Need a website with online store? Let us help!

Since 1987 the folks at IHS, Incorporated, have been helping folks just like you with their computer problems and needs. While some things have changed greatly, you will find that our friendly, competent, inexpensive service remains a touchstone of our business. We still believe that the customer is right and that ethics are important--perhaps more in today's environment than ever.

What do you get?

We can have a site lite this up and ready for you to enter inventory within two weeks of the time we receive approved information to build it with. Information we must have is:

1. Text for your homepage
2. Text for the about-us page
3. Text and contact information for your contact-us page
4. Text for your FAQ's page
5. Text for your privacy policy page
6. Text for your corporate-gifts page if you want one.

Notice that we'll try to assist you and we'll make recommendations to you, but it is YOU who knows your business--not us. We cannot write it for you, but we will try to help make it a success. We'd prefer that you give this text to us, as you write it, via email; but we will take it on an old envelope as long as we can read it.

As part of what we can supply, you will have software that lets you build your inventory on your hard drive so you don't have to be online all the time to work on it, you can make global changes, have backup, etc. This software, which is proprietary software written by IHS, Incorporated, and licensed and provided only to our customers, will also build your calendar and photo-shopping pages for you based on your input. Soon, perhaps by the time you read this, it will also build Staff Pages that tell potential customers about you and your people. (Of course, if you don't want to do any of these pages, they are easily omitted: you are not forced to have them.)

The hosting package includes domain registration for two years, currently giving you 200 Mb of storage, 150 POP email accounts, SSL, FTP, Stats, CGI, PHP, MySQL, and FrontPage extensions, and, of course, your site, with or without shopping cart, setup for your store/business and ready for you to enter your product inventory items. (Since these limitations and specifications are subject to what our chosen web hosting vendors provide, they may change slightly and that is beyond our control.)

And a note is due about web hosting vendors. Some have, literally, placed a server or two in their garage and purchased a single T1 line from their local phone company. Sure, their rates are dirt cheap--after all, they have almost no overhead. We do not use these vendors for obvious reasons. Our vendors use multiple T3 lines, have server farms operated and watched over 24x7, and offer help staff for when something goes wrong. And even with all this, we believe you will find that our overall prices are quite competetive--check it out and let us know what you find.

When you give the word, we will submit the website to at least four of the major search engines currently on the web. Please, notice that our design from top to bottom will work to help with your search-engine positioning--it is not an afterthought, but is built in from the beginning because if no one can find your site, no one will buy from it. (See our page on Search-engine Positioning.)

Speaking of prices, how much will all of this cost? Try this question with most folks! Our price is just $2,000. We ask that you pay $700.00 up front, $700.00 when the template is done and the site is ready to accept inventory data, and the rest when the first inventory is on the site ready for you to sell your products/services.

SP Use our "contact-us" page to do just that: contact us. Tell us what you are interested in doing--give us the pertinent details. We will get with you as quickly as possible to discuss your needs.

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What will you need to do/have

1. You will need a fairly up-to-date computer with about 200 Mb free disk space, 128 Mb memory or more, and a clock speed of at least 400. (In other words, if you computer isn't an absolute clunker, it will probably be just fine.) We recommend that you use Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or XP Professional. We will load our software for you if you are local to us--we are located in Birmingham, Alabama--or we will mail you a CD with the software on it. We will include as an appreciation gift, some free software we find most useful. Loading these will take an hour or two of your time, but it is a simple, automated process that should go off with no big problems.

2. You will need to download the MSDE® (Microsoft SQL-7 data base manager) from Microsoft's site. Remember, too, that if you are local to the Birmingham, Alabama, area, we'll do this for you. If not, we'll give you instructions on how to do this.

3. You will need to build your database in the MSDE®--we will give you instructions for doing that. Assuming you are not already using the MSDE for other things, it will basically be a drag and drop copy from our CD to your hard disk. Be aware, though, that if you are already using the MSDE®, you will actually have to build the DB--takes some time but isn't too bad. Anyway, if you are local to the Birmingham, Alabama, area, we'll do this for you.

4. You will need a digital camera to take pictures of your products. Be sure to use a camera that can do macro-focus, i.e., focus within three or four inches, so you can show the great detail on your product offerings. If you already have a camera, you may be able to add a filter to it for about $40.00 to accomplish this...talk to a local camera shop about your particular camera.

5. You will need photo-editing software. We like Adobe's PhotoDeluxe® Home Version 4.0 (or higher) and Adobe's PhotoShop®, but whatever you have and are comfortable with will probably work just fine.

6. You will need a graphics package that lets you import/export different photo formats and specify the output size--we like CorelDraw®, but if you have another favorite that will let you specify the format and picture size, it will probably be just fine.

7. Once we reach a certain point in the setup, you will have to register with PayPal--this is free and takes about 30 minutes or less--so they can accept payments for you and direct deposit funds into your bank account (which you must have). Like all credit-card processing outfits, PayPal does take a small percentage out of each transaction they process for you. Still, for what they do, we believe it is the best deal going at this time--that's why we use them, too.
   

Phew! That sounds like a lot doesn't it. But it isn't really so bad. Setting up the data base tables is a pain, but if you actually have to do it our instructions will guide you through that. (Again, if you are local to the Birmingham, Alabama, area, we'll do this for you.) The rest is fairly straight-forward stuff. Imagine, now, if you had to learn about UNIX, PERL, FTP, POP3, VB®, C++, API's, and all those other good acronyms that go into building a website.

As an option, if you want to pay the shipping and entrust your computer to UPS, FEDEX, or some other carrier serving the Birmingham, Alabama, area; we will be happy to do the setup for you at no additonal cost. We can also work with you to procure a computer for you, load the software, and ship it to you ready to go--let us know what you want to do and we'll work with you.

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Need Other Pages, Tweaks, etc?

Need the site to include other pages, offer other stuff to your customers, etc? Depending upon what it is, it may not cost much at all...or it may--let's talk about it. Don't want some of the pages we use? Not showing one is easy--just say the word and it is gone. Use our "contact-us" page to do just that: contact us. We will be happy to discuss, investigate, and report back to you on what you want to do. A word of caution: additional pages, especially if we have to write new software, will take more time to deliver--we can say more about how long once we know what you want to do. Keep in mind that we are located in Birmingham, Alabama, and that if we can, we will be happy to come to your location and sit down and talk with you about what you need to have done--just have the coffee ready.

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What About Maintenance?

There are differing levels of maintenance available ranging from hourly-paid event-pay through monthly maintenance. We suggest you wait until you have built your inventory table and turned your site up. Then see how comfortable you are with the whole thing. At that point you can make a more informed decision about what you need to pay for. (See our page on Search-engine Positioning work, too.) We will help you through the decision process so that we can best serve your individual needs.

Use our "contact-us" page to do just that: contact us. Tell us what you are interested in doing--give us the pertinent details. We will get with you as quickly as possible to discuss your needs.