Website FAQs Victoria BC | Runestone Design

Why do I need a website?

These days, having a website is essential to reach a demographic of people who use the internet a great deal in their every day lives. Some people just don't look in the paper or the phone book first when they are looking for a business; they are looking for a company that is current with the times, and a business without a web presence can hardly be described as such. Just putting yourself on the web says a lot about your business, its willingness to change with the times as well as its desire to reach as many people as possible.

I don't use the internet, why not just advertise in the phone book?

Giving your business a presence in the telephone directory is certainly a good way of getting your name out there. However, with the increasing trend of people who elect not to have a residential phone line, and thus, no phone book, it seems logical to try more than one avenue to market your local business. A newspaper is another good choice, but the circulation of a newspaper will be even less than that of the phone directory. Your best choice is to have an official website offering up official information regarding your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How much does a website cost?

Runestone Web Design Services offers both website design packages and fully custom-built web sites. We offer a basic web-presence package with a couple of pages and revisions, a semi-custom web design package with more pages and revisions, as well as fully customised web sites and applications. Please see our pricing page for more information; email us or use the form below to recieve a free quote.

How soon can I get a website?

Depending on how much of your website's content you already have prepared, a website contained in one of our web design packages should be finished within 2-3 weeks. A custom website or web application can take much longer depending on the project, but a rough timeline will be included in your quote.

What is web hosting? Do I need it?

Websites have to occupy some physical space on a server computer connected to the internet in order for people surfing the web to find it and view it. Just having a website made for you isn't the end of the story, sadly. You will need someone to take the files that comprise your website and host them on a computer made to take the strain of many people accessing the files at once.

Can you host my website?

Yes! Runestone Web Design Services is a full-service web design firm with multiple web hosting packages. We offer fast, reliable web hosting for less than $5/month! Our hosting boasts such features as the latest cPanel control panel, webmail, MySQL Databases with phpMyAdmin access, instant software installation with Fantastico and 99.9% uptime! We also offer website maintenance packages in case that last sentence was completely indecipherable jargon.

Please visit RunestoneHosting.com for more information on our web hosting services.

I am already hosted, can I switch to you?

Most likely. If anyone is going to prevent you from switching, it will be your current host. We are more than happy to transfer your site to or from our web servers to the best of our ability.

Can you write marketing text/copy for me?

Runestone Web Design Services offers full copy-writing services at additional cost. Please email us or use the form below to recieve a free quote.

Can you make photos or images for me?

Yes, images are included in the layout and design of your Runestone website. We can edit and alter any photos or images that you might like on your website. We also offer photo shooting in Greater Victoria at an hourly rate.

What kind of content can I have on a website?

Anything. Anything that's legal in Canada and the United States, that is. We really don't care what kind of website you want or what you would like to put on it. We have no moral issue with adult content, obscenity, piracy, or any other controversial content. What kind of content we can host for you is a different story, and a full list can be found here soon.

Am I limited to just XHTML and CSS?

Nope. Runestone Web Design Services offers in addition to fully valid XHTML and CSS, websites or applications written in php, Javascript/AJAX, Perl, C/C++/C#, Python, Ruby, and more.

Can you make me something other than a website?

Yes. Runestone Web Design Services not only creates appealing websites and striking images and visuals, but also offers custom web applications written in a number of languages, databases and database-manipulating applications, dynamic content management software, blog, forum and other website software installation, flash animations and applications, print media and graphic design, and even photo shooting and processing. If you are curious about a service not listed here, please feel free to inquire; it's likely that someone at Runestone can help you out!

Are you able to meet to discuss my future website?

If your business is located in Greater Victoria, we would be happy to send a consultant to meet with you and outline your business' web design service needs. If you are located elsewhere on Vancouver Island, or are located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, give us a shout and we can more than likely make it out to you at minimal travel costs.

Can you clarify some web terms for me?

Sure thing! The internet can be really confusing at times.

bandwidth: Commonly means the size (number of bits or bytes) of data transferred over a specific interval of time
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets are files written with a specific syntax that add visual style to webpages
domain name: A hierarchical name associated with a website (ie. RunestoneDesign.com)
Flash: A vector-based animation and multimedia format developed by Macromedia, currently owned by Adobe
keyword: A word or phrase significant for search engine queries
link: A pointer to another document (webpage) on the web. Also called a hyperlink
meta tag: A piece of XHTML that describes a webpage that can be significant for search engines
search engine: A web application that indexes the XHTML code of websites, and can be used to search for relevant websites
server: A remote computer that delivers content to web browsers per request (hence, server)
XHTML: Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is the latest version of HTML

So then, where do we start?

If you are interested in any of Runestone's services, please email us or use the form provided to the left. Our friendly staff will be more than happy to answer any inquiries you have about Runestone or websites in general. We hope to hear from you soon!