Frequently Asked Questions

& Good Tips

9/25/07 What do I get charged for? How much does consulting cost? Do I pay for email correspondence?

In a nutshell, all time is billable except for hosting and email support requests. This is also clearly stated in our terms and website pricing, where many answers can be found. If you read our mission and philosophy, you will understand that we put our "client" hat on before spending your money. The answer to many questions can be found on the pages of our website. If you look and read and the answer is still not clear for your particular situation, or if you ask without looking, then the answer is obviously important to you (just as when you think it is important enough to make an inquiry to your attorney or accountant). We can offer mediocre customer support and direct you to our web pages, or we can offer the kind of support we value, i.e. billable custom-tailored answers that fit your business needs. Realize that there are many blunders that can inadvertenly be made in the online world, things you would never think of. That's what we mean by putting on our client hat—proactively doing what we think is needed for your business. Most often this results in a thank you rather than in a feeling of being overcharged. We value ongoing client relationships—having clients trust that we will work proatively on their behalf when needed, we will formulate succinct yet thorough answers to their questions to relieve them of reading and searching, and we will charge them for the value delivered so that they will remain our client.

Basics

What are the components of your internet presence? What do you need? How much, how often, how long, to whom will you pay?

What are the elements of a successful internet presence? Set-up, promotion, follow through?

Questions about your name and address? What's a URL? Do you have a "home" page on another site?

View some of our projects, clients we have helped. Review the great feedback we have received from clients and their customers.

READY?!! How do I get started?

Contact Mad River Consulting to design your site—pricing for basic to complex design and functionality.

Choose your domain and host with MadRiverWeb.

Need a list of good content? Good links to other websites? (Especially for those in the real estate field.)

Promote your site, very important for success.

How much will updates cost me? Can I do it myself?

Make your payment on-line with your credit card. Payment terms and conditions.

Legal information--(hope to have this section someday)

Domain Renewal Solicitations by postal mail, do not pay, contact us

The Power of Email

TopSites solicitation by email "Could you please be so kind as to update your listing in the TopSites directory by ___, if you don't mind? (We can only continue to list you if you click the Update button.)" A number of clients have received this solicitation and they have also sent to most of my domains.

My recommendation: If they indeed have a listing for you, I doubt they will take you out. Sites like this depend on a large body of listings to succeed. It may be wise for you to go there and see what they have for your listing, but they charge a fee, so if you make any changes, they are likely to charge you. If the listing looks acceptable, I'd leave it and ignore it. My opinion is they will still carry your listing and you should not worry about joining until they become the next Google or Yahoo.

More soon!

What is a wiki?

Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. More...

What is a widget?

A small mechanical device or control; a gadget. An unnamed or hypothetical manufactured article.

A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation.