc. The truth is that you know your business better than anyone and we can provide you with the tools right some great content for your website…you know what ‘sets you apart from the pack.’
We also understand that writing content can be time consuming and a huge pain in the butt. Even as I created this site I found myself stuck on plenty of content on this very site. If you don’t have time (or energy) to write your content, we can provide copywriting services for you. You can simply write some bullet points or simple sentences on what you’d like on the page and we’ll get amazing content written that’s also SEO friendly!
Website prices do vary. We’ve gotten people started for around $850 and we’ve done sites that are considerably higher. I was doing some research about whether Website designers put prices on their sites. Some do and some don’t. After that I thought about what I would want to see. The answer was that I’d want to see something, but can be different because every business is different (yes, even Coke and Pepsi.) The hourly rate for website design is between $90 – $100 / hr. All website pricing is based off the projected hours spent on the site. Contact us and let’s chat!
Some web designers don’t readily share passwords to their clients. I Heart Blank does not share this ideal. As soon as your website is done you’ll receive a PDF with all your passwords. If I get hit by a bus, you’ll be able to give that PDF to your next web designer and you’ll be able to continue with your work.
We believe you have the right to be in charge of the things you pay for. This includes access to your website, hosting, domain, etc.