What is Cool Bananas®?

Cool Bananas® is a Brooklyn, New York, Internet advertising firm specializing in custom web design services. Founded in 1995 by Dan Globus, Cool Bananas® was created to service the growing need of companies which required an Internet presence. Even though the company initially serviced the arts and entertainment industries, it found a niche market in the designer/manufacturer-end of the Jewelry Industry in 1997 and has focused its efforts on this industry since then.

Do you only design web sites for jewelry companies?

Even though we have specialized in designing web sites for the Jewelry Industry, we have worked in various other industries and created sites for organizations in the medical industry, arts & entertainment industries, restaurant business, tourist industry, as well as others.

We understand the needs of the Jewelry Industry better than any other web site design firm. However, the CEO, Dan Globus, has developed a skill set within his 20 years of running his own businesses to meet the needs of just about any type of business. His background is primarily compromised of International business and marketing.

What does it cost to build a web site for a jeweler?

Generally speaking, it can reasonably cost anywhere from $1,000 to well over $100,000 to build a web site. So why is this price range so large? There are different types of web sites, with different types of functionality, that can require anywhere from 1-10+ people to build. It can also take anywhere from 1 hour to several months to build a web site.

So how do you know which type of website design you need and what it will cost you? The simplest way to find out is to fill out our contact us form and we will reply to you within 48 hours with a price.

Aren't web design fees much lower these days?

The answer is "yes" and "no". In 1995, designers were building very simple types of web sites for $20,000+. These types of sites can now be built by companies for $1,000 - $5,000 or just about anybody with a simple to use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) program. However, designers are now building very sophisticated sites, with tools that were not available 10 years ago, that take weeks to create and a team of 4 or more people. These sites typically cost a minimum of $20,000 and can cost as much as $50,000.

So how do you know what a "fair" or "reasonable" price is to have a web site built? There are two ways that we would recommend to determine this. First, contact up to three design firms and ask them for a price quote. Whatever the average is between the three prices will most likely be a fair price. Second, ask the design firm to give you an estimate on the amount of hours that the project will take. Find out how many people will be working on the project. Then, multiply the number of hours by the number of people by 25. This will yield a total price that reflects a general average price quoted by most well established design firms.

Keep in mind that if 4 people are going to work on your web design project, and they will work a combined total of approximately 1,000 hours, and they reside in a major USA city (where salaries for graphic artists are typically no less than $50,000 per year), it stands to reason that the design firm must pay these designers $24,000 for their services. Therefore, a fee of $30,000 or more would be quite reasonable for a web site project of this nature.

How long does it take to build a web site for a jeweler?

Most of the web sites that Cool Bananas® builds are very similar in the number of people required and the total number of hours. Therefore, we quote 6-8 weeks for the average site that we build.

Why should you hire Cool Bananas® for your jewelry web design project?

1. We have been in business since 1995.
2. We will do whatever it takes to satisfy your needs.
3. Every person working on each project has no less than 5 years of experience in their specialty (10+ years in most cases).
4. We are not afraid to speak our minds and make recommendations that will give you a superior product.
5. We are experts in all phases of web design (graphics, HTML, Flash, CGI, PHP, etc.).
6. We are interested in long-term relationships.
7. We are the pioneers and innovators of many aspects of web design that are now considered standard (e.g. use of Flash introductions).
8. We constantly look for ways to improve the sites that we build for our clients.
9. We can create a solution for any challenge that you present to us.
10. We are easy to work with.

What is "hosting" and do you offer it?

Hosting is the business of housing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more web sites. It is also referred to as "web site hosting", "web hosting", and "Webhosting".

Yes, Cool Bananas® provides web site hosting services and has been doing so since 1997. What sets our hosting services apart from other hosts is that we host our clients' web sites on dedicated servers with typically 50 or less clients. Compare this to the average host which will have 1,000 or more web sites on it. Why is this important?

