Host Department was established in 1997, and is based in Wilmington, DE with data centers located in Fremont and Santa Clara,CA. Through a series of strategic business moves, Host Department became the Tier 1 host company it is known today.

Host Department's business model emphasizes service to small and medium sized businesses (SME), allowing them to do e-commerce and focus on their core competencies while Host Department handles their Internet sites. We have provided premium and free web hosting to over 550,000 customers worldwide. With innovations in customer service, ease of use, and special features for customers, Host Department continues to stay one step ahead of the competition.

In addition to our value-added services, we have decided to offer custom web designing and development service to our customers. Our goal is to be your one-stop online shop for all your Web Hosting, Domain Name Registration, Web Design and Development, and Advertising needs.

As of our commitment to serve and host, we accept customers not only from the US, but also from worldwide countries in Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. We accept all types of projects, whether it is for your personal or corporate use. We guarantee our work and your satisfaction. Just Contact Us or Request A Free Quote .

We take great pride in the success we have had in meeting the goals of our customers and web users. With our 30 days Satisfaction Guarantee, we will deliver a service that is 100% custom-made to each customer. In addition, for each web design and development project, we have developed the following Success Mechanisms:

• Goal Evaluation - During the early stages of a project, we will work with you to help you set measurable goals for your site. After the site has been launched for 30days, we will evaluate the success of your site in meeting those goals, and if necessary, make some site changes for FREE.


• Satisfaction Review - At the end of each project, we will carry out a satisfaction review. You will be given an opportunity to tell us how we perform. In our view, a highly satisfied customer is always an indicator to our success.

Do you have a formal process that all projects go through?
Yes, we do.
Our design and development process borrows principles from project management for software development and marketing production. Each project has phases, deliverables, tasks and timelines defined. Each phase works to refine a deliverable that will be presented to the customer for approval before commencement to the next phase. In addition, all projects will go through our Success Mechanisms.

What is the customer's role in the development process?
We strive to work together with our customers as a seamless team. As such our process is flexible enough to let you determine the level of involvement you want. Some customers want heavy, daily involvement in particular aspects of development, others prefer to let us handle everything. Your input to the project will be defined at the beginning of the project based on your needs and preferences.

Please note that in order to meet the required finish date, we will need any materials you are providing for the site by a certain date. If a customer does miss a deliverable deadline, the website delivery date will be delayed. If a customer deliverable is missed, you will not be charged for developer down time. We will re-task personnel to other projects and we will put them back on your project as soon as they are available again after the customer deliverable is provided to us.

How will I know the status of my project thoughout development?
Host Department recognizes that customer-vendor communication is critical to a long-term successful relationship. As such we go above and beyond in our communications efforts with customers. All customers will have a dedicated Web Consultant who acts as a single point of contact for project needs.

A Web Consultant's primary duties are to assure the project stays within budget and schedule, facilitate communication, and achieve complete customer satisfaction. Your Web Consultant will facilitate constant communication based on two primary mechanisms:

• Review Points - every project has multiple review points where your Web Consultant will discuss with you via chats (Yahoo or MSN Messenger) or email to review discussion points and define requirements.
• Weekly Status Reports - Your Web Consultant will provide a status update to you via chats (Yahoo or MSN Messenger) or email at the end of each week.

After I decide I want you to build my website what happens next?
You will need to complete the first payment as discussed in the Quotation Form. You will then receive a Work Order Contract that will map out Host Department and your deliverables, prices/payment schedule, timelines and project parameters. Once the Work Order Contract is agreed by both parties, your Web Consultant will contact you via chats (Yahoo or MSN Messenger) or email to begin formalizing detailed project requirements and specifications.

Who will be assigned to my project team and what are their skill sets?
Successful web development is very complex and demands more skill sets than any one person can practically have. The task requires a blend of strategic, creative, technical, and marketing expertise. Host Department's web design and development team incorporates multiple specialists to assure your project will produce maximum results. Your Web Consultant will hand pick the team of specialists according to your needs. For a typical web site the following experts are used:

• Web Consultant, who will also act as the Account / Project Manager.
• Multiple Creative Designers (Graphics and Multimedia Designers) - To assure you a diverse selection of creative designs, we will assign different creative designers to develop each theme / look and feel design.
• Web Programmer - For technical aspects and further development.

Do I own the code used to create my website?
After we have received the final payment for your project, you will own all the end files used to create your site. We normally protect proprietary source files that may contain trade secrets such as Flash ".fla" files, Photoshop ".psd" files. Clients generally don't need these files; if you do, we can negotiate special terms for you to license the rights to the source files.

Will I be able to make changes to the site myself?
Yes. All our standard web pages are tested to work with Macromedia Contribute. Contribute is a WYSIWYG website content management system (CMS) that allows you to edit your site's content much like using Microsoft Word. If you have in-house experience with HTML you can also edit your site directly via FTP access.

