Although we have been in business for nearly 19 years, we only began building websites as a product in 2019. Prior to this time, we have only built websites for our own numerous projects like SeeMyBeach.com, SnowbirdsNook.com, SeeMako.com, etc.
Since we decided to enter this market, we really didn’t want to start something “cookie cutter” and after interviewing business owners, we have decided on several plans that we think will be beneficial to our clients for years to come. We hope you become one.
Answers to often asked questions...
We think you should start with what you can afford and then work yourself into what you want.
If you are like us, you’ll always have new ideas and will want to improve. Our programs allow you to buy reduced rate development hours that can be used anytime you wish.
You can use them regularly for small changes or let them accumulate and use them for a big project. We think the biggest mistake would be to hold your business back while you are saving money to get all of the website you want.
We’ll show you how to get the most out of your money. Aqua Blue Advertising is different than most agencies in that we have a multitide of products, some not directly advertising related that we often sell to clients, so for us establishing a relationship and growing together is the ultimate goal.
No and the reason we won’t is for your protection.
Whomever registers the domain name, owns the domain name.
We will help you and walk you through the process if you are unfamiliar with setting up domains, but we insist that the name be set up with your personal information.
This is why companies you see in ads are so eager to give you a free domain. The domain is theirs until they release it to you, which they will do sometimes, for a slight fee and some money that you didn’t know you owed, but must be paid before they will release the name.
We can and it would not cost us a dime and we could charge you, but again, we think you are better protected to use a national company that specializes in hosting.
Hosting is like the domain. We think you should be in charge of everything related to your account. If your website development company is hosting your account and you want to leave, again there are those strange fees you didn’t know you owed, but have to pay before you can leave.
Most companies are honest and wouldn’t think of holding your site hostage, but we’ve heard many stories of businesses that lost thousands of dollars of investment because they wanted to move to another developer.
We hope you stay with us forever, but we make it easy to leave if there is ever a reason you want to. Our policy is to keep your business because you want to stay with us, not because you have to stay with us.
We can refer you to the ones we think are best and can help you with the setup.
We take care of everything after the hosting account is set up.
Yes, all of our sites are built from the beginning with SSL Protection.
SSL is meant to protect your site visitors as they peruse your site and that is not the only reason to have it.
Increasingly, browsers will not deliver sites without SSL Encryption or will require your site visitor to acknowledge that they are entering a site without protection, definitely not the experience you want your visitors to have.
We just make it part of our program for all sites instead of an “add on” you buy.
Our website developers rates vary from $55.00 per hour up to $150.00 per hour depending on the developer’s skills and the project they are working on.
Work is delegated to the developer most capable of handling the project and will deliver it at the best “results” outcome as well as price.
Unlike most development companies, we do not upcharge on our developers hourly rate. This gives them a higher salary, therefore encouraging them to perform better as well as keeping our overall rates as low as possible.
In the past, a consistent maintenance program was much less important than it is today with cyber attacks and hacking.
We can put in as many protections as possible, but there is no sure way to prevent these situations as you see massive companies with multi-million dollar websites being hacked.
Preventative maintenance is key in protecting your investment and we recommend that all companies invest in, at least a basic maintenance program.
While the effort involved depends on the maintenance program purchased, it is imperative to regularly monitor and install updates to any programs being used on the site. During maintenance, the site is checked for various issues that may slow down the site and other general issues.
Between Aqua Blue Advertising and our subsidiary, Imagine Dream Design, we can usually keep everything in-house.
Besides building websites for the general public, we maintain many of our own projects, so going outside is a rarity.
If there were ever a case where a project of ours or a clients was being held up due to our workload, in that case we would seek help to move a project along faster.
Yes, we have several maintenance plans that offers a range of maintenance services as well as inclusions for development time.
With any package, any maintenance time not used is converted into development hours for future work.
We use a variety of programs for our own sites and our lead designer, Jake doesn’t use any programs. When he designs a site, it begins with a blank web page and the first entry is the “less than <” symbol.
For clients, we are using WordPress more and more because with training after the site is built, a non-technical person can make text and photo changes.
We don’t like to spend our time, even if we are getting paid for it, making monotonous changes. We like creating, so we will teach you how to do the simple things.
We’ll always be there for new page additions or additional features.
In the event you want someone to 100% manage your site from photo uploads to text entries, we have office personnel who could provide that service.
You own all of the content created and we take it one step further by creating a unique Dropbox account for you where our designers will upload all pertinent files, photos and more.
Like we always say, we want you to be with us forever, but if you ever leave, we want you to be protected, so we will release all of the Dropbox files to whomever you ask.
Of course, the cost of a website depends on the number of pages and the features as well as whether it is an ecommerce site or an informational site, things of that nature.
During a meeting we will evaluate your needs and what you are trying to accomplish with your site. At the meeting, we can give a general estimate of the initial site cost.
If you want to proceed, we will give you a formal estimate in writing defining what you want, the cost and the estimated time of delivery.
Yes, we give two dates for delivery “Expected by” and “Guaranteed by”.
We intend to deliver on our “Expected by” date 100% of the time.
In the event we don’t we have the “Guaranteed by” date as a last resort.
If we ever miss the “Guaranteed by” date, your account is issued a credit of 25% of the “total” cost of the site to be used for future development, maintenance contracts, etc.
We “self impose” a penalty on ourselves because we understand the value of a website to you and the honor of keeping our promise to us.
Not delivering on time and just saying “I’m sorry” is the easy and less honorable way.
Besides, we’ve found that if there is a penalty for messing up, businesses tend to mess up less…
Here are some client sites we are currently working on.
Peruse the
options
Meet with one of our salesmen and go over the many options for getting the perfect website for your needs. We'll answer your questions and make suggestions to achieve your goals.
Decide whats
best for you
Once you've made a decision on what is right for you, we'll prepare a contract and take care of the paperwork and that will get the ball rolling and you'll be on your way to the perfect website!
We'll take
it from there...
Once you know what you want and the paperwork is complete, we'll send you a list of items we'll need, like your logo, etc. Our designers will begin work on your site and the magic happens!