Let's suppose that a host has 200 or more web sites on one server. Let's further suppose that either or both of the following scenarios occurs. One site is an adult site that receives a tremendous amount of traffic/visitors (which they tend to do). Another site is being used to send SPAM. When SPAM is sent out, it is typically sent to thousands if not millions of e-mail addresses and this process is repeated constantly. Getting lots of traffic and/or sending out tons of e-mails tie up valuable resources on a web server. The effect of this is that every other web site on the server will be tremendously slowed down and may even come to a grinding halt! This means that if your web site is on that server, your customers may not be able to see your site.

This will never happen when you choose Cool Bananas® to host your web site.

Do you offer search engine listing/optimization services?

Yes, Cool Bananas® does offer search engine listing/optimization services.

What's involved in building a web site?

Building a web site can be a fairly complex process depending upon the type of web site and the customer's needs. Here is a basic outline of the steps that we take starting with the initial conversation with the client:

1. Discuss the needs and desires of the client.
2. Create a proposal that outlines how we will meet those needs and desires.
3. After proposal is reviewed and approved, go to contract.
4. Assemble the team of specialists to work on the project.
5. Define the task of each specialist and create a time line for the project.
6. As each specialist completes a phase of the project, the customer is shown the work and asked for feedback.
7. When all phases of the project are completed and approved by the customer, the site goes through an initial launch.
8. The site goes through final testing by Cool Bananas® .
9. Customer gives user feedback after initial launch to make improvements.
10. web site is officially launched.

What are the first steps in building a web site for a jeweler?

After a client contacts us, we typically ask them to fill out a short questionnaire or ask them a few questions on the telephone. If we feel that sufficient information has been gathered, we then forward a proposal to the client. The proposal outlines lists what the client has asked us to do and outlines how Cool Bananas® will satisfy the client's wants and needs. The proposal may go through a couple of revisions after the first draft. After the client is satisfied with the proposal, we provide a contract with the terms of the proposal embodied into it.

Does you build e-commerce sites for jewelers?

Yes, Cool Bananas® builds e-commerce sites. All of our e-commerce web design sites are database-driven and capable of handling thousands of items all through an easy to use administrative interface.

What is a "database-driven" web site and why would I want/need one?

A "database-driven" web site is a site that displays pages to a visitor based upon data/text in a database. When web sites were first appearing on the Internet, most sites consisted of many pages of information. If a company wanted to display and/or sell 1,000 items in their web site, a web designer would have had to build at least 1,000 pages. This became not only very time consuming, but very problematic when information had to be updated. Now, a web site can have thousands of pages that are all controlled by the data within one or more databases.

Database-driven sites have many advantages. One of the biggest advantages is that you can add, edit and delete items in it very quickly. Once the information is changed in the database, and it is uploaded to the web server, all information that is in the web site becomes updated immediately.

Flash based sites have become very popular within the last 5 years. Now, many sites are 100% Flash driven. Even though we have created Flash sites that are database-driven, if you have many items to display and/or sell, it will most likely still be to your advantage to have a database-driven site without Flash. Please ask us about these issues so that we can help you make an informed decision.

What is Flash and why are so many sites built in Flash these days?

Flash is the modern name for a program that started out as one of the early design tools that allowed designers to animate various things on the web. The original intention was to allow designers to animate vector graphics. However, as designers started to experiment with this technology (including Cool Bananas® work), designers started to use this technology to animate bitmapped images and add music and spoken word.

A few years ago, Macromedia purchased the program, renamed the technology "Flash" and has advanced the program a long way from its original abilities. Now Flash is used to create video that can be downloaded and viewed quickly over the Internet, it is used to listen to music, used in TV commercials, and used to create entire web sites. web sites now come to life with various animated sequences, audio and video. Flash has truly revolutionized the way that web sites are designed and viewed.

Cool Bananas® first started using Flash in 1996 and was one of the pioneers in pushing Flash's technology. It wasn't long before companies in the Jewelry and Fashion Industries started to copy our use of Flash. These days, you will find many sites designed entirely out of Flash.

