My telephone company offers a 5 page site for only $300.00. Isn't that the best deal out there?
There are many package sites out there, and they do work for many businesses and individuals. They involve templates from which you select a design you like. The company that created the site then plugs in your company information and places the site on the internet for you. It provides a website quickly, but it doesn't give you much flexibility, and you may find that one of your competators uses the same design you selected. We also offer a five page start up site, but you do not have to choose from a template, and we can offer you more features for a lower total cost. Another advantage is that while you can choose to have a template site, you may also elect to have your site custom designed.

Isn't it really expensive to have a custom site designed?
No! In actuality, it's less expensive to work with Six Point whether you choose a template or a custom design! Six Point's only advertising is by word of mouth, and we are family owned and operated. One of the many ways in which this benefits you is the affordability. Our overhead is very low, so we can create sites with custom designs without the added expense.

Family owned and operated? Isn't it better to deal with a large company that is more well known?
The answer to this question depends on your point of view. There are some drawbacks to large companies--you may never talk to your designer directly, you may pay a much higher amount, you may have difficulty contacting someone if your site goes down on a weekend or a holiday. If you choose to work with Six Point, you will have access to many ways to reach us, after hours, at home, on the road, and so on. In addition, we will be contacting you. Desite this, many individuals feel more comfortable with a large, well-known business. Many people fear that when they are dealing with a start-up company, the company may fail, and they will lose. In this case, however, Six Point's future profitability will not affect your website in any way. Once the site is created and posted to the internet, you own the site exclusively! We'll update it for you if you would like, but there is no committment required. Another common concern is the possibility of fraud. Since you do not pay for any Six Point service up front, there is no risk to you whatsoever.

No risk whatsoever? You can't be serious.
We are. We're absolutely serious. Creating webpages isn't only a business. It is also a pastime, a hobby, and a passion. If you don't like a site we've created for you, that's okay! We'll redo it! Changed your mind completely? That's okay too. No hard feelings, and no charge!

Will my site be of the same quality as sites that are created by larger companies?
Your site will be exactly the way you want it. If there is something you want, tell us. We're honest! If for any reason it's not possible (which is unlikely) we'll let you know up front! Generally, anything is possible. It may mean that your hosting cost is a little higher or that your site will take a little longer to create--and we'll let you know that up front, too.

What about the writing? Don't some of the larger companies hire professional writers?
Of course they do! The writing provided on a Six Point website is also professionally written. Whether you have Six Point create the text for you or provide your own text, you can be assured that your text will be free from typos and grammatical errors. What makes us so sure? Your text will be checked three times--first by spellcheck and grammarcheck, and then twice by two different proofreaders--at least one of whom is a full-time English teacher.

I've been to sites where the links don't all work. How does Six Point avoid that?
First and foremost, we will not include a link if it does not work, plain and simple. Second, by using a special password you will have the ability to review your site while it is in progress. If anything is not working, let us know, and we'll fix it before your site is available to the public. Third, we will check you site periodically to make sure all of the links are still valid. If we have linked your site to another site, and that site moves or is removed from the internet, we'll contact you and fix the problem. Finally, if your site has a huge number of links, we will have a software program complete the periodic checks so that none of your many links gets inadvertantly skipped.

Will my site come up when someone uses search.com or a similar search engine?
The best way to have your site appear under webpage results when someone uses a search engine is to have appropriate metatags for the searches that apply to your business or trade. You will be a part of the metatag process, and Six Point will make recommendations based on experience and research. Six Point will also register your site with an extensive list of search engines, which makes the process a little faster. Most search engines claim it will be a month or two from the time your site is available on the internet until it begins coming up as a search result, but in our experience we have found that most sites appear as a search result within a few days if their metatags were done properly!

What's a metatag?
Metatags are basically keywords. When creating a website, the designer includes keywords within the html code. These keywords are not viewable to the websurfer viewing the page. They are "seen" only by search engine "spiders" which use them when searching for site and when ranking sites as returns. No matter how fabulous your website is, it won't ever show up as a search return without metatags.

Is there a way to get my site to appear as a search result faster?
Again, many search engines claim that it will be a few months before you site appears as a result. They then offer payment options that they say will shorten the waiting period substantially. We at Six Point believe that you should consider all your options. You may wish to become a sponsor with one or more search engines, as sponsored listings come up before regular websites. Nevertheless, it usually isn't necessary to become a sponsor to get your site to appear right away, as most sites appear as a search result within a few days if they are registered. (Registration with most search engines is free.)

How many pages can my site have?
This question reflects how many "package deals" there are out there. Your site can have as many pages as you would like! The amount of time the site takes to create is the key factor. Whether your site is five pages or ten pages doesn't make much difference in terms of time (and cost). The content of each page is an important factor though. Do you have a lot of graphics? Did you provide them, or did Six Point have to create them? How much text is there, and how much of it did Six Point have to type? For more information, visit our pricing area and review both our ala carte menu and our package deals area. If none of the existing offers suits you, please contact us and let us know what you have in mind. We're flexible and able to work within any budget.

Will I have my own IP address?
This depends not on who designs your website, but on your hardware, your networking, and your method of connecting to the internet. Probably, this question resulted from misinformation. Perhaps you were really wondering about your URL?

