Your primary goal as a business should be to make money (and if it isn't then you either have too much of it or you have a serious problem). With that in mind, the main reason why you need a website is to add more money to your pocket--That's the only reason that matters, isn't it?

So, you ask, how can a website help me make more money?

• Inexpensive Advertising. For many businesses it only takes one or two sales generated from a website to cover the costs of the web site for an entire year. A website is so cheap compared to other forms of advertising and if you do it right you can also get the most bang for the buck from it.
  
  Case study: TrueFENCE Lethbridge, one of our websites, does not pay for advertising anywhere. All sales leads come from google, other search engines, and referals from other web sites--and the phone still rings. This is a company that used to spend close to $4000/month on yellow page advertising. TrueFENCE Lethbridge focuses on Search Engine Optimization (ranking high for google searches) as a business strategy. Now we certainly don't recommend this approach for every business and it is generally wise to diversiy your advertising strategy, but this example shows there is a market on the internet, even for a fence installtion business or any other business with products or services that cannot be sold online.
  
  
• Eccomerce. If you sell products that can be shipped through the mail, ups, fedex, etc. then the real question is why don't you have a website yet? You are missing out on many potential sales, maybe even thousands of dollars of profit per year.
  
  Case study: Sign Post Corner, another one of our websites, sells real estate sign posts and frames to sign shops and real estate agents. Again, this company focuses on intenet marketing and Search Engine Optimization and it generates tens of thousands of dollars in sales every year and they ship their products all across North America.
  
  If you sell products that could be sold online, why aren't you doing it? really, why not?
  
  
• Save Time. How much time do you spend on the phone answering questions or discussing things that could be taken care of by a website? How many times do you answer questions like: "Do you sell (or do) _____________ (fill in the blank)?" How much time do you spend telling you customer about your products and services, answering questions, giving references, resonding to sales leads, providing contact info, etc? Most of this could probably be done on your site.
  
  Here is a challenge for you, spend a day or a week tracking your interations with your customers. After each interaction ask yourself, could this have been taken care of on my website? You will likely discover that you are wasting a lot of your time. Your website can act as you own personal secretary and salesperson, and they work 24/7 and there is no overtime.
  
  
• Credibility / build trust. Your website can build trust and a lot of goodwill with your customers, you can even pre-sell your products before the customer contacts you, or generate some pre-qualified leads. But most importantly, you get to choose the first impression your cutomers have of your business. For example, what is your first impression of TrueFENCE from their website? Most people say they look like a franchise...a larger corporation. That's the impression TrueFENCE wants to give. In reality, both locations of TrueFENCE are home-based businesses. They try to give potential customers an impression that they dependable, that they will be around for a while, that they can be trusted, and that they offer excetional service. It goes without saying that if you take this approach that you need to be able to deliver on your customers expectations. TrueFENCE does and that's the reason why they have been around for a long time.
  
  A website ultimately gives you the power to control how customers perceive your business--you have the potential to create a lot of trust and goodwill upfront with a well designed site. But it also goes to say that it isn't enough just to have a website, your site needs to look professional if you want to be taken seriously. A poorly designed website can hurt your business more than not having one at all. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.
  
  
• Your customers (or potential customers) expect you to have a website. After all, this is the 21st century. Has anyone asked you if you have a webpage? If the answer is yes then that alone is reason enough to get one. What impression do companies without a web site give their customers? think about your experiences in this regard. maybe you have had thoughts something like this. "is this a new (small, temporary, home-based, etc) business? will they be around in a year or two to service warranties? Could I rely on them as a long-term supplier? Is this a fly-by-night company? can I trust them? Should I call them?
  
  If an establised business doesn't have a website you might wonder to yourself: are these guys stuck in the 1970s? do they still use typewriters? aren't they concerned about growth? they must be "old-school"... You get the point. Anyway, the lack of a website sends a mixed or negative message to your customers. Send them the message you want them to hear.
  
  
• Make it easy for your customers to find you. If someone does a google search for your business name and location are they going to have to wade through a bunch of unreliable listings and other garbage to find your phone number? If that is the case you are going to have a grumpy person on the line when they finally find the number and call you (that is if they call you at all). Make it easy for people to find your business by having clear contact information and a good map(if required) published on the internet through your website.
  

