Intra-Site Search Modules

Help people find what they need from your site, quickly! Research indicates that poor intra-site search engines are one of the top two reasons that people abandon web sites. In fact, web site usability expert Jakob Nielsen has found that over 50% of users of large sites go directly to a site's search box. Every page of your site should have a search box in a prominent location.

Also, good search solutions offer you reports on what viewers actually searched for - key marketing data to guide adjustments to your web site and product offerings.

With our search engine expertise, DISC can build a powerful search field into your web site that enables visitors to find what they are looking for - and your site will sell more as a result.

Options and Prices

Selecting the appropriate intra-site search engine depends on the size and programming architecture of your web site(s).

For small- to medium-sized web sites: DISC will build an accurate search function that also provides you search-history reports. This search function refreshes its database every week so it always includes recent changes to your site. $725.

Larger sites: For web sites over 500 pages or those containing a lot of dynamically generated content, please contact DISC for a quote.

Search engines for shopping carts, intranets, and extranets: Although these kinds of e-commerce systems should already include good search functions, many do not. DISC can retrofit these systems with a superb search engine. Please contact DISC for a quote.

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Flash™ Design

Numerous usability studies indicate that flashy multimedia often decreases a web site's profitability. Although DISC generally adheres to this principle, we do incorporate multi-media components when appropriate. Not only is our web development team highly proficient in Flash design and development, but DISC's Jesse Sanford is known as a guru of the Flash development environment.

Options and Prices

Please contact DISC for a quote.

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"404" or "File Not Found" Fix

The purpose of this fix is so that your viewers don't get a frustrating "404" or "File Not Found" error message if they click their bookmark to a deleted or changed file on your site's server or mistype a URL address to a sub-page of your web site. Instead, they will be presented with a customized page that has your complete navigation menus, a search box, and instructions to help them find what they are looking for. You won't lose potential customers because of a mere technicality.

Options and Prices

Different servers require varying amounts of programming to make this fix -- $300 to $600.

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Half Hourly Server Testing

The average web server goes down three to five days per year. DISC believes 99.9% uptime should be the rule - not the exception. Monitoring your server's performance confers several advantages: (1) Following a trend in server down-time, DISC will contact the web server administrator to address the problem. (2) You can determine whether you should move your site to a better server, or make adjustments in your current server. (3) You will prevent the search engines from dropping your site because it was down more than once when they visited the site to re-index its content. (4) You won't lose customers because of a poorly performing web server.

Too many web hosting companies crowd and under-manage their servers. For example, the giant web hoster Interland has won many awards but now has many over-burdened and under-staffed servers. And as you know if you host in-house, even the best laid server plans sometimes fail.

Frequent, automatic server checking and monthly reports help to ensure that your web marketing investments are not being diminished by technical glitches in your server or nearby routers. Further, you can be certain that your site is up and performing well during crucial times - such as before a trade show, after a major ad campaign, or during the holiday shopping peaks. Some businesses pay upwards of $1500 per month for such server diagnostics.

DISC's solution is an excellent, cost-effective package for web sites that do not have enormous transaction volume. We provide prompt response during business hours and via cell phone notification at all other times.

These server testing solutions cannot offer guaranteed, immediate repair of a problem - there are too many variables that may prevent that, from storms to holidays. The real advantage here is knowing whether your site is consistently under-performing, and being armed with reports that justify recompense or a move to a better server.

Another reason to set up server checking is that, because the top search engines are swamped enough as it is, they tend to drop sites that are down for more than one spider visit. If the site is down once, the engine will note that and check back again soon. If the site is down a second time, you could lose your crucial search engine positioning.

Options and Prices

Automatic checking every 20 minutes, with email notification to DISC and our follow-up within one business day after detecting an alarming trend - $625 per year.

Automatic checking every 20 minutes, with cell phone notification to DISC and our immediate response - $1250 per year.

Quarterly email reports on downtime and server speed, along with interpretations - $300 per report.

If we set this system up to notify a member of your team, rather than DISC, our fee is half of the above prices.

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Cross-Platform Browser Testing

A crucial part of any webmaster's job is to ensure that web pages appear the same, or very similar, across all current browsers. When site appearance is askew, business suffers. The problem is that each browser (and even different browser versions) interprets code differently. This makes it challenging for developers to build sites that appear the same in all major browsers.

DISC's cross-platform browser solution ensures that your site looks right in all current browsers, so prospects and customers are not turned off by display glitches. DISC will test your web site in all the top browsers that have significant market share. We will provide a detailed report with screen shots, so your team (or DISC if you wish) can make corrections quickly.

Options and Prices

Multi-browser tests and report - $1000.
Prices for making corrections vary and are quoted individually.

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Macromedia Contribute™

Macromedia's Contribute has become the standard software for enabling clerical staff to easily update web sites without harming crucial code or SEO. DISC is proficient with setting up this software and training non-technical people to use it.

Options and Prices

$400 to $1000, depending on the size and complexity of the web site.

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