Support above expectations

At no extra cost, we can add on to the Full Support Program:

• One full year of free Web hosting. In case of early termination of support program, a refund would be adjusted by the cost of domain hosting based on our regular pricing.
• One year's free domain name registration if needed/desired. In case of early termination of support program, a refund would be adjusted by domain name cost based on our regular pricing. You retain ownership of the domain name.
• Search engine and directory submission at initiation and upon site upgrades. Note that our submission service is limited to resources which do not charge a fee for your presence. For those which you want and that do charge a fee, you will be responsible for their fees, but we can handle the mechanics of submission at no extra charge for our part.
• One year of a free, unchanging classified ad in Baughan's Northeast Guide while your program is active. Requirements: You must have a physical location in a state covered by the Guide, at least an 8-page site which we have built and, of course, the Full Support Program itself.

Our Full Support Program is offered as an option when you order our services.

Basic Support Program

The Basic Support Program is designed for a Web site owner who wants a pay-as-you-go approach (Web site support is charged on a per-incident basis). Web site modifications and additions are still performed at half price, as above. Search engine submission is included, as are annual market surveys. However, neither quarterly reports nor add-ons (such as free domain name registration, hosting or advertising) are provided. Ordering is easy.

Market Advantage Support Program

Designed for Web site owners not desiring the Full Support Program, the Market Advantage Support Program includes several of the marketing elements described above. This program is described separately.

Methods of support

Email support. Our services are designed to be implemented on-line and via email. It's actually a cost cutting procedure which helps to enable us to keep our prices as low as we do.

On-going email support also includes a periodic newsletter to keep you apprised of developments.

Telephone consultation. Active paying clients may call in to get their questions answered and problems resolved. While it's "on your nickel" for the call, we generally do not charge for phone consultation time. And if we do not know the answer -- about something we should know -- then we will make a good-faith effort to find out the answer and get back to you. Again, there is no charge for the time involved. Now isn't that a fair deal?!

In-person consultation. Our pricing is based on the efficiencies obtained from email and telephone support, as above. Therefore, any in-person consultation (including initial) must be billed separately. This cost is always substantial -- please ask for a quotation -- and applicable transportation and lodging will be added. Please note:

• Related payment is made in advance.
• It assures you that we will be up-front and detailed in answering your questions, without "sales" pressure. It also assures us of your sincerity. ... A fair trade.
• Even here there is an additional benefit -- if you decide to go ahead with us for further Internet work, then 50% of the per diem (not including transportation/lodging) will be applied toward your Website development cost.

Our view of customer support

Consultation -- It's really a two-way street. We need to know your wants and needs, or we cannot satisfy them. At the same time, you may or may not know the answers to some crucial questions -- especially if you are not a computer maven yourself. (This is somewhat akin to going to a doctor for a broken wrist, only to have the doctor ask you how many bones might be involved.) So we can conduct a mutual survey of the way you do your business. It's our form of an x-ray. Don't worry. If you don't know what to tell us, we'll ask pointed questions geared toward helping us together find the answers we need.

Then, our approach to building your Web site is based on a quarter of a century of actual experience in bread-and-butter Sales and Marketing. People say this is an important difference between our approach and that of some free-lance "techie." We then design with an eye toward putting our additional background in Product Management, Advertising and Sales Promotion to work for you, too. We are thus in a strong position to apply those crucial elements to your new site's special needs.

We can then guarantee our performance since, through the strength of your satisfaction and referrals, we are indeed building our own future business. We're sure that you will have the confidence to refer us to your friends and associates.

Consider: How did you purchase your last new car?

• If you don't have an auto mechanic in the family, you probably selected the dealership in part because they did not tackle you in the parking lot and then haul you kicking and screaming all the way to the closing room.
• Then, when you peeked in the service center, it looked as if they knew what they were doing there, as well.
• If those two points passed muster, then you went ahead with the purchase.

You could have bought that car at another dealership, so in reality this puts the car itself into third position! Your Web site purchase should be quite similar. Caring first, service and support second, product third. On the Internet, that's certainly different! This is especially true since a Web site is not an off-the-shelf item like a car, but rather a customized package. Indeed, the way we look at it, you shouldn't be forced into a cash-n-carry proposition.

A couple of major rants

Whether you are under a Full Support Program or not, you should note certain areas where our approach differs significantly from some other developers.

Gotcha #1: Some Web builders keep a Web site -- domain name and/or hosting -- in their own name in an attempt to control the customer. We have already helped more than a couple of owners wrest their sites away from such control (it's not that hard, really, just a pain). Do we maintain any "control" ourselves? Well, yes, but through a quite different method ... it's called "service." You get a high level of service and at a low enough cost so that you shouldn't ever want to move!

Gotcha #2: Some Web builders keep a page's source code proprietary as much as they can. We do it differently. We retain Copyright on the presentation... our marketing approach, page structure and any custom underlying code. And, we retain a link at the bottom of each page that we build. However, we extend a license for your unlimited continued use of the work product that we provide to you. So, you're covered. You are prohibited only from redistributing or copying our Copyrighted material without prior written permission.

We make this differentiation between what we do for your Web site and much more expensive and exclusive "work for hire" because we use similar techniques and approaches on other Web sites, and this way we are able to keep everyone's costs down. However, if you require exclusive "work for hire" then we will be happy to quote a price based on your detailed formal specification; it will typically be three to five times our normal pricing.