HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HAVE A WEB PAGE?

Pricing of the web hosting account of a data size to suit your needs can be found on our Pricing Page under "Web Hosting". A web hosting account is required if you are planning to purchase a domain name (www.yourname.com, or .org, or .net, etc.) and with our web hosting plans you can also include the number of email addresses you'll need. Domain names are $15 per year, and Sierra Tel Internet's web design staff can handle the application process for you at no additional charge. Further, for your convenience, Sierra Tel Internet will bill you directly for the domain name so you don't have to deal with the registrar. We highly recommend you let us help you apply for a domain as it is difficult to repair mistakes made in the original application process.

If you do not necessarily need your own domain, and can use an address on our STI domain (members.sti.net/username), you do not need a webhosting account as this web address is free, and included in your standard internet dial-up account. Domain names are $15 per year, and Sierra Tel Internet's web design staff can handle the application process for you at no additional charge. Further, for your convenience, Sierra Tel Internet will bill you directly for the domain name so you don't have to deal with the registrar. We highly recommend you let us help you apply for a domain as it is difficult to repair mistakes made in the original application process.

You may either create your web page yourself, have a friend do it, or hire a professional web designer. The STI Web Design team charges $60 per hour for general web page authoring, meetings, custom design of buttons, logos, or artwork, and ongoing web page maintenance of your website. STI does not offer customer support regarding subscriber-developed web pages.

TYPICAL WEB PAGE COSTS

In the unlikely event that file transfers (total visits to your website) exceed 5-gigabytes in a month, STI charges a $10 per gigabyte additional fee. (An average website generates 10 to 50 megabytes of file transfer per month, far below the 5-gigabyte limitation). See our Services and Pricing Page under Web Hosting Options for more on file transfers.

CAN I REALLY PUT MY OWN WEB PAGE TOGETHER?

Yes. But if you haven't done it before, prepare yourself for a large investment in time. The learning curve is quite high, and designing web pages is labor intensive. If you don't have the time to properly market your web page to the world, are not artistically inclined, and don't know about how users will approach your page and expect to navigate through it, have a professional do it. Click Here and let us design and program your web pages for you. Another thing to keep in mind about do-it-yourself web page design is that you'll find many sources of help in the learning process on the Web, some accurate, some not-so-accurate. Our advice is to buy a book on HTML writing before you start, and digest it pretty thoroughly. There is nothing more horrifying than finding your website doesn't look or work right after you've invested many hours in programming time, graphic design and writing.

I have chosen to write and develop my own web pages...but how do I get my newly-designed web page onto your servers so the world can access it?

After designing your web pages and making sure they work properly, the next step is to Email us requesting a web directory be set up for your web site on our server. Then, once you have been notified your directory has been created, use the Internet's File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to upload your pages to our server (See FTP SETTINGS below). It is best if you use software suited for FTP purposes. Our current users seem to favor WS_FTP PRO. Once your files are uploaded to your directory, you will want to assure that the top-level page (your main page) is called "index.html". This is the default name of the top page on our servers. When your top page is called index.html, users will only need to type in your directory or domain name (www.sierratel.com/yourname or www.yourname.com depending on which you have applied for). It will not be necessary to add /index.html because that is understood.

GOT ANY WEB DESIGN POINTERS?

The World Wide Web is all about sharing information clearly and concisely, giving user the maximum information in the minimum amount of online time. Further, the World Wide Web is about the freedom to use many kinds of software to access that information. Our top priority in designing web pages is to make them viewable on all manner of web browsers. It is very easy to use proprietary software from a manufacturer whose loyalty is to a particular web browser and while it may be easier to 'drag and drop' your way to a web page, there may be faults in the HTML code they create that prevent the page from being viewed properly on another manufacturer's browser. So check your work against different browsers - they're usually free for the downloading. Here is a good set of design guidelines at Circuit Traces Interactive's web site.

WHAT CAN I DO TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF VISITORS TO MY SITE?

Owning a web page does not guarantee that you will receive traffic to your site. Nor does it guarantee an increase your business. Web site promotion is not unlike promoting your business using traditional means. IT TAKES WORK! Spending an a few minutes a day promoting your web site will be beneficial in getting your web site noticed.

Search Engines alone aren't the answer to getting visitors to your website. You must look up websites that might be pockets of people who would likely want your service. Look up their web pages. Click on their email link and send them a note letting them know about yourself and why you think their visitors might want to visit your web page. Perhaps suggest reciprocal links. Your link on their page, theirs on yours.

There are a number of free resources on the Internet, as well as many excellent books for sale to help you learn how to promote your site and do better business on the web. Follow the links below for information on how to get your site noticed.

A Web Masters Guide to Search Engines.

Web Resource Marketing

Go to any search engine and visit their help or frequently asked questions page for information on how to increase your sites ranking on their service. Here are the top 10: