Website

[Tartarus]

Can anyone recommend a place to obatin a website for cheap?

[jakprintsHAUNT]

That is a very tricky question. Cheap...what is your idea of cheap? Yeah lots of places or people can be cheap. But cheap and GOOD, there's another story. A lot of times especially with art, you get what you pay for. Plus the cooler looking the site, the more art and programming time involved.


Mike "Pogo" Hach

[Front Yard Fright]

I have my domain name through GoDaddy and only pay like 5 bucks a month. A buddy of mine hosts the site for free - though I do host a different site through GoDaddy and it too is only a couple bucks a month.

Hope this helps!
.

[Spookyfinder]

REDCROW DESIGN!!!

Google it...

-Tyler

[badlander2000]

Damn, beat me to it! I would have to recommend Darknet Designs or Redcrow.

[MovieRelics]

Well, I just posted my website themes that I've created online for sale just a few moments ago. Each theme is designed for WordPress and is custom designed for a haunted house in mind. Each theme is around $350 each. You can find them here:

http://www.charlesterry.net/buy/

Let me know if you have any questions or if anyone wants to make a request for a specific theme, let me know. I'm right now developing a few new themes that will be available soon.

[Spookyant]

Let me tell you my experience with Darknet Designs. I had been fooled by Justin Bridges of Darknet. He always offers specials on the web. The specials are really good so I decided to go for it. I went for his flash special for $150. I called him and we talked and he said he could make a corp site for me to. I said sure because I liked his work. We worked out a deal with both sites. He did finish my main haunt site. He started to work on my corp site in January. Weeks went by and I called to check on how he was doing with my site. I could not get a hold of him at all. Finally I get a hold of him and he said hes still working on it but wouldn't show me any update work. Months went by and I thought something was fishy. So I told him if he could not finish my site, to just refund me the money thatI had paid for the corp site and flash intro with custom music. He said he could not finish my site and that he would issue me a refund on paypal. A week went by and no refund. I contacted him and he said he has no funds right now and will have the refund soon. Weeks went by and I contacted him again and now he says something is wrong with his bank He keeps promising me a date and never pays on that date. Oh and during the months he had been working on my sites, he kept asking me to borrow money. I was thinking what kind of business asks someone to borrow money. That is when I said enough and wanted a refund.

I don't want anyone to get ripped of like how I just did. Just warning everyone here.

[HauntedMemphis]

I'm on a similar road with Darknet Designs right now.

[MovieRelics]

If they don't use a contract, DON'T WORK WITH THEM!

When working with a web designer or any freelance consultant, ALWAYS have a contract!! I always have my clients sign a contract so it protects them and me from any issues or misunderstanding that may happen by defining the scope of the work performed and the time frame that it should be completed in. If you working with someone that doesn't do this, DON'T WORK WITH THEM. They are either inexperienced, unprofessional, or both and it will just land you in a world of hurt.

If you are working with someone that requires a contract for web development, look for these clauses in their contract somewhere. These are pulled from my standard web development contract.

1. Hourly Rate - What are they charging you for fixes that are beyond the contract agreement if they arise. What is his/her Hourly Rate.

2. What is his/her Maintenance Agreement - Will they support minor fixes to your site for x amount of time (ie 4 - 6 months after completion) and what constitutes a minor fixes vs major that would require an hourly fee charge?

3. Web Hosting Info - Is the developer providing hosting for the site or is the client arranging his own hosting. Same for shopping carts, secure SSL certificates, and Merchant Accounts if your setting up an e-commerce site.

4. Completion Date - When will the site be finished by. Also, there should be a clause to define what happens if the developer is unable to meet that date because of the client failing to provide required materials (I've had this happen to me before.)

5. Progress Reports - What, When, and How the developer should provide project updates to client to let them know that things are progressing and to their satisfaction. Also provides an obvious opportunity for the client to fix things they don't like. If you wait till the end of the project and then decide that you don't like the site being in red and want it changed to blue, you've got a problem.

6. Testing and Acceptance - This one is a big one most people don't think about, but should. The Developer is basically agreeing that the website is working 100% the way it should BEFORE final payment is made. You don't want to pay for a site and have it look pretty only to realize that some flash elements or contact forms are bugged making it useless for visitors to use.

7. Use of Subcontractors - Is the developer working on this or is he just collecting money from you and hiring a guy in Russia at half the cost and pocketing the rest. Not saying that sometimes subcontractors are needed and can be a good thing, but make sure they are the one accountable for the work.

8. Developer Guarantee of Copyright and Licensing Use - Sometime on projects that I develop for clients, they require a certain bit of artwork or music (like the theme song to a TV show or a song by a band), I have to arrange for those licenses and provide a guarantee that any and all material used in the creation of the site has the appropriate licensing arrangements. If you don't get this, and some jackass developer goes on DeviantArt or uses someones music without permission, not only will he get sued, but you will also.

9. Confidential Info - The developer agrees not to talk about your business and your arrangement with others. No reason that your business practices and information should be shared with others, especially your competition.

10. Copyright and Trademarks - The client and developer are both agreeing that anything provided to either or created by either, has the permission from the rightful owner to use said art. This is different from the License Agreement. This clause basically says you either own it or have the permission from the owner to use it. The License clause says that it they don't own it, they have the license to prove that they you been authorized to use it.

11. Copyright of the Web Pages - This clause basically says this. During the development of the website, the developer own the work. Upon FINAL PAYMENT of the contract, the client is assigned the rights of the final work and they then own it. There is also usually an sub clause that allows the developer to use samples of the final site as a portfolio example or other self-promotional means.

12. Warranty of Originality - THIS ONE IS A BIG ONE. Basically the developer is agreeing that the website that he has designed for you is his original work and not a copy of another persons website. So if you find another website that looks just like yours or someone comes to sue you for ripping of their website, you can hold the developer responsible for damages.

13. Payment Schedule - When and how must payments be made? What is the payment schedule? Are there fee's for past due balances? What happens if the client defaults their payment? In my development contacts, I outline from the initial payment to final payment, how and when the client should arrange for payments and expect delivery of proofs and final delivery. That way everyone know whats going on and things are still on-track.

14. Cancellation - Sometimes a contract needs to be canceled for any number of reasons. In that event, this should explain what happens if that does happen. Some issues defined should be what current or outstanding balances should be paid, who owns the copyright to what work that has been completed thus far, and any other outstanding issues.

15. Dispute Resolution - If you later discover that you and your developer are not able to come to an agreement about the contract you have, what happens then. Do you sue? Go to Arbitration? Is so, where? Do you have to sue him in his court of choice? This can be important to know if things go bad especially if you are dealing with a developer that's out of state. If your in Nevada and he's in Florida, the contact you sign may state that if you do sue him, you have to do it in Florida. Now you have some out of state expenses you have to cover with finding a out of state Lawyer, court fees, etc...

16. Contact Overview - This is something that I like to have at the end of each of my contacts just before the signatures. Basically it's a plain English explanation of what the contract is about. Total Amount being billed to the Client, The initial payment due to start work, and the scope of the services being contracted (ie listing of the web pages being created, social website accounts being created, search engine optimization, etc.).

If anyone has any questions about this, feel free to ask.