Our Philosophy   (and some ranting)

So what's the big deal about a website anyway?
WebStrands is of the opinion that a website is not simply another vector by which people can find you. In fact, it is THE way people find you nowadays. It is a virtual sales and customer service team placed out there to meet whomever comes looking your way. For businesses, it is absolutely essential to have a respectable representation of your company on the Internet. Even for personal sites, if you care enough about a topic to set up a web page devoted to it, shouldn't your site reflect your dedication to that topic? Additionally, there are your 'users' to consider - these are the folks that come over to visit your site. Again, there are compelling reasons for both corporate and personal sites to be user-friendly and engaging; but, in short, don't you want your website visitors to enjoy their stay? A poorly designed user interface is one of our pet peeves here at WebStrands. So many sites out there are clunky, inefficient, and sloppy. If a user is battling the interface just to navigate your site, they are more than likely not reaching the information that you have provided for them and will probably not return for a future attempt. You may as well stop wasting your time and money sustaining a website in that case.

OK, so I guess it's gonna cost me bigtime, right?
In case you haven't noticed yet, we are a very upfront and out-in-the-open kind of company. This means we tell it like it is. In keeping with that attitude, yes, of course it's gonna cost you. We are not claiming to be the Leonardo da Vinci of web development. However, there's also a reason why people say 'You get what you pay for.' We do not charge exorbitant fees for anything we do. Web development is just like anything else; in order to do a quality job, you have to put in the time. More time equals more cost to you. But remember, WebStrands can do as much or as little as you like. We admit to being compulsive perfectionists. We will not push you into something that you don't need or want or can't afford, but we will always provide advice, ideas, and perspectives that we feel will bring you a better return on your investment. Finally, it should be noted that the creation phase is the most crucial and expensive. The more time and effort spent here results in a better product and lower ongoing costs. An intelligently constructed website allows for easier growth and maintenance by not requiring expensive and slow reconstruction. Before jumping to any conclusions, just talk to us - that's free by the way :-)

Why do we do this?
Basically, we are good at it and we enjoy it. The making money part only comes into play because, like everyone, we need money. The point is, it pains us to surf the Web and witness the multitude of sites done via cookie-cutter templates, WYSIWYG editors, and developers who take a class in "Web Development for Dummies" and sell themselves as experts. And the scams that are out there these days break our hearts. The Internet was founded upon noble ideas and intentions, and like most things, got polluted by money-grabbing scoundrels. Much (and we mean much) of our competition charge their poor customers thousands of dollars for services which cost them virtually nothing. That's why WebStrands offers complementary services to web development, like hosting and domain name management. We only charge you a small amount above our cost for these things to compensate for the time involved. We want you to spend your money buying a great website, not just throwing your money away at imaginary fees.