There are many issues involved when developing a web site.

design
I don't have a certain design style as you might expect, instead, I listen and try to find out what "look and feel" you like. My aim is to give you a personalized web site.

To help you stand out in your field we will look at your peers/competitors and take note of what you liked and disliked about their web sites. I will probably not know your field as well as you do, and this kind of research helps me understand what you expect from your web site.

content
Making a web site is harder than most people think, because they, not the designer, have to gather the content. It is important to think about what your visitor wants to know about you.

However, I can advise you on what the "norm" is in terms of content for the internet. There are inexpensive sources for royalty free illustrations and professional photography; if you don't have your own, that we can explore.

usability
Usability is an important issue to consider. For example; if your "typical user" is on a 56K modem connection, we should avoid having large files that takes a long time to download on your Home Page. Moving the file to an interior page or using thumbnails, which users can "click to enlarge", would be a better option.

It's about finding the right balance between your visitor's expectations and the impression you wish to make on them. I have experience with usability testing and we will discuss these issues before developing your site.

budget
Before we start working together I will create a site map and a preliminary budget, with a projected range of hours. If your budget is tight there are things we can do to help keep the costs down, without sacrificing quality.

updates
Many clients want to be able to regularly update their site on their own; I can help by giving tutorials and writing user-friendly html code.

marketing
To help you use your web site as a marketing tool, I can advice you on the various options available, including search engine optimization, mass e-mails and electronic newsletters.