Latitude 17 South provides website design, development, maintenance, and search engine optimization (SEO) services with the flexibility to accommodate the needs of small businesses. Many new website owners find themselves overwhelmed and confused by all the information they need to learn. It doesn't have to be so complicated! Free website advice and consulting is available, just call 678-401-4580, or head over to the blog page for help.

Considering the various features, components, and functionality that any given website can have, its virtually impossible to provide fixed 'menu-style' pricing. That said, there are some general aspects common to all websites, and knowing some of the terms and features involved will help you to understand and describe what you need. The following list describes some of the more common features that can be included within a website.

Website Services

• Website Design

  • Original site design concepts
  • Designs created to imitate/resemble other sites recommended by client
  • Modification of client-provided design templates
  • I'm happy to work with clients to help them realize their own design ideas

  Examples

  • Pets at Home Petsitting Original design built to client specs
  • Mountains in Bloom An original design for a garden festival.
  • Hemingway Pool & Spa Original design for a pool construction company

  More examples are available on the portfolio page.

• Website Development

  • W3C Standards-compliant HTML, XHTML, and CSS coding
  • Coding of client-provided designs into functional websites
  • Websites tested to ensure proper display across multiple browsers

  A few sites I've developed from designs provided by clients

  • ~M Cupcakes
  • Reliable Security, LLC
  • Georgia Intellectual Property Institute

• Website Maintenance

  • Modify your current website; from minor revisions to a major overhaul
  • Add new text, new functionalities, or new design features
  • Rapid response time: changes often completed within 24 hours!

• Search Engine Optimization

  • Your web pages will be coded with Search Engine Optimization in mind.
  • On-page features that Search Engines weigh more heavily are given careful consideration as to their wording, emphasis, and placement.
  • I can help you organize your content to receive added benefit from keywords.
  • I can provide guidance regarding off-page methods of improving your page ranking.
  • Google Analytics will be installed within appropriate pages of your site. This will allow you to review a wide range of statistics about your site's visitors, which pages they've viewed, how long they spend viewing each page, how they reached your site, etc.
  • I can assist you in setting up a Google Adwords account, and help you understand the data it provides.
  • I'll analyze several of your top competitors' sites to learn how they rank in Google SERPs, and to gain some insight into the techniques they're using that are helping their search engine rankings.
  • Ranking at the top of the Search Engine results page is not guaranteed: that depends on many factors, not least of which is how much competition you have for your chosen keywords. Top ranking almost always requires a significant expenditure for SEO services, and continuous monitoring and adjusting of your content. I will work with your budget to maximize the effectiveness of your SEO investment.

Website Features

There are a great number of options that can be included on a website. The following topics discuss some of these options, and define some terms for which you may not yet have a clear understanding.

• Search Engine Optimization

  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of methods that make it easier for search engines to find, index, categorize and rank web pages. If you're selling widgets, your potential customers are going to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc., and are trying to find a place to buy widgets. It's very important for you to understand your own customers, and to understand how they will attempt to find your product/service with an online search. With that kind of understanding, it becomes easier to code your pages so that the search engines will rank them higher.

  SEO is a huge and rapidly changing field of specialization. Considering that Google (one of the premier search engines) has only been in business for a few years, its understandable that its algorithms (the code that does the search and generates the results) are still flexible and subject to frequent change. Many SEO experts do nothing other than monitor the shifts in search engine algorithms, in order to keep their clients' sites at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Given the financial benefits involved with having a page ranked at the top of a SERP, the competition for that top ranking is fierce, and achieving progressively higher rankings for the more popular keywords will require progressively higher investments in SEO.

• W3C Valid Coding

  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C's mission is:

  To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.

  W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines.

  All of the code I develop is validated through the W3C. This ensures that it is correctly written coding, and follows the standards set forth by the W3C.

• CSS styling

  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been activley promoting the use of stylesheets since the Consortium was founded in 1994. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a mechanism for adding style (e.g. fonts, colors, spacing) to Web documents. Style sheets describe how documents are presented on screens, in print, or perhaps how they are pronounced (by screen-reading devices).

  Prior to the widespread acceptance of CSS by the development community, most webpages were styled using tables. With table-based styling, all page components are contained within table rows and cells of various widths and heights; kind of like an ugly spreadsheet with images.

• XHTML Coding

  XHTML consists of all the elements in HTML 4.01, combined with the strict syntax of XML. HTML 4.01 will function and display properly, even if the coder uses bad coding practices. In XML, everything must be marked up correctly. XML is designed to describe data, and HTML is designed to display data. Today's market consists of different browser technologies, some browsers run on computers, and some browsers run on mobile phones or other small devices. Those mobil devices do not have the resources or power to interpret a "bad" markup language. Therefore - by combining the strengths of both HTML and XML, XHTML ensures that pages can display properly on various devices, and it also represents 'future-proof' coding that will work as the standards advance over time. Along with CSS, XHTML represents the state of the art in standards-based website development.

• 'Brochure' Web Sites

  A brochure website is among the simplest types of websites. It functions much like an online version of a printed brochure. It typically has 4-6 pages containing only images, text, and contact information. A true brochure website would contain no special functionality like contact forms, animation, JavaScripting, etc.

  Brochure websites are the ideal choice for small businesses that are simply looking to establish an on-line presence. It provides a very affordable option to print advertising, and allows your customers another way to find you! A brochure website can help gain customers within your store or office, and at the same time reduce the volume of calls you receive if you provide frequently requested information on your website. Of course, a brochure site can always grow into a larger or more dynamic site whenever you're ready.

• Contact Form

  Every website contains contact information for the owner of the site (phone, email address, etc). A contact form allows a visitor to type you a message, answer whatever questions you want to ask on the form, and choose from various options you make available via checkboxes. At the bottom of the form is a submit button that causes the form to send you an email containing all the info the form has gathered.

  This website contains a very simple contact form (see the contact page). Another, more elaborate example can be seen here.

• JavaScript Functionality

  JavaScript is a scripting language commonly used to add dynamic features to websites. If you see something in motion or changing on a website, its very likely it was created using either Flash or JavaScript. The collapsing text areas on the list you're reading now were created with JavaScript. The expandable views of the images within my portfolio page represent another product of JavaScripting. Pop-up windows, slideshows, and rollover image effects like the torch image here are a few of the endless examples of JavaScripting, and you'll likely start recognizing JavaScript in action on virtually every website you visit from now on.
  
  Many JavaScript programs are open source, and can be freely incorporated into your website. If you know what you want, I can almost certainly find it and add it to your site.

• Flash Animation

  Flash is a software program which emphasizes the creation, import, and manipulation of many types of media. Flash animation is quite popular in modern websites. The one characteristic of Flash that most clearly defines its capabilities is "motion". If you see video, text in motion, images or objects with moving components (as opposed to the entire image changing, fading in and out, etc), you're almost certainly seeing Flash content.

  Although most websites are built using HTML code, some of the more "flashy" websites are built entirely with Flash. A good reason not to build a site entirely with Flash is that Search Engines typically do not see text contained within Flash.

  Many, if not most, of the banner ads you see on websites are created with Flash.