We have also worked with several browsers based CMS. While most customers find Contribute is much easier to use than browser-based CMS systems, if you already have or prefer an alternative solution we can support it.

Note: On e-commerce shopping cart pages and other types of application-driven web pages, standard content management systems cannot be used. In these situations the application (e.g. the shopping cart administrator interface) will provide an interface for editing content. If you have further questions about content management for your site, feel free to contact our Web Consultant.

What creative and web page development software do you use?
We use Adobe Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, Acrobat Pro CS, InDesign CS (print), After Effects (video), Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Homesite MX, Flash MX Pro, and Fireworks MX, and more. If you have special needs, we can make use of additional software upon request.

In what browsers do you design and test your sites to view correctly?
We have a test lab with multiple Operating Systems and browsers. Your site will be tested to work properly on the most widely used browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 6 High Security Mode
• Netscape
• Opera
• Firefox

Do you build your websites to be search engine friendly?
Yes. Host Department has unique page coder training and standards to specifically design your web page to rank high in the Search Engines. If you're serious about your business, this is a must. We train our programmers to avoid the common mistakes that destroy search engine rankings:

• Spiderable Pages - The search engines first must be able to find your pages. Many linking styles popular with today's designers cannot be followed by spiders or do not properly emphasize vital pages and keywords. We have taught our coders how to avoid or work around those problems so the search engines will index your entire site.
  
• Accessible Content - Search engines rank sites based on page content. Often sites are designed using excessive graphics or Flash that prevent a site from ranking in the search engines. All our marketing sites are designed from the beginning to assure that adequate content is provided to search engine spiders.
  
• Page Optimization - Targeted keywords must be strategically placed on a web page for it to rank well in a search engine. We have trained our programmers in keyword placement techniques.

What web application development environment and servers do you use?
Over the years our developers have worked with all major web enabled languages like ASP, ASP.NET (both VB.NET and C#), PHP, CGI / Perl, CSS, JavaScript, and popular databases like MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS ACCESS. If you have special needs, we can make use of additional software upon request.

We have developed on Windows and Unix/Linux platforms including LAMP (Linux/Apache/PHP/MySQL), Windows/IIS and IBM Web Sphere servers.

This very diverse background gives us unique insight into the practicality of each technology. For each new project, we will review your requirements including current technical environment and expertise in order to provide a recommended development environment.

What sets your application development apart from other development companies?
There are many items but the two most important are efficiency and ability to handle enterprise-class applications. We have built an advanced framework to streamline development of most web applications. While most developers have to start from scratch, we have a large system of pre-programmed, pre-tested modules that give us a significant head start.

What many business owners do not realize is that almost any person can pick up a book and start hacking web scripts - and there is a world of difference between a hacker and an enterprise-class developer. While anyone can get your web form working, it takes years of education and experience to build scaleable, secure and mission critical applications.

How much can I expect to pay for a complete website?
Our primary goal is to address customers' personal / corporate goals and needs, helping them make use of our vast experience and skill sets. We are committed to your success on the web. To that end we offer two classes of websites, high-end custom sites built from scratch, and ready-made template sites.

For template sites, you can either provide us the template you purchase from elsewhere, or you can consider Host Department's affordable premium templates . Custom site solutions are ideal for companies with specific corporate identity, and the need to be highly professional.

For more information on the prices, please Contact Us or Request A Free Quote.

Are there any other support costs associated with a website?
When your website has passed our 30 days satisfaction guarantee and you wish to request for changes or maintenance, you will be charged for maintenance fees. You will need to Contact Us or Request A Free Quote to justify the fee.

While not technically a website support cost, Host Department recommends determining a marketing budget for your site before development. Some customers choose not to do any extra marketing, while others spend considerable amounts on online and offline campaigns that drive large volumes of traffic. Most of our customers have found it beneficial to invest on Hypersubmit.

Use HyperSubmit search engine submission services to make sure your business is one of the websites they can find. HyperSubmit will optimize and submit your website to hundreds of search engines and directories worldwide to help you unleash the full potential of your online business.

What payment structure is offered for your web designing and development service?
Template sites usually require 50% down payment prior to project start and 50% upon project completion. Larger projects require 30% down payment, 40% payment at mid-project milestones and a final 30% payment upon completion.

How can I be assured I won't be hit with hidden charges?
We have a proven Work Order Contract to assure that you always know exactly what you are getting and how much it will be—no surprises ever.
Work Order itemizes our deliverables, how much it will cost and how long it will take. If more time is required to complete the deliverables, we will cover the cost ourselves. In addition, your dedicated Web Consultant tracks the time spent by project, phase, task and subtask, significantly assuring budgets are met.