Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is a Total Online Business solution more useful than what I might get from another Web site builder?

2. How much experience do you have?

3. I’ve been solicited by an SEO specialist who wants to charge me a monthly retainer for the service. What’s your take on that?

4. How long will it take to transform my Web site to a Total Online Business?

5. How much will it cost?

6. Would I be better off hiring you to build my Total Online Business for a fixed fee, or going for the pay-for-performance option?

7. Why is there both a development fee and an ongoing provisioning cost?

8. How can I be sure all these amazing components are going to keep talking to each other, without facing some sort of finger pointing standoff when they don't?

9. How do I determine if a Total Online Business solution is right for me?

1. Why is a Total Online Business solution more useful than what I might get from another Web site builder?

   A Web site without the extensive framework and business support system of a Total Online Business solution is like the shell of a house with no interior walls, doors, fixtures, or furniture. Looks impressive—even inviting, but offers no real utility once you’re in the door.

   A Total Online Business solution allows you to communicate with your prospects and customers when it’s most relevant to them, track and trend their activities, update your dynamic information (events, products, prices) yourself, and substantially improve your bottom line because you have your finger on the pulse of your business. It’s a place for your business to live—not just be a pretty façade.

   Most importantly, we’re marketers and business strategists first. So, everything we do is driven and measured by how it serves your business goals. We’re not out to win awards—our singular focus is to help bring you greater business success.

2. How much experience do you have?

   We have decades of experience marketing products, services, companies, and organizations. Both founders have been creating winning marketing programs since the 1970s. While the delivery methods inevitably evolve over the years, the fundamentals of marketing remain: learn who wants what you offer, make sure they know about it, and make them a proposition that compels them to act (either by engaging them in a sales conversation or by making a purchase). Then, measure the response rates, refine the process, and improve the conversion rate.

   We ply these core principals through current-day media and technology. There will be some combination of direct mail, a Web site with a back-end system that does the heavy lifting, potent email campaigns, strategically written and placed online ads, improving organic search results, writing and placing electronic PR and, of course, employing social media to spread your message . The beauty of electronic marketing communication is the speed with which we can measure response rates and refine the strategy—it’s now hours, not weeks.

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3. I’ve been solicited by an SEO specialist who wants to charge me a monthly retainer for the service. What’s your take on that?

   In a word: Beware. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be applied, page by page, to your site to improve your page rank. The content of each marketing page of your site should be guided by a search phrase that is found to be used by your prospects. Uncovering those key words and phrases is both a science and an art. Writing copy that employs them in the right places and times to trigger the highest search engine ranking—all the while remaining “human friendly”—requires great skill. But, this is mostly a short-term intense activity to optimize your pages. Sure, new pages need the same treatment as you add them.

   However, month to month, your customers won’t dramatically change the phrases they’re using to find an organization that has what you have to offer, so it makes little sense to retain someone for months and months for that purpose. A tweak once in awhile, here and there, and you should be well served.

4. How long will it take to transform my Web site to a Total Online Business?

   Ah, the phrase you love to hate: It depends. It depends on whether you have an existing, highly-functional site that just requires the enhanced back-end “machinery” of a Total Online Business solution, or if you’re in need of a deep overhaul, or if you’re starting from scratch with a new concept or business.

   If we’re going to do a little SEO copy tweaking, add in CRM (client relationship management) and email campaign management, it might require just two-to-three weeks to really learn what would serve you best, create it, migrate your site to our Total Online Business provisioning, integrate the back-end components, and have you come up to speed on how to really tap the power of the entire system.

   On the other hand, a major overhaul or a brand new site may require a wide-scale reassessment or development of your message, working out the organization and navigation of the material, development of a more compelling marketing strategy, creation of specific promotions or more online content. It may even require logo design, printed collateral materials, trade show displays, etc. We can assist to whatever degree you feel you need. In fact, if you need a virtual sales team for complex sales cycles, we have the resources to help you. And, all of that would be rolled out on a very different timetable—it could take ten-to-twenty weeks or more, depending on your ability to scale up your sales force, budget constraints, seasonality, etc.

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5. How much will it cost?

   It depends. Most companies are hesitant to “ball park” costs up front, but that’s what we’re about to do, here—so don’t quote us.