Okay, we admit we are a little biased towards every business having a website. And yes we concede that there may be a very small percentage of businesses that wouldn't benefit from a web site, such as a convenience store that relies on location and foot traffic, or other businesses that do not want growth. But If you want to grow your business, a well designed web site is a necessity and, if done right, will put more money into your pockets.

It's true, custom website design and development is not cheap and there are some significant up-front costs in terms of resources and time.

Our business model is based on long-term customer satisfaction, not on making the quick short-term buck. Our goal is to provide a level of quality and service so that our customers will stay with us for years to come. That's how we remain profitable.

After you sign up the first thing we need to do is find out exactly what you want. We use a short questionnaire to gather as much of this information as possible. Once we know what you want we will start with the general design and put together an outline of the pages and features. We will then send you a proof of the design and when you are happy with it, you sign off and we will begin developing your website.

While we are putting together the design, your job is to send us all the content you want on each page, the photos, the descriptions, etc. We then put it all together and put it up onto the internet through our web hosting service. In the end you will have an awesome website.

It usually takes between 2 and 3 weeks for your website to be online

• Slide Shows
• Photo Albums
• Videos
• Music/Poscasts
• Maps
• Blogs
• Calendars
• Site Search
• Eccomerce / Shopping Carts
• Custom Forms
• Google Analytics / traffic statistics
• Basic SEO
• Website Hosting
• Email
• and much more...

Yes, we can take care of all your branding requirements. we charge $99 for logo design and $199 for stationary which includes letter head, business cards and other documents.

The process works something like this: first we find out what you want, and then come back to you with 3 designs. You don't pay unless you select a design. Upon completion we will present you with the print ready files so you can have them printed at your local printer as needed.

We don't offer free domains. So called "free" domains really aren't free. Many hosting companies use them as "Golden Handcuffs" - they are free as long as you stay with them. You find out just how free they are and even who actually owns the domain when you try to transfer it to another host.

We strongly recommend that you purchase your own domain and maintain control of it. Your domain name is so vital to your online success - don't leave that in someone else hands. Domain name registration is easy and cheap, usually under $20 a year depending on the type of domain.

For your convenience you can search for and purchase domain names here.

No, we will update the content or your website as much as you want. Our services are designed for individuals and businesses that want to update regularly. Examples of content changes include adding, deleting, and editing pages, photos, products, text, navigation menus, copyright info, header content, footer content, etc. We design your site so it is relatively easy to make changes of this nature.

We do ask that you plan ahead and give us 3 days notice for content updates whenever possible (we do recognize that there may be emergencies occasionally and will do our best to accommodate them). Having said all that, we can usually have your updates completed within 24 hours, however, that "usual" time frame can be greater depending on the nature of the changes and how busy we are at the time, that's why we ask for 3 days.

You may request a major change to the layout and general design once per year. Major design changes usually take 2 to 4 weeks to complete.

You can have as much control as you like. We provide you with access to your website's control panel, which is where a lot of the behind-the-scenes activities take place. You can add or remove email accounts, edit files, and perform many other functions. But just remember that if you do mess things up back there we charge an hourly rate to straighten things back out.

If you don't want to be bothered with that stuff we can take care of it all for you. after all, aren't you paying us to be your gophers?

There are no contracts so you are free to quit anytime. We even offer a 100% money back guarantee if you are dissatisfied in any way during your first 45 days.

You always maintain ownership of your domain name and any content you provide as well as any logos or stationary items you have paid us to specifically create for you. You are, of course, free to do with those items as you please in the event that you do quit.

All other content provided for your website by Rock and Willy remains the property and copyright of Rock and Willy and cannot be transferred, removed from our servers, or used anywhere else without the express written consent of Rock and Willy. This includes graphics, images, scripts, software, cascading style sheets (css files), designs, layouts, fonts, or anything else provided by Rock and Willy.

This policy is necessary to avoid abuse of our services. We put in a lot of time and money up-front to create a website and are compensated over a long period of time. This policy prevents individuals from using our services to create a custom website and then transfer everything away to a different host leaving us uncompensated for the time and effort we have put in.

Nevertheless, if you wish to own the copyright and rights to the content we provide we are more than willing to discuss those options with you, contact us for more information.