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Frequently Asked Questions2024-03-23T17:10:55-04:00

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WEB DESIGN

How much does a website usually cost?2024-03-23T21:12:21-04:00

If you’re willing to pay the one-time cost, a website can run between $3,000.00 and up to (and over) $50,000.00 with $3,000.00 be the simplest (but well-designed and well-coded) website while $50,000.00 and beyond are websites that allow very advanced things such as custom coding to allow for things like medical record retrieval, USGS map retrieval, Register Of Deeds Record Retrieval and so on.  Most websites cost about $4,000.00 Even eCommerce sites only run about $6,000.00.

Leasing a website through a monthly cost can significantly lower these costs to be more digestible.  Read more »

Will my design meet accessibility standards?2023-06-07T16:00:14-04:00

Great question!  When a customer gives us a specification that does not meet accessibility guidelines, we will refuse to implement it.  This prevents us from being liable for opening our customers up to law suits and cease and desist notices.  While we cannot guarantee there will be no legal actions, we take every step possible to ensure your website is accessible to those with a vast array of disabilities including the color blind.

Can I send you mockups to design?2023-06-07T15:57:24-04:00

Yes, we do our best to meet the specifications you provide us.

What is “SEO”?2023-06-07T15:56:27-04:00

SEO is an acronym for “Search Engine Optimization”.  It is a method of ordering content and code under the hood of a website to ensure search engines, spiders, and other bots can easily understand what the website is about.  SEO is not link building or pay-per-click advertising on search engines and there are 2 types of SEO:  Blackhat and White hat.  You should beware of blackhat SEO.

Will I have to purchase SEO?2022-11-23T23:13:39-05:00

No, we develop your website around SEO frameworks which means they don’t have to be retrofitted later.  This reduces your cost by reducing our cost.

Will my site be “trun-key”?2022-11-23T23:11:37-05:00

Not unless you specifically purchase a turn-key plan and do not change any parameters on us once we get underway.

How long do your web design projects take?2022-11-23T23:10:42-05:00

It depends on your budget, what you want to be done, and frankly, how easy you are to satisfy.  If you have an idea pictured in your head that you refuse to put into writing, it can take far beyond the deadlines that we project.

WEB HOSTING

Do you use cPanel?2023-06-07T16:18:16-04:00

Absolutely not.  We manage our own servers and server software and custom-build that software specifically for WordPress and high-performance environments.  There isn’t but one control panel that allows us the freedom to develop our own software and run it – Virtualmin.  Virtualmin, even the Pro edition we use, is open-source and highly customizable for developers.  Virtualmin is also easier to use, has a cleaner interface, and allows the end user far more control over their domain name.  Virtualmin is not as popular because the server administrator has to know what they’re doing because it’s not a turn-key control panel. Read More.

Will your services hurt or help my PageSpeed Score?2023-06-07T16:09:55-04:00

Under most conditions, it can only help.  Most providers over-stuff their servers to make an extra nickel at the expense of their customer’s website performance.  We do not allow more than 300 websites per server which mean there are always plenty of resources available to serve the website.  Combine this with our proprietary PHP environment (a combination of PHP FPM and REDIS and in-house software to accelerate WordPress websites) and you have websites that can easily reach A+s on GTMetrix evaluations – if your code isn’t clunky.

Do you have downtime?2023-06-07T16:06:23-04:00

All hosting companies have downtime.  Ours is sometimes less than most or more than most depending on what it is we’re doing.  If we’re upgrading a server you can expect to have above-normal downtimes.  We do take all of our servers offline for 5 minutes out of the week to run backups.  Those that are being cloud hosted are unaffected as the failover servers immediately take over authority.

How do I manage my website?2023-06-07T16:02:56-04:00

You can manage your website from our easy-to-use and intuitive control panel we custom-built for our customers that allows you to see how your quotas and bandwidth usages are holding up and adding and deleting email accounts or you can use the server’s control panel for advanced management options such as editing DNS records.

How do you handle faillover?2022-11-23T23:20:10-05:00

We operate out of 2 data centers and our local network.   All of our web servers are virtual machines that run over 19 different bare metal servers.  Each virtual machine replicates to the other 2 locations so we don’t just have one backup location, we have 2 and at the flip of a switch, data can stream from Princeton, CD, or Chicago.

Do you host your own servers or resell?2022-11-23T23:17:05-05:00

We buy and rent our own servers.  Some servers we buy for our own network, some we buy to put into other data centers, and some we rent in other data centers depending on the case, load, and level of required security.

What is the specs on your servers?2022-11-23T23:15:39-05:00

Specifications range from 12 core (24 threads) at 160Gb RAM to 28 cores (56 threads) at 408GB RAM.   We only buy Dell® PowerEdge™.

TARHEEL CLOUD

How do I sign up?2022-11-23T23:08:48-05:00

Simply create an account and follow the menu to your account and to your cloud account.  You will be asked to set a cloud password that will be used for all services.

Do you have a free eSign Service?2022-11-23T22:52:55-05:00

We do! It is entirely binding and legal in Federal and State Courts inside the USA.

Is Tarheel Cloud Really Free?2022-11-23T14:42:51-05:00

Yes, 100%.  You’ll get 10GB of email and storage space free for as long as we can.

OTHER SERVICES

I have a special case that requires 4 servers, can you help?2022-11-23T23:22:07-05:00

From clustering to distributed databases, to failover and much more we can most certainly help in special-case situations.

MY ACCOUNT

THE COMPANY

Can I meet someone from Tarheel Media?2022-11-23T23:29:52-05:00

Sure, contact us to schedule an appointment!

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