Before you decide on your options, a few quick words about

• the normal costs and problems associated with a website and
• why SnapSites Solutions solves all these issues, quickly and easily

1. Ongoing maintenance

With the traditional website process, once the site is finished it's finished. The designer and developer don't touch it again.

But things on the net change fast and often and these developments can impact on the way your site displays and/or functions. (Think of how many security issues, browser updates, hacking attempts etc you hear about these days. All of that can influence your site.)

Normally nobody keeps an eye on issues like these and by the time a website owner becomes aware that something is wrong, she's lost visitors and that translates into lost money.

Fixing a website that becomes negatively impacted by security issues, browser updates, hacking attempts etc can cost a fortune.  
It may take you a while to discover that a serious problem has cropped up with your site. And while you're unaware of what's going on, you're losing sales, advertising, sign-ups etc.

Once you've discovered something is amiss, you'll need to get it fixed as soon as possible. Technical specialists may need to work overtime or at odd hours to find the problem and then get and implement a solution to get you up and running again – and they'll charge a premium for that (anywhere from R450.00 to R1 000.00 per hour can be expected.)

Income is also lost while the website is down for repairs.

What your website actually needs is for a specialist to keep an eye on it and to fix any technical problems as and when they occur. This doesn't happen with the traditional website service.

With our Monthly Maintenance Plan we also keep a constant, ongoing watch for anything that may affect your site – from security threats to hosting uptime, your site is being monitored - and any necessary maintenance is done quietly in the background, without you even being aware of it. This ensures that your website gets the ongoing technical maintenance it needs (for less than R300 per month) for it to perform optimally long-term.

All you know is that your site works like it is meant to, no hassles, no fuss.

2. Changes and updates

The other big problem we found with the traditional way websites are done is that for every change an owner wants on the site, from a simple price update to the addition of new info and photos, the web developer needs to be contacted.

He'll then fit in the work as his time allows – and charge his hourly rate for it. This “hidden cost” of running a successful website also often causes website owners to use their sites less successfully than they could as they are hesitant to make regular updates.

With one of our websites, you'll be able to make your own updates without any extra hourly rates to budget for or developers to contact.

You can add to / edit your website whenever you want to. You can add new info, photos, prices lists, specials – whatever you like – without having to wait for and depend on a web developer.

3. In-house, self-built systems

Many so-called Content Management System websites are built on a system that is created in-house, by the company themselves. Systems like this are limited to the skills and time of the developer for further expansion, updates, bug fixing, security patches etc.

The lack of serious, large scale, long term, testing, tweaking and development is not to your advantage. You can only imagine what the result for your website is when the original developer gets busy, loses interest or closes down the business...

By using one of the world's best Open Source Content Management System, Joomla, we can offer you a range of options that we know are stable and of the highest standards and quality available today.

This system is being constantly tested and improved by thousands of programmers and developers around the world, all the time. This enables us to ensure that you have a consistently up-to-date, stable, secure and powerful website – at a fraction of the price of proprietary solutions.

Due to the fact that you don't have to pay for the development of the CMS itself (the source code is licensed according to the GPL), you save a fortune.
The

• installation,
• setup,
• research,
• customisation,
• updates,
• debugging,
• maintenance and
• associated activities we provide, which are necessary to create and provide the specific websites solutions offered,

as well as

• the creation and / or adaptation and provision of user
• manuals and
• help materials relating to these solutions,

...requires an advanced level of expertise in various disciplines and ongoing work on our part.

It is only this expertise and the ongoing work we do to continue to keep your website up and running smoothly and securely, that is charged for and not the original source code itself upon which our solutions are based.

In short, with a SnapSites website you get

• the benefit of an experienced, professional website design and development team building you a powerful website, so that it all works perfectly, right from the start
• as well as the features and advantages of DIY that allow you to then edit and expand your website yourself, quickly and easily,
• while our dedicated team continues to keep the technical side of your site secure, stable, up-to-date and running optimally all the time. (Monthly Maintenance Plan)

So you can rest assured that your site is built on systems that are being continually researched, improved, tested and updated – by a team of thousands!

Couple this with our personal expertise and experience in building your site, the training materials and info we provide with the focus on empowering you, and our business and marketing experience (we've been doing this for 9 years) and you'll realise that it doesn't get better than this.

This is the website solution you've been waiting for. Soon you'll wonder how you ever managed without it!