Frequently Asked Questions
Website Development
First we arrange a meeting to discuss your requirements. From this we will draw up a plan of the site, together with a quote.
There is no obligation at all at this stage. If you decide to accept the quote, we will require a deposit before we start on the design.
When you meet us, bring with you any text/images/brochures/websites that are relevant to the site.
If you know some websites that you like, write down the ‘www.’ addresses and bring them along. This will give the designer an idea of what you’re looking for.
The more you can show us with regards to layout, colour, content, function and feel, the more easily we can build your site to meet your expectations.
The designer will give you two or three initial design templates based on your specifications, with variations in layout, colours or any other options you would like to see. This sets out the general structure of the page.
Once you decide what you like or don’t like, we can then work on your choice and arrive at the final look for your site.
We always expect there to be a few changes to the overall design and we will work with you to make sure that the final design is what you want.
However, once the look of the site has been agreed and we are at a later stage in the design, any major reworking of the existing design will result in additional charges if substantial extra work is required.
We will of course inform you of this at the time (before we do the work) and will only go ahead when you are 100% happy.
Email it over as a Word or Notepad document, or as a text file. We can write your content if required. For your website to do well in search engines it needs to have informative and relevant text on every important page. This should ideally be written by the person who knows your business best, you.
Images can be sent by email if they have been ‘zipped’ with WinZip, WinRar or similar. We can take images from a CD. If you don’t have the images in a digital format, we can scan in photographs, although the quality of scanned images may not be as good as digital ones. Simply send us your photos / brochures in the post, or drop them into our offices.
If we have to do a lot of scanning and image resizing or retouching to get useable image content for the website, this may add to the cost of the whole design. Again, we will inform you of this at the time, before we do the work, and will only go ahead when we have your say-so.
We will need the video clips on a CD or DVD. Audio clips should be in MP3 or Real Media format, or alternatively a CD will do.
Please note that we cannot use copyrighted music and video without the owner’s permission.
We also have access to a huge amount of royalty-free audio and video, so we can always use stock content for use commercially.
Please be aware that we cannot use other people’s imagery without their permission. This is for your own protection, as image companies do not sue designers for copyright infringement, they sue the website owner!
If you don’t have your own images, we can either arrange for a photographer or select some suitable images from stock photography sites to be used.
No problem, our translators can convert the site into your desired language. This can either be worked into the quote from the outset or charged at an hourly rate.
Please note that this is not standard with every website, but we still have the resources to accommodate this.
With so many different operating systems, browsers and screen sizes, the only way to achieve an ‘optimum’ look on everyone’s screen is to offer different content to different users – effectively, to have a number of different versions of the site. This can involve significant extra work and will increase the cost.
However we design all our websites to display consistently in the most recent versions of the popular browsers and platforms, mainly Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, on either a Windows PC or Mac. We also make sure that the most recent previous versions of browsers are catered for as well (eg, Internet Explorer 7). Depending on your target market, you might find that a high percentage of your visitors use one particular screen resolution or platform; in this case we would recommend that your design is optimised for that user group while still catering for all others.
We cannot anticipate changes in web browser or operating system technology in the future. If new versions of either come out that require changes to the code of a website to remain compliant, we reserve the right to charge for this extra work.
We make sure all our websites are coded for quickest possible loading and that all images are compressed as far as possible without reducing quality.
If required, we can design websites to comply with the most stringent website accessibility standards.
This means that we optimise the design content and navigation so that they are compliant with technology such as screen readers.
We generally use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and Dreamweaver for design, although if we are doing Search Engine Optimisation for you, this is completed strategically, through online linking.
We can get a small contact site designed and online within 3-5 days if we have all the website content from the start. The only thing holding up the design process is content, so the quicker you can get all the content to us the quicker we can get the website online.
This hasn’t happened yet! We keep in contact with our clients all the time to make sure that the design is heading in the right direction.
We offer a number of choices, and never develop any idea too far until you are happy that you have what you want.
The more websites that there are offering the same services or products as yours, the fiercer the competition for search engine placement.
We have been successful in placing our clients on the first page of Google for specific keywords, but we will analyse keywords, check competition and make recommendations based on which would be the most effective while still having plenty of traffic.
The quick answer is that this depends on the amount of promotional work you opt for. The unfortunate truth is that in most fields of business there are so many websites vying for position in the top search engines that many will never be seen.
As far as design is concerned, successful website promotion is not something that can be ‘tacked onto a project’ at the end of the design process – the site must be designed with promotion in mind from the outset. Please visit our Search Engine Optimisation section for more information.
Once the website is finished, small updates (for example the addition or replacement of a paragraph of text or an image to a page, or changes required to reflect a new address or phone number) are free of charge. However, if your website needs updating regularly (on a monthly basis or more often) you will need to consider either a database-driven site or a maintenance contract.
Changes such as the reorganisation of the website structure or the creation of extra pages will incur additional costs at any stage. Most websites we build use databases anyway, so creating and changing content is relatively easy, even for a beginner.
