Sound Web Development FAQs (frequently-asked questions)

Many schools provide webspace for their programs. Why should you pay for this solution over theirs? EASE OF USE

1. URL - Can you remember your school's URL? Me either. Isn't it something like http://www.myschooldist.k12.mi.us/? Who can remember that? certainly NOT your parents and community. You need to register a Domain Name that is memorable and useful!

2. Set-up - How long does it take to set up our websites? SECONDS! If you pay by credit card/PayPal, you can literally have your site up and running (and useful) in seconds! Try to do THAT on your school server!

3. Updating - Many schools teach their staff how to create websites using Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. Some of you have had training and know how much of a pain in the neck creating and operating a website can be! Say GOODBYE to all that pain! Nearly all the content on your site is able to be updated through your Web-Browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape). This is the advantage of a Content Management System (CMS). You can update your website from ANY internet-enabled location! Update your website from Home, School, Vacation, even on a school trip!

4. Current - Our sites are so easy to use that you'll be updating your site often - maybe even daily! You'll start to rely on the information there and so will your community! When that occurs, you know you've got a valuable site! Websites that change often and stay current keep their users coming back often and this is critical to making your site a vital part of your program!

5. Divide the Work - YOU don't have to do all the work! IN this system, you can enable others (parents, assistants, students, etc) to contribute and even manage your site! As they say, "many hands make light work," and you can lighten your own load by getting help!

The position of Sound Web Development is that most dedicated educators don't have the time or the inclination to learn how to install and configure all this software on their own. They would rather spend that time with their family and students. Sound Web Development provides School Districts the opportunity to have a functional website for a reasonable price without the hassle of working out all the details!

Sound Web Development is happy to take care of that for you as a part of the sign-up process at no additional cost. We will register your selected domain name for a one-year period. After that, you are responsible to renew that domain name yearly. We will be happy to assist you with that when the time comes.

You are also welcome to register your own domain name at other sources on the Internet and transfer those domain names to your account here. If you already have a domain name, it is a simple process to "point" your domain name to your new Sound Web Development account.

As we use a third party credit card processor (PayPal), we don't have your credit card information with us. And therefore we don't store your credit card information on our system. We trust your credit card information is totally secure.

Yes, you can upgrade at any point. Just send an email to sales@soundwebdev.com and let them know you want to upgrade. They will prorate what you have used so far of your current plan cost. No there is no charge for upgrading in hosting plans!

Sure, we can give you a 30 day money back promise, if we fail we provide what is outlined in our website, we will refund you all your money.

Yes. We are a reseller of HostDime.com.

Most Accounts are activated instantly! In the case we need to confirm billing, we will contact you. 99% of the time, account activation is instant! (Obviously if you use the Mail-in payment option, we will wait for your payment to arrive before activating your account).

Sure! Simply print out the "printer friendly" invoice at the end of the sign up process and submit that to your accounting department. When we receive your PO, we will activate your account and bill your district. It will be faster however to pay with a credit card or PayPal.

Yes,if you already have a domain you can use it with our hosting plans. The first step is going to www.soundwebdev.com and selecting the hosting plan of your choice. Then follow the steps to the order form. Select "I already have a domain I would like to use" on the order form. Note this will not transfer your domain from your current registrar where you registered the domain, this will only transfer the hosting if it is already hosted. After you paid for the hosting you will receive an email with all your login information to the server. You MUST also login into your domain control panel where ever you registered the domain and modify the NAMESERVERS or DNS to ours, our nameservers will be in the welcome email, you must make those changes in order for your website to be live.

Can you remember your school's URL? Me either. Isn't it something like http://www.myschooldist.k12.mi.us/? Who can remember that? certainly NOT your parents and community. You need to register a Domain Name that is memorable and useful! This will help your community remember the name and find your site. Since this is a music site, choose something memorable - it can be anything! (pick a few in case your first choices are already taken).

Here are some ideas:
kennedyschoolband.net
rocketband.net
blueandgoldorchestra.com
washingtonchoirs.net
lincolnbandparents.org

ultimately, it really doesn't matter. COM is supposed to stand for COMmercial and ORG is supposed to stand for ORGanization. NET is supposed to stand for... well NETwork or something probably. You can use whichever you like.

Sound Web Development will be happy to provide this service for you at additional charge, but we highly recommend you undertake this task on your own. One of the advantages of using a Content Management System is the EASE OF USE in entering all this data. Another advantage is that you can get help from other people - you can grant special administrative rights to parents or students or other school employees to add content to your site. I personally have students enter a lot of my data!