Do not underestimate the importance of the visual design. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and the quality of your content, products, and services will be judged in the first few seconds a visitor is on your site.

It is through visual design that we brand your image; coordinating the look and feel of your site with your business cards, letterhead, advertising, or other established print media design. We offer custom visual design, cost estimated on a per site basis. Alternately, we offer template customization, which can be much less expensive; perfect for a smaller company with a tighter budget.

Perhaps one of the more important aspects of the project is deciding what to say, along with where and how to say it. Using professional editors and copywriters to create and streamline your online content helps make your presentation professional and easy to read. Typically, companies use their in-house talent, but WebMistress.com offers quality copywriting and editing services if you do not have adequate resources.

Unlike other aspects of production with a clear endpoint where you can take a deep breath and say "I'm done", content management never stops. You must constantly appeal to your audience with fresh and interesting information. We offer editorial services on a project basis and for regular maintenance updates.
 

We offer customized solutions based on client needs, but generally speaking the technology we use to develop a website falls into four categories.

Static Sites : hand-coded standards compliant HTML & CSS, Javascript, AJAX, and php.

Dymanic Sites : hand-coded standards compliant HTML & CSS, Javascript, php, AJAX, and mySQL databases.

Dynamic Commerce Sites : hand-coded standards compliant HTML & CSS, Javascript, php, AJAX, mySQL datases, and ecommerce software (PDG, Zencart, Virtual Cart).

Content Management Systems (CMS) : Drupal.  (we do Drupal and only Drupal)

Drupal is an open-source content management system (CMS). Essentially, it is an adaptable framework that allows developers to build powerful, dynamic web sites that are differentiated by client need rather than being pigeonholed by more limiting technology.

Drupal is our development platform of choice.  It is an excellent CMS for clients who want to create and update their own content or for those who need the dynamic functionality inherent in a database driven web site, as well as for those interested in social media tools like blogs, forums, and community participation.
 

We offer very flexible maintenance options designed to meet your specific needs. Whether you require 5 hours or 60 hours of maintenance each month, you can be confident that your web site will be updated in an efficient and timely manner.

Maintenance Contract:  We provide Maintenance Contracts where the estimated maintenance needs exceed 16 hours a month.  These hours are prepaid on the first of every month and work requests are given priority in our maintenance queue.   All Maintenance Contracts over 32 hours per month receive a 15% discount on our hourly rate.

Statement of Work (SOW): We provide a Statement of Work for clients who do not need to secure a large number of hours for maintenance.  We review your needs with you and mutually agree on a reasonable estimate of hours per month necessary to update your site on a monthly basis.   The Statement of Work allows us to spend the amount of time necessary to make requested changes and revisions (up to the estimated amount allotted each month) without requiring an authorization for those changes.  You are billed only for hours used.

As an IPP (Internet Presence Provider), we provide hosting with competitive pricing to our clients. Although we are not a hosting company, we own our servers located in a state-of-the-art data center with a full staff of engineers at our service.  The only web sites on our servers are those of our client's and we are the only people with access to our servers. This enables us to develop your site with all the sophistication you need, but without the risk of a rogue programmer crashing a communal server with their “economy plan” hosting account. 

With the exception of sites developed in Drupal, the option to use our servers is, of course, only reasonable for our clients who use us to maintain their sites as wells.  If you need to be able to tinker with the HTML yourself, we'll be happy to develop your site and help you host it at another Internet Service Provider.

Most of our clients are busy running their businesses and prefer that we do the maintenance on their sites for them.  If you are a DIY'er, consider having your site developed in Drupal (a content management system) so you can perform routine content updates in-house.

Whether it's a static HTML site or a dynamic Drupal site, we provide patient explanation for all the processes you'll need to master in order to keep your content fresh and interesting.

We don't advertise.  We've never had to.  All of our business comes from referrals.  And that's not just because we build the best danged databases or write neat and tidy code; on the contrary, it's about our service.

We understand that we are working for you and it's our job to make sure the process of developing your web site is hassle free.  From start to finish you are engaged with someone you can trust, someone who is responsive, and someone who is technically capable of doing what you need done.  And we always, always answer the phone.

That won't change.  Who wants to pay to advertise if you don't have to!

Few business marketing concepts are as circular in nature as promoting a web site. You build a web site to promote your products, and then you promote the web site that promotes those products.  The bottom line - if you want to sell more of what you are selling, you need to promote the web site that sells it.

We offer Search Engine optimization that can increase your site’s visibility in the natural listings, as well as jump through Google AdWords, Google AdSense, Google Analytics, Google Base, and Yahoo Sponsored search hoops.  It's what we do! But if we ever get to a point where it's no longer "what we do,”  we can partner with the many talented agencies who specialize in those technologies; people who can take it up a notch for you and even buy ad space, premium placement, directory listings, call or contact directories, and initiate contact with your vertical markets.