Firstly, you will need an webpage editor or web design software program (such as Microsoft Front Page or Adobe Dreamweaver) in which to edit the pages, and then you will need an FTP (File Transfer Program) to upload the files to the web.
Don’t worry if this sounds beyond you, we’re happy to either help you do this or to design a Content Management System (CMS) that will allow you to update pages and images, simply by logging into an online administration area within your website.
This is difficult to answer as there are so many aspects to getting a website online, including features, functionality, whether it’s optimised or not, flash-use, custom website features and so on.
With a huge spectrum of different websites and CMS systems, it’s hard to pinpoint a cost, but we’re happy to discuss specific budgeting, and will work out how to achieve the projects goal within this.
If you’re ready to take an active role and prepare all the text and image content in a digital format, this will save us a lot of time data-inputting and scanning imagery, and this will affect the quote.
If the website completion date is delayed because we’re waiting for content from a client, we may charge an interim payment. We never go beyond deadlines from our end
We are used to working with existing designs and updating or adding to them. We will price the work according to the work required and the time it will take to complete.
Yes. Every website needs two things before it can go online: A domain name (a ‘www’ address) and hosting via a web server.
We can arrage both of these, and while most clients prefer us to manage this side of a website project, we can easily work on your own server or with your own domain name.
Before you purchase a domain name, however, carefully consider keywords for which your website will be listed, and try to include them in the domain name where possible.>
The website and all the image work contained within and connected to it are the property of our company The Artery, until we are paid in full.
However, unlike other design companies, once you have paid us in full for the website it becomes your property and you are free to do with it as you wish. However, please note the provison below regarding original artwork.
Any original artwork, including photography, which we have designed or used for the website should not be used anywhere else without written permission from us or the artist.
This does not apply to logos we have designed for you, as these are yours outright.
We do not charge for any hosting transfers.
Media Production:
The Artery has three offerings in the market today. They include Shoot, Online Video Advertising and Campaign Management.
Shoot
We provide all the services and elements required to produce Film and TV commercials, feature films, television programs, live broadcasts, music videos, documentaries, corporate and brand viral videos.
We take special care to understand your production brief carefully, so we can quote on exactly what you require and offer excellent production value for your money. Our film production services include:
- Experienced and highly-professional film crew
- Camera, grips and lighting equipment
- Cost reporting and budget management
- Script breakdown and shoot scheduling using ‘Movie Magic’
- Negative processing, transfer, editing and grading
- Sound mix
- State-of-the-art Digital filming, post-production and animation
Online Video Advertising
The Internet is full of videos, on ecommerce websites and otherwise, that intend to generate a response but end up failing because of their amateurism. If you want a web video to generate sales, it should ideally be shot in full HD and developed by an SEO marketing expert. After being shot, the video should then be edited by a professional film editor to give it the style and substance that will make your video produce its intended effect. While entrusting your video to full scale Internet video production service will cost more than doing the job yourself, web videos that aren’t top quality are quickly dismissed in favor of those that are.
We offer end to end solutions for online video advertising and video marketing to businesses of all sizes. We produce videos for individual small business websites, work with organisations to deliver their corporate video and we partner with online directories and listings sites to offer video to their customers.
The Artery can manage the entire online video process from scripting and production to management and streaming.
Campaign Management
Campaign Management enables advertisers and agencies to perform a variety of digital media planning and buying tasks using an easy-to-use web browser. Campaign Management lets you explore and visualize signage specifics in various categories, such as bars and restaurants, as well as see various venues. It allows you to plan using a variety of “what if’ scenarios based on targets you set by demographics and more.
While paying for full scale Internet video production services probably sounds expensive, it’s nothing compared to the dramatic effect that professionally made web videos can have on your sales in a short period of time. As a general rule, you can expect for each minute of your web video to cost around R10,000, depending on such factors as whether or not you require actors or multiple shoot locations. Most landing page videos are around three minutes in length, the cost of which can be negated by increased sales within only a few days, especially if work with an SEO specialist to improve your page ranking and drive quality traffic to your website.
The Artery makes it simple to integrate production media into an advertising campaign. Whether an advertiser wants to target a specific demographic, advertise to a broad profile in a geographic area, The Artery’s web-based software optimizes the network to meet each specific need.
Advertisers or agencies just need to enter the campaign objectives and the software will recommend a plan that targets the ad message exactly where people are. Finally, the software provides them with reports that allow them to measure the performance of their advertising campaign.
Together with you our team will create a strategy to make that happen. Sound good? Get in touch.
Out-of-home digital media networks – networks that deliver advertising in stores, movie theatres, office buildings, bars and restaurants and health clubs – are becoming a key part of the overall marketing media mix for advertisers. Out-of-home digital media networks solve many of the problems plaguing traditional media, including declining national audiences, technologies that allow consumers to skip or avoid ads, and the shift in consumer attention to alternative digital media.
They can offer placed-based advertising with higher levels of control relative to traditional marketing and communications channels and at significantly lower costs, which is why today’s advertisers and their media agencies are adding them to their media mix.
