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Service: Web Development
Advanced Programming Concepts specializes in Internet and intranet
website development. We are experts in helping clients transform their business
philosophy, style, and ethic into a strong on-line presence that broadens their
marketing reach and provides additional value to their existing customers. Feel
free to read some of the letters our clients have sent (What Clients Say) us regarding our
ability to exceed expectations on this area. If you're looking for a Web developer, please
contact us and we'll give you a free quote!
Did you know that the home page of a website will often determine
whether a visitor will stay and look around or whether they will back out and never return
again? The home page must quickly and clearly define the purpose and benefit of your
site. Think of it as the cover letter on a lot of junk mail you receive. If you don't
quickly catch a few words or phrases that interest you, you will quickly throw it away.
Ugly, confusing, and non-professional websites will chase away visitors quickly because
they will NOT take the time to carefully read everything that appears on the home page.
We can build sites with features such as (these are in no particular
order):
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| Domain Name. Domain Name
registration is important. Many Web surfers are quick to spot a company-related domain
name (e.g., http://www.YourCompany.com) vs. a cheapo me-too domain name (e.g.,
id53.sitehost.com/cheapo/4532874/yourcompany/index2.htm)
The quality of your company is often correlated to your domain name. Unless your company
has a very rare/unique name, finding a domain name can be difficult. APC has a lot of
experience in obtaining domain names and we can help you find and register the right one
for your needs. |
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| Site-specific search (find) engine
so visitors can enter combinations of words so they can find pages in your Web that match
the type of information they are looking for. Our search pages provide several advanced
features. Click on our Search button near the top of this page for an example. As a
service to your clients, we can also add links to external search engines so your visitors
can search the entire Internet (this may not be desired if your site is a storefront
because you may not want clients searching for competitors, etc.). |
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| "Breadcrumbs" on
each page to help lessen user confusion as to "where they are" in your site (for
example, notice the "Home
> Products > Web Development" line near the top of this page) |
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| Site Map (also known as a
Table of Contents or TOC). You can select the Site Map button near the top of this page to
see an example of one. |
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| Contact Us page that provides
the visitor with a variety of methods for contacting your company, depending on the
options you provide. This might include things like:
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Mailing address and/or post office
box |
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Various phone numbers depending on
what you want to share |
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FAX number(s) |
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E-mail addresses depending on the
visitors needs (Sales, Support, Administration, individuals, etc.) |
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website URLs (depending on what
you offer) |
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Driving directions: either general
or interactive directions where the visitor can enter their own address and will receive
specific driving directions from that location. |
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On-line information request forms
where the user can enter their own information as well as questions or information
requests that they have. The design of this type of form will depend on your needs/desires
but this type of feature is a great way to get feedback or information requests from
visitors. |
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| What's New page that
contains up-to-date listing of company news, changes to your website (so return visitors
can quickly see what has changed since last time they visited the site), notices here
regarding product updates, scheduled releases, business opportunities, special sales,
employment opportunities, or other important information that may affect your clients. |
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| Product and/or Service
Descriptions to provide detail about your company's products or services. This is a
key sales and promotional feature (often the marketing focus) of your site and the design
and development of these pages require close teamwork between you and APC. |
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| Download pages where customers
or visitors can select to download various items (demo software, product/price lists,
specifications, contracts, background/history forms, audio clips, video clips, etc...there
are MANY different possibilities). |
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| On-line Forms that allow the
client to fill out information that will be sent directly to you. These types of forms can
be used in a wide variety of ways: Newsletter sign-up forms, medical history forms,
registration forms (see example),
suggestion forms (see example),
information request forms, troubleshooting forms, MAC forms (see example), purchase orders, payments, feedback
(see example), surveys, etc. |
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| Photos. Depending on your
needs, we have the ability to scan photographs into digital images as well as take other
types of image formats (and convert as necessary). Adding photos and other graphics to
your website can give a wonderful clarity and expression that can set your site apart from
a competitor. Well-positioned photos and images can greatly enhance a website as well as
give quick messages and "feelings" that words cannot express. For an example of
messages and feelings, take a look at the AHRP retirement
site's banner images at the top of the page. For an example of a photo album, take a look
at the Mt. Whitney
photo album (this photo album has a lot of pictures and may take a while to load). |
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| Company Logo usage. We'll
ensure your company logo is well-displayed on your site. If you don't have a
Web-compatible image file, don't worry because we can create one from original art work or
a variety of other image formats. If you do not yet have a logo, our graphic artists can
help you create one. |
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| Custom Buttons, Banners, Bullets,
Images etc. Quality websites should be unique. This means that images and color usage
should be geared towards YOUR company and not directly copied from a competitor (not to
mention the legal issues that could arise). APC develops websites in stages. One of the
early stages is developing a unique look for your site, which involves graphics.
