That's why it's so important to define your objectives before you begin because, like buying a car, those fabulous extras can dramatically up the cost. And like buying a car, you need to decide what you really want, and what you really 'need' before you sign on the dotted line. That's why we've created out FREE Web Site Project Evaluation. It's a good first step in helping to define exactly what you need a web site to do and some realistic idea of how much it will cost.

If you want a quick way to estimate how much your site would cost we've come up with a simple formula that will get you in the ballpark.

After doing many sites we've discovered if we take the total number of pages and divide them into the number of hours it has taken us to create the site, it averages out to about 5 hours a page. So to get a fairly accurate estimate take the total number of pages you think you will need and multiply them by 5. This will give you the number of hours it will take to create your site. Then take the total number of hours and multiply that by our base rate of $85/hr and you'll have a rough idea of how much your site will cost to create.

This way of estimating will only give you a rough idea as there may be many factors that would reduce or increase the actual cost. We'd like to remind you that we strongly recommend you complete our FREE EVALUATION before you begin developing any site so you only estimate based on what you actually need. It really pays to produce detailed plans before the fact.

In addition you have to be aware of the monthly hosting fee to keep your live online 24/7. As part of our package we offer complete hosting services starting at only $39.95 a month. Our service does not include dail-up internet access. You will need to arrange for dail-up internet access from an ISP like Earthlink. We are only a hosting provider not an internet service provider.

• Please click here for more info on our hosting services and fees.

Marketing expenses can range all over the spectrum depending on how aggressive you want to be and what you want your web site to accomplish.

SEARCH ENGINES
We offer a basic Search Engine submission service that will get you started for $89.95. We optimize you home page with special coding and submit your site to the top 'free' search engines and indexes. That will get you a foot in the door. We can also submit your site to many of the top search "pay for submission" indexes and search engines at the same time if you wish to pay the extra submission fees. (for example, yahoo now charges $200 to submit your site under a business to business listing).

But you must realize that search engines are not a magic bullet. As the number of sites continues to grow, the likelihood of your site coming up the the top 10 or 20 based on any general search terms is highly unlikely.

For example we have a client that makes a unique chair that you kneel on. It has no back. If we were to optimize his site for search engines based on words like furniture, or chairs, the likelihood of his site being listed is not very good. There are millions of pages and sites out there that sell furniture these days. So we epitomize his site with the words kneeling chair. There are a lot fewer sites out there selling kneeling chairs. So he is much more likely to be found through that work when someone types it into a search engine than furniture.

We always recommend that you spend most of your marketing dollars on conventional marketing like print ads, radio, etc. because cause quite frankly, the search engine route is a crap shoot unless you throw a lot of money at them.

One of the best ways to market your web site is to simply include your web site address on all of your current marketing materials. Or you can produce specific materials just to promote your site. Basically there are many ways to go about marketing your site. But as with any conventional marketing efforts, you will need to define your objectives and pick the appropriate avenues to get your message out. There's really no magic bullet when it comes to marketing on the web. So once you've defined your objectives, marketing expenses can then be calculated. Otherwise it comes back to the "It's like buying a car" issue.