The out-of-home digital media market today is very fragmented. There are hundreds of such network providers across multiple categories such as grocery stores, retail outlets, health clubs, doctor’s offices etc. An advertiser who wants to create a national advertising plan across multiple categories online has to contact each network provider individually to plan and buy spots.
As a result, advertisers and agencies are challenged to include out-of-home digital media in their national advertising plans.
The Artery provides an extensive network of out-of-home digital media in the market today.
The Artery then makes it easy for advertisers and agencies to plan and buy advertising on out-of-home digital with The Artery network in three ways:
- First, it delivers the broadest coverage possible by bringing together an extensive network of out-of-home digital media that blanket the country coast-to-coast.
- Next, The Artery’s network size delivers the deepest reach possible so you can precisely target people. One can plan and buy according to geography and demographic.
- Finally, The Artery enables you to effectively customize, plan, buy and measure your advertising campaign.
Company Information:
The Artery is the circulation system by which oxygenated blood is conveyed from the heart to all parts of the body.
Our simple translation of The Artery then is ‘connected system’.
We felt that this was a pretty apt description of our solutions, the Internet and all it’s possibilities.
There are lots of web designers, web developers, branding consultants, SEO experts, online strategists, production persons and digital agencies. Generally they all say the same thing or they hide behind confusing tech speak and their ‘integrated social media customer outreach management programme’…” urm right.
We know you’ve seen it all before so we make one honest promise: we’ll keep it simple. If you don’t have time to blog, we’re not going to force you and if Twitter sounds like it’s only used by twits then maybe it’s not for you.
We don’t have a doctrine to push. All we want is for you and your business to succeed. Together with you our team will create a strategy to make that happen. Sound good? Get in touch.
The Artery is run by a proficient Management team, working with Brand Positioning Specialist and Projects Assistant. To keep our costs low we bring in developers, designers, videographers, editors, photographers, artists and consultants when we need them.
We have a close knit team of companies and individuals that we regularly work with. When we say ‘we’ or ‘us’ it is this team that we are referring to.
Our main base is in Cape Town, South Africa.
We work with clients all across the South area of South Africa and we are regularly in Cape Town and Johannesburg. However, if you are further afield we can always work remotely, just email us at info@the-artery.co.za or give us a call on +27 82 722 4221.
We have a very simple method for calculating project costs. Our hourly charge is;
- R350 per hour for design
- R400 per hour for development
- R450 per hour for programming
- R2850 per day for filming
We work out how many hours each part of a project will cost and take the total cost from there. When we put together a proposal for you we will show how many hours go into each stage along with a timeline mapping out your project.
Due to the format of our company we can keep our overheads very low, this means our prices are competitive. We can almost always work with in your budget. To be absolutely sure, why not?
The short answer is no. We don’t add extra just incase, but as part of our process we try and limit the number of amendments required. The way we do this is to regularly involve you in each step of the project. You get the opportunity to check and sign off everything we create for you. We also use videos to walk you through key stages of developments, such as the design and development stage.
But don’t worry we would never leave a project until you are 100% happy.
No, of course not! We use very open languages, write clean code and well document our projects. If you’d like to add anything in the future it’s super easy and you don’t have to come back to us, although we hope you do!
Useful New Media Definitions:
A “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.
Your brand, on the internet.
A collection of related web pages that lives on the internet and talks to the world about your offering.
A mini-website, usually supplementary to your core website and often with a particular purpose (Promote a new product, launch an event or just simply get more of you out the on the web)
A micro-site delivered through email.
A set of tools that puts you in control of your website.
A website with a brain. It can store information, process information and support transactions and provide a rich and interactive user experience while doing so.
A podcast, at its core, is just a computer audio file that is created along with some computer code that enables the file to be downloaded to your computer (and therefore, is transferable to iPods). There are now thousands of free podcasts available at iTunes.
A blog is really just an informal website. The format of a blog site is an online journal or diary that is usually more personal and more subjective than a proper website. Blogs have actually been around for years, but it wasn’t until recently that they came to be known by this term.
An audio-blog is a blog that includes music as well as text. Usually the text is a critique or some commentary of the music. Audio-blogs are becoming more and more embraced by the industry.
A magazine that is available online (as opposed to in print on paper). A music ‘zine focuses on music as a main topic.
Listening to radio broadcasts via the Internet. Using streaming techniques, high-quality audio can be delivered to users at their computers. The audio is played via a software media player or a browser plug-in that supports streaming audio formats such as those from RealNetworks and Microsoft. Internet radio may be streamed at the same time as live AM and FM broadcasts over the air, or it may be a recording of a previous broadcast. In the latter case, selecting the station again after it started will reset the stream to the beginning.
A Social Networking Site (like Facebook, MySpace) enables people to rendezvous, connect, or collaborate through computer-mediated communication. Many advocates of using these tools believe (and actively argue or assume) that these create actual community, and have adopted the term ‘online communities’ to describe the social structures that they claim result. (Definition from Wikipedia)
A wiki is a website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change available content, typically without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. (Definition from Wikipedia)