We can produce all types of buttons, banners, bullets, etc. that are unique to your site
alone. We can also combine a variety of stock buttons and images to create a fresh look as
well. |
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| website usage statistics. For
sites that are hosted through APC's selected hosting providers, APC uses WebTrends reports.
These reports can show you excellent weekly, monthly, or quarterly site usage statistics
including (this is only a small example of the information provided by WebTrends):
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Total site hits |
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Average hits per day |
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Visitor sessions |
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Unique Visitors (including breakout by
those who visited once and those who visited more than once) |
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U.S. visitors vs. international visitors |
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Most and least requested pages |
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Top downloads from site |
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Top paths through the site |
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Information about visits by day of the
week or hour of the day |
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Top referring search engines (including
most frequently entered search words and phrases) |
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Types and versions of browsers and
operating systems used to visit the site |
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MANY more |
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| Testimonials (also Ask Our
Clients, What Clients Say, etc.) are a great way to share positive comments from your
clients. You can also include references that potential clients can check. |
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| Employment Opportunities.
Potential employees often like to check out a company's website to get the feel of the
company's philosophy, quality, and professionalism. Many potential employees often expect
employment opportunities to be listed on a website. Here's your chance to advertise those
positions in as much "marketing" detail as you want without being limited by
newspaper ad space, etc. |
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| On-line FAQs (Frequently Asked
Questions--or Q&A, Questions and Answers) are a great way to cut back on support
calls. They are also a great way to increase customer satisfaction by giving quick answers
to their common questions (most people that are comfortable with the Internet would rather
find an answer quickly rather than have to place a phone call or fill out an on-line
form). |
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| e-Commerce (on-line shopping,
on-line orders, purchases). Got products to sell on-line? The Internet is a great way to
sell product/services! |
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| Payment Processing. There are
a variety of ways to accept secure payments on-line. For example, PayPal is a popular
technique for accepting Visa and MasterCard credit card payments. The cost is low (or free
depending on the type of PayPal service used). |
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| Links are a means of jumping
to certain locations within the Internet. These could be different sections on the same
page or different pages in your website or on any Internet website. We can help you build
pages that contain links to complimentary websites, information, etc. There are many uses
for links. |
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| Global Navigation Buttons are
navigation buttons that typically appear near the top of every page. These buttons take
you to commonly-used pages in your site (pages that a user might want to jump to at
anytime while accessing your site). These convenient links help ease navigation. |
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| Structured Navigation Buttons
are navigation buttons that typically appear along the sides of various Web pages. Their
purpose is to take you up or down through the "tree" hierarchy in order to
access "child" forms or "parent" forms. A well-structured site
contains a logical breakdown of the site layout which significantly eases the visitor's
flow through your site. |
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| Tuning for Search Engines is
definitely an art! This requires carefully considering who the audience is and what
keywords and phrases you think they will enter into a search engine to find your site.
Tuning a page so it ranks high on a search engine is extremely difficult and requires
skill and patience (because may major engines take 2 to 6 weeks to process a website into
their indexes (once a site is registered with them). A website needs to have carefully
prepared internal meta tags as well as some carefully worded text on the page in order to
help rank itself higher. There are also some tricks of the trade to give a site a little
better odds of getting ranked higher. |
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| Registering a Site to Search
Engines is a time-consuming process. There are services that APC subscribes to but
many registrations must be done by hand (often repeatedly) in order to get the best
placement. APC has significant experience in this area. A little-known fact is that a few
search engines "sell" ranking as part of their service, which means that you can
pay to ensure your site appears at least in a certain location on a search results list. |
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| Other Features. This
technology is continually improving and changing. If you see something that you like out
there, let us know. |
