Q: Do I need web hosting, what is it?
A: Web Hosting is where your actual website (the files) reside on a hard drive in order for people to be able to access it via the web. You must have hosting somewhere in order for people to access from the web. Five Online currently offers topnotch hosting for all of our clients.

Q: What makes Five Online different from other web design companies?
A: Five Online Offers web design from a leading designer in the industry. Five Online chief web designer has years of web design and usability experience. Furthermore, Five Online has onsite content writers, and a business development expert. Five Online offers you the complete package.

Web developer Comparison Check List

Selecting the best solution for website design and development is one of the most complex tasks a business must undertake. There are literally thousands of options from free-lance designers, to large national ad agencies and IT consultancies. Development processes range from a few hours putting together sites of amateur quality to projects by an organization with a proven and refined process for crafting a world-class web presence. Costs range from virtually free to millions of dollars - and every web developer is marketing their offering as a complete “results driven” solution. So how can you determine who should create your next online brand or application? This checklist will help you cut through the marketing smoke and mirrors that some companies use to overcharge and hide deficiencies. It will arm you with the questions that will separate the real result-getters from the rest. In the end it will provide a true apples-to-apples comparison so you can make the right choice the first time.

Check List
The Business

Question - How long have you been in business?
Our Answer - Since 2001.

Question - How large is your company?
Our answer – Five Online is a team of web consultants, creative designers, account managers, programmers, and search engine marketing experts. Our team has been carefully selected to achieve optimum balance of skill sets and cost for most mid-sized web projects. Our close-knit team provides a high level of responsiveness and client attention not found in large agencies, and still provides superior diversity of experience over smaller firms and free lancers. We also have several strategic partnerships with various specialized creative agencies and IT consultancies that expand our internal skill sets and offer expanded production, when needed.

Question - Are you local or national?
Our answer – About half of our clients are Mumbai. The other half is national and a few are international. Most of our clients like to meet face to face but we also work with many clients virtually (all telephone and digital communications). We are available to travel when the project requires it.
Experience

Question - How many years have you building websites?
Our Answer - Five Online was founded in 2001 specifically to research web best practices and build best-of-breed websites. Our account managers, senior creative designers and programmers average 3-4 years of experience building websites.

Question - How many online solutions have you developed?
Our Answer – The Five Online team has built over 300 websites in its history.
We currently average completing 8 to 10 websites a month—enough to provide a broad range of experience and still allow us to treat every project with the attention you deserve.

Question – Who are the largest companies you have done work for?
Our Answer – Five Online has built a world-class design and development team that has proven itself repeatedly by delivering projects for some of the India’s most prestigious companies. Big Screen Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, Altaas textiles Pvt. ltd, International Business Alliances, Epsilon Fiber Optics have all trusted Five Online as a high-quality, cost effective alternative to large ad agencies and IT consultancies. Our focus is on progressive small to mid-size businesses. Our quality, price points, breadth of experience and level of personal attention is a perfect match for those who are seeking a full service e-media agency.

Question - What are your core competencies?
Our Answer - Our core expertise is integrating the marketing savvy of ad agencies with the technical expertise of IT consultancies. Our competencies are divided into two disciplines: strategic and development. Five Online is a firm committed to researching and implementing web best practices. As such we have developed unique strategic insight into what produces online results and what doesn't. We offer strategic planning, metrics analysis, industry and technical research and usability testing. We also have a full web development and support staff.

Question - For what industries have you created web solutions?
Our Answer - Five Online does not specialize by industry. We have experience with a broad range of industries and class of businesses. Most of our clients are business-to-business (B2B) services or products providers. We also have several business-to-consumer (B2C) clients.

We have experience with numerous business sectors including:
• HR/employment
• Sales & Marketing
• Bio Tech
• Business Consulting
• IT Consulting
• Consumer Products
• E-commerce
• Software
• Real Estate/Architecture
• Financial Services/Banking
• Construction
• Legal
• Aerospace

Five Online’s focus is differentiating companies from their competition. To create differentiation you typically must break industry paradigms that are often perpetuated by industry focused agencies. We work with a broad range of industries to assure that our ability to innovate is not limited by our experience. This exposure allows us to infuse the best strategies and tactics from numerous business sectors to create a uniquely differential advantage for your company.

