Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) How will my website look?

Professional, contemporary, and classy. Like a website that cost much more. Choose one of our great looking templates, have us create a custom visual design, or supply your own.

2) How long will it take?

If you have most of your content ready to go and you're getting one of our default templates, your site could be ready within 24 business hours after we receive your call or email. If you need custom work add a week or more depending on the scope of the customizations (see next faq).

If you haven't started writing your content, the site's launch will probably be dependent on how long that takes you (see faq #9).

3) What if I need or want a feature that the package doesn't have?

If the feature is something that another client of ours might find useful, it will be added to our upgrade list to be added to the package at some point in the next several months at no extra cost to you. View complete features list.

But if you need the custom feature ASAP or if it's a unique feature that not too many other folks might want (for example, an automated file numbering function specific to your personal filing system), then our $75 hourly rate would apply.

How long it takes to customize your site will depend on the nature of the customization(s). However, you'll be able to use the default website functionality until the customizations are added, so you can get started right away.

4) What kind of support does the website come with?

Before the site launches and after, you will have access to training documents. You can also ask pretty much any question through email or over the phone about how the site works and get an answer. All answers given in as non-technical English as possible.

After the site has launched, you get two hours per year of free support (one hour with ValuedBASIC), which can take the form of questions and answers, website editing, and minor functionality (programming) changes. Additional time is charged at a $3.75 per three minutes ($75/hr) rate.

If you don't use all your support time during the year, you can apply unused time to getting the site upgraded to the current version at the end of the year. Unused support time does not roll over to the next year.

5) How much will it cost?

Prices start at $17/month for the ValuedBASIC website package and $27/month for the ValuedCOMPLETE website package. But you can get either package free for the first month if you use one of our visual design templates.

Domain name fees are not included, but generally run $10 a year. You should register your own domain name so that you, not Valued Websites, will own it. We highly recommend moniker.com for domain names -- they're inexpensive and solid. How to choose a good domain name.

Extras such as content placement, custom visual design, logo, animation, stock photos, multiple order forms, third-party fees related to online payment processing, and ongoing website marketing may add to the setup and ongoing price. See setup fees and options for more details.

6) Can I use my own hosting?

Sorry, no. Hosting environments are highly variable and one of the reasons our prices are so low is that we are very familiar with our own rock-solid hosting environment and don't have to spend a lot of extra time navigating it. New hosting environments take extra time to navigate and also introduce the possibility of strange errors in the programming that can take a few hair pulling hours to solve.

7) How do the client billing features work?

The client billing features are very flexible, but the first step is always the client placing an order. Then you set the fee for the order.

From here you can send the client a customized invoice email requesting payment through the website. The client gets the email and they click a link in it to go to your website's payment page. They make the online payment, and then the website notes their payment.

Alternately, when clients login to their client area they'll see which invoices and/or orders require payment and they can pay from there. In the ValuedBASIC package which has no client area, clients can pay for an amount they specify.

You can offer either PayPal for instant online payment processing, or use a merchant account. Both options are simple and secure for the user. Read more about online payment options.

8) Will my site get high rankings in search engines?

The short answer is "it depends". Getting high rankings depends on a lot of factors including whether the website's code is optimized (ours is), whether your content is optimized, how many other related sites link to you (we can help with that), and how competitive your geographic market is.

If you're the only appraiser for 100 miles (or at least the only one with a website) it's not going to be hard to get top rankings for appraiser searches targeted to your geographic location. But if like most folks you have a bit more competition, it will take a little more effort. Search engines love text content, so the way to get high rankings in crowded markets is to write lots of stuff! Blogs can be useful here. See the next FAQ.

9) Do you offer any online marketing services?

Our website packages are built from the ground up to be a good "SEO vessel" for your target keyphrases. But for competitive markets, Valued Websites can help you "massage" your content so as to get the best possible rankings.

Search engine optimization work will be applied to your package's included support time and then billed at a $75/hr rate. Click here for more information about search engines and online marketing.

10) Do you offer any ready-made website content I can use?

If Google finds your new web page and it has the same content as any other page on the web, your new web page with the duplicate content will not get ranked. For this important reason, Valued Websites strongly encourages you to write your own original and unique content, and we don't provide boilerplate that you can just copy and paste. Yes, it takes a little extra work, but if you want the search engines to effectively list your site, it's necessary. Don't worry if you're not the best writer -- if you want, we can help clean up spelling, grammar, organization, etc.

Ask questions, try the demo, or get it now.

^ Top