Carl Brewer
www.lovebird.ca
lovebird1@sympatico.ca
(514) 488-5369

Hello ,

Allow us to introduce myself, I am Carl Brewer. I have a Master's Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Above and beyond these extremely marketable skills, I also have a great passion for all things vintage, both in the real world and in the design (virtual) world. My website and eBay auctions are filled with many graphic elements, all completely original, and deeply inspired by my love for antiques and collectibles.

The combination of my technical skills in both software expertise and web design, a highly developed artistic sense, and love for antiques and collectibles makes Lovebird Collectibles an ideal candidate for your specific web design needs. We are a small company and consequently give our clients the much needed time and respect they deserve. We are easy to contact and quick to respond.

Furthermore, if you are currently selling items on eBay, or have been thinking about it, we can enhance your listings in ways you would never have dreamed possible. Please take some time to view our eBay auctions (use the picture gallery on the bottom of our main page www.lovebird.ca) and you will see just how seriously we take our work. Our listings are accurate and honest, eye catching and unique. We have received many compliments with respect to our ethical and design sense in the presentation of our auctions.

You might be under the impression that all of this is very expensive. If you were to use third party services to list your items, host your pictures, and create a picture gallery for all of your auctions, you would be charged a monthly fee (anywhere between $15 and $45 depending on how many services you acquire) and this would obviously be a very expensive endeavor. We can set you up so that you can work independantly, list your own auctions or manage your own web site, without any or a minimal amount of maintenance from third party sources. This will save you alot of money in the long run. There is much that we can do for you and meet your budgetary needs (< $500). We are always just an e-mail or a phone call away. We usually respond to e-mails withing 3 hours of receipt and often much quicker.

In order to provide you with as accurate a quote as possible we will need some additional information. The following will involve both a general discussion of some typical web design needs, along with specific questions you will need to ask yourself in order to determine exactly what it is you want. I will do this in point form so as to facilitate our communication.

Your Domain Name: Will you want a personal domain name? Our's is www.lovebird.ca. We chose it because it is simple and easy to remember. This is provided by domain name sellers and resellers and is a service you pay for. Personal domain names are very cheap and easy to acquire. You can obtain your own ".com" domain name for many years for well under $100. If you chose to obtain one then you are ready for the next step. If you prefer not to have one there are solutions that won't cost you a penny. We will help you in this process.

Web Hosting. Your site will have to be hosted on a web server. This is just a fancy way of saying that your site will have to live on some other company's computer. You can either pay for web hosting, which can be as cheap as $7.00 a month, or you can obtain it for free. Paid web hosting will allow you to host your own domain name. It you choose to go the free route, then you can obtain a free domain name and web hosting from a company like tripod (www.tripod.com). Free domain names start with the companies identification followed by your user or company name, something like this: www.tripod.com/lovebird. There are a couple of issues with this, i) it does not sound as professional as your own personal domain name and not as easy for your clients to remember, and ii) there is a limitation to how large your web site can be. However there is usually more than enough space to create a small site, and it is a great place to develop and test your site before moving it over to professional web hosting. Please note that your site can be developed and hosted on the free web server for as long as you want. You can delay obtaining a personal domain name or paid web service until your business grows.

Size of your site. How large will your site be? How many pages will you want us to create for you? From your contact information it would appear that you want something simple. Of course, every site has a main page, often referred to as the home page. This is the most important page in any website and often defines the way the rest of the site will look. If you go to our site www.lovebird.ca you will notice some of the typical elements that you see on all commercial websites. There is an About Us page that tells your customers a little about who you are. There is a Contact Us section that allows your clients to communicate with you. There are also privacy policy, and terms and conditions pages, that inform your customers or clients of your business practices, how they can contact you, pay for items you are selling on your site, your refund policies etc... There are the category pages (Black Americana, Art Deco etc...), where your different products or types of products are displayed. Please view our site and other sites that you enjoy to get an idea as to what pages you want on your site. Scan the web for your favorite sites, and see if there is a site you would want yours to look like. Of course, yours will be developed with its own unique and personal feel, but it will give us a general idea as to what you want your site to look like. If you prefer not to have to think about this, that's O.K. too, we have many ideas and can present them to you.

Graphics: A very important aspect of any web site. How many graphics do you want on your site? We know that you will want to have a personal or company logo. Will this logo be a reflection of your company name (such as ours, which in fact has nothing to do with antiques and collectibles, depicting Lovebird's sitting on the letters of our company name)? Or should your logo in some way reflect the types of products you sell (something depicting vintage items or the collecting thereof)? Or something totally different? In terms of other graphics, how many original graphics would you like us to create for your site? If you already have some preferences or ideas feel free to share them with us. We want your site to have the look and feel you desire! You may want to take some time and reflect on the color scheme you want for your site, which fonts you would like to use, and what layout appeals to you. Consistency of color schemes and fonts as well as graphic themes are the key to creating a professional website. Again, if you prefer not to have worry about this, we are ready to present some ideas to you.

E-commerce: Do you want a shopping cart on your site? Do you want to accept PayPal?

Search engine submission: This is a very important aspect of website development that is often overlooked by other companies. Your site has to be developed in a way that is friendly to the search engines like Yahoo, Google, Hotbot, etc... This means that the text you choose to display on your pages and how you choose to describe your site on your home and linked pages will determine what keywords search engines use to locate your site. I am very knowlegdeable in this matter, and this is an ever evolving area, that can be very complicated. Suffices to say that I can deal with this without having to burden you with the details. Please go to www.hotbot.com, click on the INKTOMI search engine and type "retro items" in the search field (without the apostrophes), you will note that Lovebird Collectibles comes up in the number 2 position. You will want your site to show up in the top ten for the search terms you feel identify your site appropriately. We felt "retro items" as well as "collectable antiques" would be a good way of describing what we sell, and made certain that surfers looking for these types of items would find our site. This is what is known as targetted traffic. Successful search engine submission is a service that many companies neglect. Again you can submit your site to search engines for free, but it takes up to three months before your site gets listed. There are some tricks that can get your site listed quickly (usually < 72 hours) at a modest cost (< $100). Food for thought!

Animation: Would you like to include some form of animation on your site. These come in many incarnations: rollover images (graphics that change when you place your mouse on them), banner ads, flash animation (great for picture galleries and much more), and general animation to catch the surfer's attention?

In conclusion, we would enjoy developing your website. I believe a simple site, with a nicely balanced layout, featuring a consistent color scheme and fonts, highlighted by some unique and original graphics on each page, will be ideal for your budgetary range. Your site will also be easy to navigate and friendly to your customers. Our speciality is web development for antiques and collectibles sites, and we guarantee your site will be unique, professional, and tailored to your needs.

It has been a pleasure providing you with this information. Please do not hesitate to contact us .

Very best regards,

Carl Brewer
Lovebird Collectibles
www.lovebird.ca
lovebird1@sympatico.ca
(514) 488-5369