Question – How do you measure the success of your websites?
Our Answer – We take great pride in the success we have had in meeting the goals of our clients and web users. 94% of websites never achieve a positive return on investment. For small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) the percentage is significantly higher because typically web developers either do not know how to or do not care about making your website a business success. Our philosophy is different; we want you to be satisfied with a site that is in the 6% minority that produces positive returns. To this end we have developed three mechanisms to measure success.

•Satisfaction Reviews – At the end of each project, we will do a
satisfaction review. You will be given an opportunity to tell us how we did. While the Satisfaction Review does not directly evaluate the profitability of your site, often a highly satisfied client is a good early indicator that the site will be profitable.
•Goal Evaluation – During the early stages of a project we will work with you to help you set measurable goals for your site. After the site has been launched and adequate time has been given to achieve the goals (usually 6 months to a year) we will evaluate the success of your site in meeting those goals.

Development Philosophy

Question – Do you have a formal process that all projects go through?
Our answer – Yes, we do. Our process has evolved through years of experience with dozens of diverse web projects. Each project at its inception has phases, deliverables, tasks and timelines defined. Each phase works to refine a deliverable that will be presented to the client for approval before commencement of the next phase.

Question – What is the client role in the development process?
Our answer – We strive to work with our clients as a seamless team. As such our process is flexible enough to let you determine what level of involvement you want. Some clients want heavy, daily involvement in particular aspects of development, others want to let us handle everything. Your input to the project will be defined at the beginning of the project based on your project needs and your preferences.

Question – How will you provide constant communication to me on the status of my project throughout development?
Our answer – Five Online knows that client-vendor communication is critical to a long-term successful relationship. As such we go above and beyond in our communications efforts with clients. All clients have a dedicated account manager that acts as a single point of contact for project needs. Your account manager will facilitate communications via two primary mechanisms: 1. Review Points – every project has multiple review points where your Five Online account manager will meet in person or via teleconference to review discussion points and define requirements. 2. Weekly Status Reports – Your account manager will provide a status update at the end of each week.

Question - Do I own the code used to create my website?
Our Answer - After we have received final payment for your project, you will own all the end files used to create your site. We normally protect proprietary source files that may contain trade secrets such as Flash “.fla” files, Photoshop “.psd” files. Clients generally don’t need these files; if you do, we can negotiate special terms for you to license the rights to the source files.

Question - After I decide I want you to build my website what happens next?
Our Answer - You will receive a work order contract that will map out Five Online and your deliverables, prices/payment schedule, timelines and project parameters. Once the work order is signed and sent back to us and the retainer is paid, your account manager will set up a conference call to begin formalizing detailed project requirements and specifications

Question - Who will be assigned to my project team and what are their skill sets?
Our Answer - World-class web development is very complex and demands more skill sets than any one person can practically have. The task requires a blend of strategic, creative, technical, and marketing expertise. Each Five Online web development team incorporates multiple specialists to assure your project will produce maximum results. Your account manager will hand pick the team of specialists according to your needs. For a typical web site the following experts are used:
• Web Strategist (Account/Project Manager)
• Multiple Creative designers (Graphics and Multimedia Designers) - To assure you a diverse selection of creative designs we assign a different creative designer to develop each comp (theme/look and feel design).
• Web Page Coder (HTML/XML, CSS, JavaScript Expert)
• Technical Lead (Hosting setup, e-commerce, site programming, etc.)
• Online Marketing Expert If the project has significant application development, an application development lead, programmers and testers will also be assigned to your project.

Five Online does not use traditional web salesmen who have little experience actually building websites themselves. Every Five Online account manager has years of experience in multiple phases of web development. Each was promoted to the position because of their acumen for web strategy, ability to manage projects and ability to work with clients. Every web development project is unique with complex technical and marketing challenges. Five Online believes that only people with "in the trenches" experience have the insight to craft superior solutions. With Five Online you don't have a salesperson making promises and then handing off for someone else to deliver. Your account manager will be with you every step of the way. They will provide an informed proposal during the sales process, manage your project during development and stand by the results when it is done.