   For the first situation, calling for a bit of refinement, plus adding the Total Online Business back end outlined in the previous question, it might typically run $2,000-$4,000, plus the ongoing hosting and provisioning of all these capabilitiies by our technology partner of anywhere from $30-$60 per month. For a more extensive project, as described in the previous question, provisioning costs would remain the same. However, the development costs will be greater, commensurate with the scope of the project—perhaps two-to-three times as much.

   If the scope of work for your project can be defined in advance, we’ll be happy to provide you a fixed fee quote to accomplish it. If, however, it’s less clear what will be required until we all dive in, we’re pleased to supply you an estimate, based on our best understanding, and invoice as we go.

6. Would I be better off hiring you to build my Total Online Business for a fixed fee, or going for the pay-for-performance option?

   If your project is a Web site freshening and adding the Total Online Business back end, you might decide that a fixed fee quote serves you best. If it’s more than that, though, you may find our pay-for-performance option attractive.

   In the pay-for-performance scenario, we’ll act as your ongoing business/marketing partner. We’re confident of our abilities, and have a decades-long track record. So, we’ll cut our upfront development fee by perhaps 50%—which amplifies our risk—for the promise of compensation in the future, if we help you to succeed.This isn’t a profit-sharing plan. We should be paid only for areas we can impact. Your overall profitability is dependent on much more that we can help with. No, this back-end compensation is derived only from measurable events over which we have influence, such as lead generation, sales volume, etc. For instance, if your online goal is to generate leads and you then work the leads to convert to sales, we’d have no influence on your sales process, so we’d be compensated only on lead generation. On the other hand, if online sales is your goal, we would be paid some amount per sale, or some percentage of your sales volume.

    What many clients find attractive about the pay-for-performance scenario is that we have plenty of skin in the game. So, we want to maximize your success—and our interest in your success is ongoing. The huge reduction in up-front development costs gets you up and running with a comprehensive strategy and execution for a fraction of the value of the effort, expertise, and time we’ll bring to bear—and we’re risking the balance of our value for the chance to recover it—and perhaps more—as time goes on. So, we’re highly motivated to continually create and refine more and more successful programs and promotions for you. Your budget is happy, and you have an ongoing virtual marketing partner. The reward for us to risk half our up-front development fee is the prospect for a greater return over time, and the satisfaction of establishing an ongoing relationship with you where we can make a substantial impact on your business success.

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7. Why is there both a development fee and an ongoing provisioning cost?

   These are two distinct components of each Total Online Business solution. A craftsman, with no tools, has only potential, but no means. On the other hand, the tools alone, with no one to guide them, can build nothing. The development phase is the craft of designing and executing your strategy and tactics, while the ongoing provisioning of the site and the back-end capabilities are the tools we use to accomplish your goals.

8. How can I be sure all these amazing components are going to keep talking to each other, without facing some sort of finger pointing standoff when they don’t?

Think of it this way: if you were to hire one company to design your site, another to provide email campaign management, someone else to handle CRM, an e-commerce specialist, and a fifth resource to make sense of it all through analytics, you’d have a lot of cooks in the kitchen. When those disparate resources don’t mesh perfectly, who’s at fault and how will the problem be cured?

Each Total Online Business solution taps the same single, proven source for all the technology that drives the entire suite of back end capabilities. And, those capabilities are constantly being enhanced. Everything has been designed and refined by the same experts, from the ground up, to work in synchrony for the sake of your business success.  And our technology partner is owned, supported, and backed by $4 billion Adobe Systems. You’ll pay them directly, with a monthly recurring credit card charge, for as long as you want to tap these capabilities. There’s no contract, so you can cancel it whenever you wish.

9. How do I determine if a Total Online Business solution is right for me?

   We invite you to request an initial brainstorming conversation to explore if it might be a good fit. We’ll set up a time that’s convenient for you, and give you a conference call-in number. One or more of our experts will join in to get an idea about your situation and goals, and offer early suggestions on how we might approach the project, and discuss options. If you feel you’d like to take the next step, we’ll follow up with a summary of our understanding of the project, along with a quote or estimate, depending on your preference.

   That usually leads to another discussion to refine details of the work, possibly massage the scope of work to fit within your budget, exchange contact information about your team and ours, and pin down timetables, work out payment terms, etc.

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