Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Yes, we admit it is a rather unusual name for a web business. Most web company names are chock-full of words you would expect: web, network, internet, design, host.

We chose Envision Blue because it is a complete sentence. Blue is the universal color related to consciousness, intellect and precision. Blue also represents the 5th chakra, which governs speech, hearing, communication and self expression, the core faculties governing the web and the sharing of information.

Envision is to see within one's mind. It is to imagine, but stronger. To Envision something is to make it happen. When you put the two words together, your guess is as good as ours. But we do believe it lends itself to a creative interpretation and reflects our postive vision of the internet. Plus we thought it sounded pretty cool.

You will most likely spend thousands of dollars on marketing your products and services; therefore it is important to start off in the right direction. One way to do this is to entrust the design of your website to professionals who have the skills and knowledge to pull it all together.

It may tempting to get that friend or relative who dabbles with HTML to design your website. You think “Hey, it’ll save me a few bucks!” Before going down that road, you must first ask yourself a few important questions. “Do I want a website, that brings me new business, creates a good impression, and keeps people coming back?” Or “Do I want a website just to have a website?”

This is a very important question. A lot of people have websites. You’ve seen them. They look amateurish, refuse to work properly on your browser, and use very 'interesting' color choices. Most importantly, you do don’t take them seriously. Would you give them your credit card number? Would you seriously consider doing business with them? Probably not.

Your website is your face to the world. Literally, the world wide web. It will be the first impression some potential clients will have of you and your business. Wouldn't you want that first impression to grab their attention? Peak their interest in your products or services? Prompt them to buy from you? Of course! - But, then again, if none of the above are objectives of your business, then perhaps you should have Uncle Joe design one for you.

Most people think that web page design and web site design are the same thing. This is not the case. Web page design primarily involves the colors, photos, text, fonts, and other items of the layout, and also incorporates the accessibility of the information you offer your visitors. On the other hand, Web site design refers to the structure and navigation of the website, and the organization of information into understandable themes and categories. It is sometimes more library science than computer science.

The Web is a unique medium; the structure of a website won't necessarily reflect the structure of other marketing material. Just one web page has the ability to hold much more information than a brochure, can be more interactive than television, and is available 24 hours a day. It can also be changed and updated on a regular basis, without adding significant costs.

A professional web designer knows the differences between web page design and web site design. Our team at Envision Blue can structure and tailor a website that will work for your business, create new leads for you on the web, and leave the sustainable positive first impression your business deserves.

Databases sometimes get a bad reputation. Many people yawn by mere mention of the word. But it is part of human nature that people mock what they don't understand. When dealing with large amounts of information, a database is truly your best friend. It can house any type of information in a digital medium: your customer info, products, images, books, financial transactions, your schedule.

A database is like a giant brain working behind the scenes. It can even govern your website, by displaying pages dynamically, depending on what your visitor requests. A popular trend lately is the integration of a database backend and your web pages (frontend), through something called a CMS (Content Management System).

Envision Blue offers several versions of custom made web database applications, such as dynamic web photo galleries, realty property listings and event managers. Once installed, these solutions allow for fresh content to be added to your website whenever you want, without having to be an HTML genius. We can provide your business with a custom made application to suit yor own unique needs.

Generally speaking, an Open Source application is software in which the source code is made public, and whose users are free to use and distribute the code as they wish, so long as credit is given to the original author. Actually, it is more complicated than that. Several different software licences define the term differently, and you must respect the individual terms and conditions of the software you are using.

Open Source code is usually incredibly stable based on the fact that it has benefited from several different minds investigating (and writing) the source code. As an end result of many programmers working together, the end product usually has fewer bugs than equivalent software whose source code is kept proprietary.

What many companies searching for a web presence do not know is that much of the web software they are looking for exists somewhere in the land of Open Source. And unlike their costly proprietary competitors, Open Souce code is generally free (or, at worst, of very low cost). The biggest example of an Open Source code success story is the powerful Operating System, Linux. Linux saves indivdual companies thousands of dollars each year, by avoiding the large licensing fees mandated by Microsoft. Linux is one of the most popular operating sytems running web servers to date.

A simple website can be constructed in 5 days. More intricate and highly structured websites usually take a few weeks, or a month. Generally speaking, we do not not rush through a website just to have it done quickly. Our job is to give you the best results, for a great price. It also depends on how much information you have given us to get started, and how available you are to keep your appointments and to correspond with us.

Client participation is crucial for completing a website quickly. We can not move forward with your website unless we have gatherred your copy, and it is impossible to meet our deadline if you are unavailable to approve the steps along the way. We will be able to tell you how long it will take after our first consultation, and provide you with a five stage Web Development Process timeline.

At Envision Blue, we have compiled a clear and defined Five Stage Website Development Process. This process ensures timely completion of client projects. A thorough site plan in the form of a flow chart, complete with dates, is provided to our clients prior to commencing development. Our clients are assured efficient and organized service via a written contract which outlines the total cost and services provided by Envision Blue.

The following list is an abridged breakdown of stages comprising our website development process, from beginning to completion.

• Stage 1: Content and page layout discussion; Review and approval of site plan; First draft of written content
  
  
• Stage 2: Envision Blue presents first draft of initial layout and site structure. Setup of domain name and host. Choose layout, colors, look, attitude and written content and how it fits into overall design.
  
  
• Stage 3: Redraft of content (if required). Logo creation, Flash design and photography (if required)
  
  
• Stage 4: Supply final draft copy for site. Assemble pages (finalizing backend and overall code structure).
  
  
• Stage 5: Complete project. Client approval. Launch website!

That depends. Flash can provide interactive functionality and moving graphics to your site, not possible with standard HTML-based pages. However, Flash is binary data, not text, meaning that Flash sites can not be read by Search Engines. Secondly, Flash files are often large, which can be a real nuisance for site visitors with dial-up connections, as they wait for what seems like an eternity for your Flash site to load. And lastly, Flash sites can be considerably more expensive, due to the large time involved during the development process and the level of specialized skill of the designer.

You have to weigh your priorities. If your site deals with large amounts of text, you intend to be indexed by seach engines, and/or you are on a budget, then a Flash site may not be for you. If, on the other hand, your site deals with large amounts of graphical content, you are looking for the Wow effect, and don't really care about ranking high with search engines, then Flash might be the perfect solution for your new website.

When most people want to find something on the web, they use a search engine. Most of us are familiar with the major general search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN. Millions of searches are conducted on these search engines everyday. People are searching for your website and the products and services you offer. So how would they find you? Through techniques called Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Please click here for full details on Internet Marketing.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most complicated and misunderstood aspects of web development. Each search engine uses a different algorithm, using hundreds of factors that are constantly changing. Each seach engine carefully guards its algorithm as a trade secret. Thus no one outside of the search engine's employees knows with 100% certainty the perfect way to optimize a site. However, many individuals called Search Engine Optimizers have studied the art and derived a set of techniques that have a track record for success. In general, there are two areas to focus on for top rankings: Solid Code and Linking.

Soild code involves having experienced programming behind the website, identifying certain elements in the page as important, and offering comprehensive copy, which includes keywords. Linking is primarily having links to your website from other web pages that are already in the search engine's database. The search engine spiders are always crawling the web and will eventually follow those links to find your site. The more links you have pointing to your site, the higher you will rank with the search engine. As is the case with Google, the more 'important' the sites are which link to you, the more important Google will rank your site.