Question - What are an account manager's primary duties during development?
Our Answer – To assure the project stays within budget and on schedule, facilitate communication, and achieve complete client satisfaction.

Question – How long will it take to develop my site?
Our Answer - Site development, of course, depends on the type of site. We typically recommend allowing 8-12 weeks for standard custom sites. Advanced sites particularly those with extensive programming can take 6 months or more. If you need a custom site faster we offer rush services for an additional fee. Fast Track websites take 2-4 weeks from the time we have your site information, add 1-2 weeks for the e-commerce version.

Question - Will I be required to provide materials based on a schedule you provide for me?
Our Answer - Yes. In order to meet the required finish date, we will need any materials you are providing for the site by a certain date. If a client does miss a client deliverable deadline, the website delivery date will be delayed. Note: if a client deliverable is missed you will not be charged for developer down time. We will re-task personnel to other projects and we will put them back on your project as soon as they are available again after the client deliverable is provided to us.

Question - Will I have a single point-of-contact for any questions or issues I might have during the project?
Our Answer – Yes. You will be assigned an account manager who will be happy to assist you every step of the way.

The Cost

Question - How much can I expect to pay for a complete website?
Our Answer – Our primary goal for your website is for it to be in the 6% minority that does produce positive returns on your investment. To that end we offer two classes of websites, high-end custom sites and budget conscious Fast Track sites.

Custom site solutions are ideal for companies that can realize Rs.20,000 or more in added profitability from their website. Sites that produce tens of thousands or more per year need to be highly professional. Typically, marketing-type custom sites run Rs.10,000 to Rs.25,000. Custom sites that are exceptionally large, complex, or have extensive programming will be more, even running into 6 figures for highly advanced projects.

For those on a tight budget that need a solid, productive website they can be proud of, Fast Track is the perfect answer. Fast Track is a streamlined development process which produces high-end looking websites for a fraction of the price of custom design.

Question - Are there any other support costs associated with a website?
Our Answer – Maintenance costs for typical websites are FREE. All websites include a free year of hosting. Opposed to the industry trends we don’t charge anything towards updating your website(limited number of times per month). This can prove to be a significant cost reduction.
More advanced sites may have other on-going costs such as:
• service fees for e-commerce transactions
• banner and pay-per-performance search engine marketing
• licensing of online services, e.g. news/content feeds, industry specific services
It is always at your discretion whether you want to subscribe to these advanced for-fee services.

While not technically a website support cost, Five Online recommends determining a marketing budget for your site before development. Some clients choose not to do any extra marketing, while others spend considerable amounts on online and offline campaigns that drive large volumes of traffic. Most of our clients have found it beneficial to invest at least Rs.5,000 to Rs.15,000 per year in site marketing. A good starting point for a website marketing budget is 0.1% of total company sales.

Question - What payment structure is offered for websites?
Our Answer – Sites under Rs.20,000 are usually 50% down to start and 50% at project completion. Larger projects will usually require a smaller percentage down (30% typically), payments at mid-project milestones and a final payment on completion (30%-40% typically).

Question – How can I be assured I won’t be hit with hidden charges?
Our Answer - We have a proven contract system to assure you always know exactly what you are getting and how much it will be—no surprises ever. We create Work Orders for each significant project that itemize our deliverables, how much it will cost and how long it will take. If more time is required to complete the Work Order deliverables, we will eat the cost ourselves.

Creative & Web Page Development

Question – What creative and web page development software do you use?
Our Answer – We use Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX and more.

Question - Do you build your websites to be search engine friendly?
Our Answer - Yes. Five Online has unique page coder training and standards that assures your website will maximize its search engine ranking potential.
We train our coders to avoid the common mistakes that destroy search engine rankings:
• Spiderable Pages - The search engines first must be able to find your pages. Many linking styles popular with today's designers cannot be followed by spiders or do not properly emphasize vital pages and keywords. We have taught our coders how to avoid or work around those problems so the search engines will index your entire site.
• Accessible Content - Search engines rank sites based on page content. Often sites are designed using excessive graphics or Flash that prevent a site from ranking in the search engines. All our marketing sites are designed from the beginning to assure that adequate content is provided to search engine spiders.
• Page Optimization - Targeted keywords must be strategically placed on a web page for it to rank well in a search engine. We have trained our programmers in keyword placement techniques.