Will I have my own URL?
YES! Your url is your internet address. This is your domain name (yourcompany.com) with http://www in front of it. In order to get to your site, you can type the entire url, or simply type your domain and let your browser add the rest for you. Most importantly, YOU WILL OWN YOUR OWN URL. This is important because many companies attempt to transfer their hosting or their email to another provider only to find out that their web designer owns their domain name and must complete the transfer for them. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is when the designer charges a huge fee for the transfer! We register every domain name to it's rightful owner, so there's never an issue if your needs change.

What will my domain name be?
What would you like it to be? You can have any domain name you would like, provided it has not already been taken by another company. How do you know if someone else has taken your name? Return to our main page and type the address you would like into the DirectNic search availability field. Better yet, tell us you business name and primary function, and we'll provide you with a list of available names that will be easy for both search engines and human users to find.

Will I have to change my email address?
No, you don't have to, but you can if you want to. Suppose your private email address is "you@aol.com." When you register the domain name "yourcompany.com" you may want to be called you@yourcompany.com instead. Which email address appears on your site is entirely up to you.

Will I have to pay extra for that?
There are two ways to change your email address. One is free, the other costs a small amount. The free option is to call yourself "you@yourcompany.com" on your website and have your Six Point designer set up free email forwarding. This will take all mail that comes to "you@yourcompany.com" and automatically send it to the address "you@aol.com." It's fast, free, and simple; your business email will be in the same place as your personal email, making checking mail easy. The only downside is that when you send email, it will have the address "you@aol.com" instead. The second option is to set up a POP3 account for "you@yourcompany.com." To access the mail that comes to this account, you will need to use a mail program such as Outlook Express. This way, your personal email is separate from your business email. Both of these options assume that you are using DirectNIC/Intercosmos Media Group Inc. for registration and hosting. If you select another carrier other options may exist or costs may be higher.

Is there any kind of email limit?
There is never any limit to the amount of email you can send and receive. Depending upon the service that provides your email, there may be a limit to how much email you can store. If you choose to set up a POP3 email account, there may be a limit to the number of names you can place on a mailing list. If mass mailers are used frequently in your business, please let us know so that we can ensure you get the proper settings!

What other limits might be involved?
Hosting providers limit the amount of space that you can use on their servers. In most cases, there is very little chance of exceeding the allowable limit by a small business. If, however, you have or plan to have a very extensive page with a lot of graphics, Flash animation, etc., more space may be necessary. Since we will create your site and upload it for your exclusive viewing, the question of how much space it will take up will be answered before you make your hosting choice. In general, Six Point clients pay $15.00 a year to DirectNIC/Intercosmos Media Group Inc. and receive 2GB of data transfer. In the event that your site will exceed this amount, additional bandwidth can be purchased for a nominal charge.

What do you mean by "exclusive viewing?"
When you ask us to begin creating a site for you, we provide to you a password. You may choose your own password if you would like, or we will select one for you. The password should contain letters and numbers and be difficult to guess. We will notify you when your website rough draft has been uploaded. At that time, if you access our site and click on the link "YOUR SITE" you will be taken to a page that asks for your password. When you enter the correct password, your page will come up in a separate window. (Ours will remain behind it so that when you are finished with yours and close it, you can still easily access our email address.) If you mistype your password, you will be returned to our homepage to try again. There is no limit the number of times you can view your site or the number of times you can incorrectly enter your password. Your site will be available as a rough draft until it is completed. Once your site is paid for, it will be transferred to your domain name for all the world to see. At that time, it will be removed completely from exclusive viewing. In order to try out this service before we begin your website, go to our exclusive viewing area and follow the instructions under "try it out."

What is the point of exclusive viewing?
For some of our clients, particularly those who have rules governing their advertising (such as attorneys in some states, who must submit their advertising to the Bar Association for approval before it is disseminated) it is a necessity that their sites not be viewable until they are complete, correct, and approved.

What if I would prefer my site be uploaded directly to my domain name so that my employees and customers can access it immediately?
If you prefer, we can upload your site directly to your domain name instead of to ours. This requires only that you pay up front for the domain name and hosting. We will register it for you and post the site directly to it. Since the public may begin accessing the site at any time, we'll mark areas that are not yet completed "Under Construction" or "Working On It"

What if my company already has a domain name, but we never had a site created?
That's no problem. We'll need some information about how it was registered, and we'll need a password in order to upload the site, but those are simple details that will not present a problem.

My child is learning how to create webpages in school. Wouldn't it make more sense to let him/her design it?
Maybe. Of course, the answer to this question depends on how complicated a page you need and, more importantly, on whom you are talking about. Most students in public school today will learn at some point in their education the basics of html and how to use an editor such as Microsoft FrontPage or Netscape Communicator. These classes, however, provide only the basics. What will happen when you want to add Flash Animation to your site, and your designer has not yet learned the program? Equipment is also an issue. Will the designer have access to a scanner, a digital camera, and a high speed connection? Will he or she have all the necessary software? Of course, if your child is in college and is majoring in computer science with an emphasis on e-commerce, knowledge and equipment will be less an issue, but you will still need to consider the time; A student involved in heavy coursework may not be able to dedicate enough time to your project. Finally, web design is a subjective thing. What one person finds intricate and interesting another might find crowded and busy. It is often easier to tell a designer you are not pleased and would like the project re-done if he or she is not related to you.