Archetype can provide you with a full range of Internet-related services

What can you do with a Web site? The answer depends on what sort of business you are in, your budget ... and your imagination! Read on to see what how Archetype can help you achieve your goals.

Creating your website

To succeed, your website must serve the needs of your target audience. We'll use our experience of what works and what doesn't to advise you on the best solution for your needs and your budget. That might be a ten-page "brochure site", or a database-driven e-commerce site with thousands of pages.

A website can do more for you than you might think -- one of our clients approached us with an existing static website for his business letting apartments in Paris to tourists and business travellers. Keeping his original design, we invisibly transformed the site into a tool which not only allows visitors to check availability and reserve online, but also includes administrative tools which allow the owner to keep track of arrivals and departures, accept payments online, trigger automatic reminder emails and invoices, and check statistics on occupancy and income. Instead of using a number of different standalone software packages to do all this, he can now run his business from anywhere he has Internet access, and has been able to increase the number of apartments he handles.

We'll work with you to define your site's objectives and build a unique web site that reflects your way of doing business. We guarantee no designer ego trips! And no nasty surprises either -- we always provide a fixed-price quote after discussing your needs with you. We don't quote prices here because every client's needs are different. But as a guide, a basic "no frills" site of half a dozen pages starts at around 800 Euros.

Site maintenance

A website is never "finished" -- if it is to continue to attract visitors it must be kept fresh and up-to-date. For that reason we like to maintain an ongoing relationship with our clients -- we don't just deliver a site and then walk away. Regular maintenance work is just as important to us as creating brand new sites, and we always include details of how the site is to be maintained -- by us or by the client -- in our initial specification.

If you're dissatisfied with your static website, or fed up of having to contact your web designer every time you want to add some fresh information to your site, we can help. Our speciality is dynamic, database-driven websites which allow you to take control of day-to-day updates yourself, without needing any special knowledge of web technology -- all you need is a Web browser! But we're also happy to take over all site maintenance on your behalf, if you prefer.

To show you just how easy doing your own site maintenance can be, we've set up a simple demonstration site ... feel free to try it yourself!

To find out more about any of our services, contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Hosting

A trustworthy, reliable web host is vital to the success of your online business. We are happy to provide domain name registration and webhosting for you if you do not already have it. We work in partnership with reputable web hosts to supply powerful, reliable hosting.

The technical stuff

As well as design expertise, we have a solid background in database design, programming, and project management, with over 20 years' experience in the field. For e-commerce sites and other resource-intensive projects, we generally use either Microsoft's ASP combined with a powerful SQL Server database, or the open-source equivalent PHP, with MySQL. But we also work with other technologies and databases such as Oracle, Access and PostgreSQL where appropriate. And although we keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in Internet technology, to ensure maximum accessibility all our sites are designed to work with the latest generation of browsers. If you have special accessibility requirements we are happy to accommodate them.

We're in the 1234 Web Site Designers Directory -- a directory of web developers, graphic designers, site development tools, hosting companies and e-commerce consultants.

You'll also find us at the Independent Web Designers Portal.

Publishing on paper?

Archetype has been providing typesetting, pre-press, and production management services to publishers since 1989. Click here to see the range of services we can offer you.