Note: While building a search engine friendly site is a critical requirement, other factors must be implemented to achieve top organic search engine rankings. Link popularity, age of site, level of competition and dozens of other factors also play an important role.

Question - Are you able to provide Flash animation?
Our Answer – Yes, we have experienced Flash programmers on staff that can create basically any kind of animation you desire.

Hosting

Question - Do you provide hosting?
Our answer – We provide hosting on both Linux and Windows platforms.

Question – Do I have to host with you?
Our answer – No. Typically, we recommend that most of our clients host with us because we have standardized our servers to have all the services that may be needed for development. Over 50% of our clients do host with us. Some clients choose to keep their existing hosting companies and some host on-site. We can work with any scenario.

Question - Does your hosting offer a control panel to allow me to manage all my web services?
Our answer – All our hosting plans come with cPanel. cPanel is a browser based system that integrates web hosting services. It will allow you to manage e-mail configuration, databases, several popular web applications, server statistics and much more.

Question - How much space do I get with my hosting account?
Our answer – Our standard business plan comes with 50MB of space, more than enough for most business websites. You can increase these for a nominal charge.

Question - Do you handle my domain name registration or transfer? Do you charge extra for this?
Our answer – Yes, we take care of your domain name registration at no extra cost.

Question - Do I own the domain name used for my site?
Our Answer - If we acquire the domain name for you, ownership will be transferred to you upon final payment for your website.

Question - What is the guaranteed uptime for your hosting service?
Our Answer – 99.9% guaranteed uptime.

Marketing

Question - Do you have a proven history of success with search engine marketing (SEM)?
Our Answer - Yes, we not only have a history of success, we have achieved uniquely superior results. Five Online's success is the culmination of more than 5 years of research and hundreds of hours of work. While most of our clients choose a more modest SEM campaign, our SEM clients consistently receive more traffic than virtually all competitors in their industry.
Tip: Alexa.com, by Amazon.com, is an invaluable tool to determine the popularity of any website. While Alexa has limited accuracy, it is considered the de-facto standard for determining a site's reach (number of visitors) and page hits.
A good exercise when selecting an online marketing company is to review the Alexa rank of websites in their portfolio. By looking at the Alexa "reach" rankings of a SEM provider's client websites, you can get a general idea of their level of success.
A few things to keep in mind with this exercise:
• It is best to review 5 to 10 sites to take into account new or modestly budgeted SEM campaigns causing low traffic rankings.
• Try to compare similar types of sites. For example a national job board has a much larger audience than a local staffing agency and therefore would naturally have significantly more traffic.
• The reported 3-month averages are generally the most telling statistic. However one-week averages can be important indicators for new sites and campaigns. The one day numbers are not very useful since they don't represent a significant sample size and can vary widely on a daily basis.
• Also try to take into account that many websites get traffic from places other than search such as yellow pages, word of mouth, direct mail and other traditional marketing.

If you need help reading Alexa rankings, Five Online account managers are available to help you.

Question - How many websites have you done SEM for?
Our Answer – Virtually all the website we have built have had some level of SEM. We have also done campaigns for sites we did not create.

Question - In what kind of search engine marketing do you have expertise?
Our Answer – We have expertise with all phases of both organic search and sponsored PPC listings including:
• Keyword Analysis
• On Page Optimization
• Link Building
• Sponsored link copy writing
• PPC bid management
• ROI analysis
The search engines offer a diverse mix of tools to help market your site. It is important that your SEM consultant understand all in order to optimize your traffic. We often recommend blended campaigns that leverage the strengths of multiple search offerings.

Question - Are you able to guarantee a high ranking in the search engines with your search engine optimization strategy?
Our Answer – We do not offer a guarantee for placement. Often “Money Back Guaranteed Placement” is a sign of a scam. The search engine marketing industry is full of scams and false promises, we recommend everybody read Google’s guide whenever you are selecting a search engine optimizer. Read Google's guide
We do offer our clients traffic guarantees, which are superior to placement guarantees, for selected types of campaigns. Inquire with an account manager about traffic guarantees.

