FAQ’s

How do you say your company name?

Our company name includes Steve’s surname, Suloff. It is pronounced SOO -loff. Suloff is a Hessian name derived from Zulauf.

Steve’s ancestor, Johannes Zulauf, immigrated here from Germany in 1776 to serve in the Minnegerode Company as part of King George III of England’s effort to extinguish an uprising in America. Johannes participated in the battles of Long Island, Brooklyn Heights, White Plains, and in seizing Fort Washington on New York Island (Manhattan). On 26 September 1779, he was captured by American privateers off the Jersey coast when the British ship that carried his company to impending battle with the French in Canada was incapacitated in a hurricane. After his capture, Johannes was classified as a POW and held in Reading, PA. Here he served as Officer’s Attendant to three Minnegerode Company Officers until they were exchanged and returned to New York Island in 1780. Records indicate that the remaining Hessian troops returned to their homeland in 1783; Johannes’ name did not appear on these rolls. He remained in Reading to marry Maria Margaretha Spahr on 28 March 1783. His marriage license shows his name as “John Sulouf,” the earliest known deviation from the earlier surname spellings, Zulauf and Zulauff. John and Margaret lived their life together as farmers in York County, PA and had 4 daughters and 4 sons. It is believed that most Suloffs and Sulouffs in the U.S. today were descended from this couple.

How do I get my website project started?
All you need to do to get the ball rolling is contact us. Please be prepared to briefly describe and discuss your project ideas. To assist you in thinking through your project needs, please consider filling out our website questionnaire before contacting us. Once we better understand your needs and the scope of your project, we will work up a proposal or recommend one of our packages.

How long does it take?
Overall time for completion varies with each individual project. The overall size of the project is an important factor. Specifically, consider how many pages or images you require, how much Flash work you need, and whether you require Virtual Tours or other specialized scripting or layout. The larger and more complicated the site, the longer the project will take. We do our best to work within our clients’ timelines, however, making deadlines also depends partly on receiving client information and feedback in a timely manner. To minimize delays, clients should be prepared to provide text, images and feedback when requested.

What is the typical work flow for a web design project?
In the New Website Design section of our website, we describe the work flow process and corresponding client responsibilities in detail. Please visit this section to read about how your web project might flow.

How much does it cost to design and maintain a website?
We bill for our services on an hourly basis, so the cost of your project is determined by the amount of time required for completion. In general, new website designs can range from $1000 to upwards of $4000, depending on the amount of “bells and whistles” and size of the site. Website maintenance contracts can range from $40 to $2000 per month depending on your update needs. Hosting plans range from $17.95 to $49.95 per month. Hosting costs for very large or high traffic websites are based on bandwidth and can reach $50+ per month. To simplify pricing for potential customers and offer a place to benchmark from, we have developed package options for our New Website Design, Website Maintenance and Hosting services. To get a general idea of pricing for your project, please consider your needs and review our offerings to see if one of our existing packages can accommodate the project that you have in mind. If you require specialized services or additional work beyond the package, just say the word and we will draw up a customized quote for you.

How does the web compare to other forms of advertising?
Choosing to advertise your business on the web can have many advantages. The ability to make quick and convenient changes allows you to share up-to-the-minute information with customers instead of waiting for the start of an ad period or a new brochure printing. A website also allows you to avoid frustrating and expensive reprinting costs if or when your information changes. Accessibility to a world-wide audience instead of an audience restricted to a print or media distribution area is also a benefit of web-based advertising. Some business owners are skeptical about making the leap to the web because of the seemingly large initial expense. However, many businesses find that the combined cost of initial design and ongoing maintenance is a good value when compared to other business expenses such as newspaper advertising, or monthly utility expenses. With the right strategy to integrate your website with other marketing efforts, the web can increase the bang of your advertising buck. After careful consideration of advertising options, many businesses eventually gravitate to the web because they are drawn in by the increased exposure, versatility and cost-effectiveness that the web has to offer.

How can I integrate my website into my other marketing efforts?
Most businesses utilize a variety of advertising products ranging from print ads to TV and radio. With a little forethought, it is easy to incorporate your website into these efforts. Doing so increases the cost-effectiveness of your advertising dollars by allowing you to potentially interact with the consumer twice: first in the original ad, and second on your website. The first step in integrating your web and other marketing efforts is choosing a website domain that is short and easy for people to remember. For example, bestdarndrycleanerinupstatenewyork.com is a mouthful. Adirondackdrycleaner.com is concise and much easier to remember.

