The Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") is the internet address of a website available on the Internet. A typical website URL looks like this: http://www.yourdomainname.com or http://www.your-domain-name.com.

The address or "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator) of a particular website. This is the name that is at the right of the @ sign in the URL or internet address. As an example, bviva.com is the domain name of this website. The domain name itself is divided into 3 parts:

A Domain Name Registrar is an organization that registers a domain name for a small fee and assures that each Domain Name is unique to that domain extension or suffix.

Use our Domain Name Search Tool to see if your desired Domain Name is available.

The costs for websites fall into several categories and are all subject to your website content requirements and how the content is provided. Each website is customized to the needs of your business. The more "web-ready" content that you provide the more savings will be realized in lower development costs.

• Initial costs:
  • Website planning, design, development and setup - bviva.com charges $50.00 per hour for website development
• Annual fixed costs:
  • Website hosting - Can range from $13.95/mo - $31.95/mo depending on your website needs
  • Domain name registration - Can range from $6.95 - $34.99 depending on the registrar you choose
• Ongoing costs:
  • Maintenance and updates - bviva.com charges $50.00 per hour for maintenance and updates

U.S. copyright laws say, if you hire a website development company as an independent contractor, that website development company owns all of the content that it creates. In a case such as this, the law treats the contractor as an "author" and automatically grants them ownership of the work. Even if your business works together with a website development company on your website, the website development company might be able to claim joint ownership of the website's design and content. Obviously, this could create a major problem for your business.

Make sure your contract or agreement with your website development company includes a clause that assigns the ownership of the website development company's work to your business. This agreement must be in writing, (oral copyright assignments are not enforceable). Most standard Website development agreements assign the copyright to the client, but you should always make sure the assignment clause gives you complete, unquestioned ownership over every aspect of your website.

Once a website is created it is necessary to hire a website host to get your site on the internet. This means the data files created (the individual web pages, graphics, images, and related files that comprise your website) will be uploaded to the website host's server, where they will be made available to anyone surfing the internet at any time of the day or night.

This can be answered by asking two more questions -

1. "Who is my target audience?"
2. "What is the purpose of my website?"

• Because you know your company's products and services and who your target audience is, only you can ultimately determine what is the best content for your website and its' target audience, the "user".
• What you say and how you say it and the graphic images you use will play a major role in the success or failure of your website.
• All of your content should be speak directly to that target audience from the tone of the text to the images and graphics used.
• Content can include product and service information, your portfolio, a product catalog, online ordering system, articles, press releases, news, company information, testimonials and so on.

Use our Website Planner to organize your thoughts and ideas.

The most important thing to remember when designing a search engine and user friendly website is to design the site for the user, your target audience. Forget the search engine. Why? Because both the user and search engines like the same thing. They both appreciate clear, rich and relevant content and they both like clean standards compliant HTML code. If you do not already have your keyword phrases, you’ll need to research and select them now. They’ll be used in the building of the site, so it’s important you know what they are early on in the process.

Image optimization is a process that reduces the file size of an image or graphic, while maintaining the integrity/look of the image. What this means to the website user is faster download times of the web page they have requested while receiving clear crisp images and graphics. Image optimization is standard for all of the images and graphics use on websites developed by bviva.com.