Question – Will you explain to how you are optimizing our site and what our money is paying for?
Our Answer – We are always open about our techniques and whether we are using organic (free) optimization or if we are paying for sponsored links. Many consultants want to keep their clients in the dark how they do SEM either to maintain the clients reliance on them or to hide the fact that they don’t really know what they are doing. Our approach is very different; we want educated clients because the more you know about SEM the more successful our projects will be together. In fact for many of our more “hands-on” clients, we work as a team with them handling certain aspects and us implementing others.

Question – Do you strictly adhere to each search engine guideline to assure my site does not get penalized for spamming?
Our Answer – Yes. We always follow established search engine guidelines to assure we do not damage the value our clients have built into their domain names. Many other firms like to push the ethical limits of SEO or even blazingly break them. These techniques can work in the short term, but will eventually result in your domain being penalized or removed completely from the search engines. Make sure you know how your site is being optimized.

Question – Will your website search engine optimization harm the usability or professionalism of our site?
Our Answer – Five Online prides itself on being one of only a few optimization companies that can achieve quality results without diminishing the integrity of the site. Many optimization firms are all to willing to sacrifice the professionalism (human factors) of your site for the sake of making machine (search engine) readable pages. We do not resort to overused optimization tactics such as keyword stuffing that leads to grammatically incorrect and unnatural sounding page copy or redesigning pages for the sake of keyword placement that often compromises the site’s creative design. We always take a big picture approach. We have built a loyal client base by maximizing the total success of our clients' sites. While keyword stuffing tactics can generate considerable search traffic, it significantly harms the site's ability to convert searchers to customers. Our unique approach to SEM generates solid search traffic while maintaining the professionalism needed to

Convert Customers.
Question – What other ways can you help me market my website?
Our Answer – We have experience with an array of alternative online marketing channels such as banners ads, affiliate programs, online press releases, community building, newsletters, and more.
Maintenance

Question – How will my site be maintained?
Our Answer – Against industry standards we provide Free maintenance of your site. If you host with us, you will have access to a comprehensive control panel, cPanel. cPanel will allow you to manage your e-mail, databases, applications and much more.

Hints for successful web developer selection
Understand your budget and seek out developers in your price range.
If your website is for a business, there should be some expectation of increased profitability generated by the site. Often the financial gain of a site comes from multiple areas including: lead generation, higher sales close ratio, increased up sale/cross sale opportunities, higher customer retention, cost savings via customer self-service and even long term brand building. Preparing an estimate of the impact the right website will have on profitability will guide you towards the right site. In general look for a one-year return on investment (most well designed websites have a functional lifespan of 3 to 6 years so a one year return makes for a superior ROI).
Once you have an estimate, look for providers that build in that price range.
Examples:
• Local B2C service (e.g. hair salon): You might estimate that you can benefit from increased exposure from web search and online coupons. Additionally, an online map would save some of your staff’s time giving directions over the phone. In all, profitability might only increase Rs.7500 a year. So seek out free-lancers and budget design shops that deliver Rs.7500 sites.
• Local B2B Services (e.g. staffing agency): With a professional website and solid online marketing campaign an established staffing agency in a large metro area can increase profitability by Rs.25,000 to Rs.50,000 (or more) a year. However, you will need something more than the Rs.7500 hair salon site. Seek out companies that provide that level of site.

Review a developer’s portfolio to make sure their quality level and style is a match.
Image is everything in marketing. If you want to be successful you must dress the part; the same is true on the web. While some businesses can “get away” with an average online look, many companies such as B2B, professional services, technology, and financial services demand a highly professional world-class image.

In addition to quality level, style is important. Your website should create an emotional brand for your company. Sites designed for teenagers should have a different feel than one targeting persons over forty. A site targeting financial investors should be different from one selling video games. Each demographic/psychographic has a look and feel that appeals to them. Think about your company’s culture and the demographics of your target audience and seek out web developers that demonstrate in their portfolio that they can match the required emotional branding. One other thing to look for in a company’s portfolio is range of design. Some firms have a distinct style, which is fine if it matches your needs. Other firms have multiple designers capable of a diversity of styles.

Check references.
A few short quotes on a website is not enough. Ask all web developers you are targeting for a list of client references and call as many as possible.