Once you finalize your website name, pushing it out into your other marketing efforts is a snap with some strategic planning. Specifically, in TV and radio ads, we recommend shortening the content of your ad slightly in order to accommodate verbal and/or visual rendering of your website address at least once. In print advertising, we recommend designing your ad to make space for prominent display of your website address. Other places to include your website address include your business cards, letterhead, vehicle & storefront signage, brochures, yellow page listings, product packaging, receipts, coupons, billboards & posters. In a nutshell, strategically placing your website address on anything related to your business operations will get the word out there and draw more visitors to your site.

How can I make sure my website pops up on Google or Yahoo’s Top 10 list?
Unfortunately, there are no guarantees with search engine placement. The web is a dynamic entity which changes significantly on a daily basis. For any keyword search, your site could be ranked #5 one week, and #25 the next. Taking this in stride, it is still possible to keep your site consistently on the first page of listings by committing to regular Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work. While some companies guarantee you placement in the coveted “Top 10,” we advise that the consumer beware when considering these offers. Many of these companies use a tactic called “Black Hat” SEO which can in the long run cause your site to be banned from search engines entirely, rather than ranked higher. These practices, which may involve key word spamming, hiding text or multiple mirror sites, ultimately cause your site to be “black listed.” We believe that the best approach to getting your site ranked high in the listings is to give added attention to your search engine rankings on a monthly basis and re-submit your site and keywords as needed. This on-going process involves brainstorming new keywords, investigating popular key word hits, and strategizing about which key word strings will be most beneficial to pursue for your business. We strongly recommend that our clients budget for a monthly SEO maintenance plan to keep their site accessible through the major search engines. Our goal is to help our clients avoid the nightmare of having a site out there that “nobody can find.” For more information on Search Engine Optimization, click here.

What Is a Virtual Tour?
A Virtual Tour is a multi-perspective view of an object or place. There are several ways to create a virtual tour for your website. The simplest is a 360 degree photo that is “wrapped” within the browser. This model gives the effect that the viewer is standing in the area of the photo; the line of sight starts at one point and the viewer can use the mouse to move the perspective in a 360 degree range from the starting point. Flash or JavaScript are the common technologies used to execute this model. The second type of virtual tour is a 360 degree photo (like the above example) with the addition of links in the photo. This enables the viewer to click on doorways or other items of interest to move into a new tour and view adjacent areas. The third type of virtual tour involves a map that depicts the layout of the area. Specific points on the map are marked with links. When the viewer clicks on the link, they are rewarded with a 360 degree view of what they would see in reality if standing on that map point. Click to visit the Virtual Tours section of our website.

Alphabet Soup – what do these abbreviations mean?
SEO – Search Engine Optimization the process of choosing targeted keywords and keyword phrases related to a Web site so the site will rank high when those terms are part of a Web search

SEM – Search Engine Marketing marketing techniques required to make a website visible on search engines and directories so that it will attract visits from its target audience. This includes the optimisation of a site, the submission to directories, the use of ‘pay-per-click’ search tools and keyword related advertising.

PHP– Hypertext Preprocessor (HTML-embedded scripting language) is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.

MySQL – is an open source relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL), the most popular language for adding, accessing, and processing data in a database. Because it is open source, anyone can download MySQL and tailor it to their needs in accordance with the general public license. MySQL is noted mainly for its speed, reliability, and flexibility

SSI – Server side includes A type of HTML comment that directs the Web server to dynamically generate data for the Web page upon request.

CGI – Common Gateway Interface and is a standard way for data to be passed between web applications eg passing data from an online HTML form to a script on the server.

SSL – Secure Socket Layer protocol is a method of passing sensitive information, such as credit card details, over the Internet. All communication is encryted to prevent eavesdropping. An SSL URL is preceded by https:// instead of http://.

CPC – Cost per click an advertising system where an advertiser pays an agreed amount for each click delivered to his or her site from a link or listing keyed to a specific search term, area of a site or even a banner