The Internet has come a long way in the last 10 years. Now, with the event of high bandwidth access (DSL, Cable, etc.), we can now all enjoy things that took forever to see or download. Still, there are technological limitations and we have found that some design firms may not be using today's technologies in the customer's best interests. Even though we are still big fans of Flash, we do not believe that Flash should be used in all instances.

Where are you located and shouldn't I hire a local company?

Cool Bananas® is located in Brooklyn, New York. The majority of our customers are located in New York City (Manhattan). Has our location ever hindered our ability to provide the best possible services? The answer is "no".

Some people believe that they need to hire a company that is located within a close proximity to them. This is a misconception. web design firms do most of their work with clients via e-mail, on the web and on the telephone. As we develop our web sites, we send our clients links via e-mail that allow them to see the work. If the client has any questions or needs lengthy explanation, we call them.

So many people use e-mail and the Internet on a daily basis that corresponding via e-mail and the Internet is now second nature. There is now very little that can be done in person that cannot be done via e-mail and the Internet.

So if you are one of those people who feels that they must hire a local company because you need to be close to them, it's time for you to change your way of thinking! After all, the company that can design the very best web site for you may exist on the opposite coast of the USA. Don't let a little thing like distance dissuade you from hiring Cool Bananas®.

I want to sell my products online? What are the pros and cons?

With sales on the Internet increasing at an incredible rate, it seems that everyone wants to sell something on it. The "pros" are pretty obvious. However, there are potential "cons" to having an e-commerce site built.

As far as the "pros" are concerned, here are just a few:

• E-commerce sites are relatively inexpensive these days to build and implement.
• If you have low cost items (e.g. $25-$50), you should be able to sell these fairly easily.
• More and more people are embracing ordering on the Internet.
• People are feeling much more secure using a credit card on-line.
• People don't have to wait on line and you don't have to deal with a salesperson.

As far as the "cons" are concerned, there is one major con that we make clients aware of. Many people still prefer to see some products in person before they make a purchasing decision. In order to show more expensive products in the best possible way, it's important to take multiple pictures of the product and to show the product from various angles. Still, even after showing the product from all possible angles and allowing people to zoom in on the product, potential customers may still want to view the item(s) in person. Photographing products from various angles, having a professional do this, and having a web design utilize all the necessary technologies to show products in their very best light can be quite expensive. There are instances where it would be more effective to showcase your company and services in an effort to convince people to visit your store then to try and sell your products on-line. In other words, an investment in designing a site to make potential customers look at your company first, as a quality seller/supplier of products, instead of a seller of commodity items, can have a greater impact on your sales than trying to outright sell items that are not easily sold on the Internet.

How often should I update my web site?

We have always advocated giving a web site at least a minor "face lift" every 6-12 months. The overall look of the site should certainly be updated every 24 months. This means that the functionality and navigation can stay the same, but the overall look should be updated no later than after 24 months of existance. Consumers respond positively to a site that looks like it is constantly being updated.

If you show advertisements in your site, the advertisements should appear in your site "prior" to the advertisement hitting the newspaper stands or being seen elsewhere. If you have many products or services, these should be added to your site as soon as they are ready to be sold.

One of the biggest mistakes that we see companies make is to run advertisements in magazines and not have the advertisements appear in their web site prior to the ads hitting the newsstands. Inevitably, consumers look in web sites for the products pictured in the ads. When they don't see them, they contact the company and get frustrated when they hear that the new ads and products have simply not been added to the web site yet.

Do I need someone in-house to maintain my web site?

It is not necessary to hire a "web design" person full-time to maintain your web site. Most of the web sites that we build are database-driven sites that have an easy to use administrative section to update the products in the web site. Most companies typically have someone on staff who has a little graphics experience. We can easily train this person to be able to add, edit and delete products from our sites.

What are the most common issues customers face in web projects?

The most common issue is that they don't initially take the extra time to speak with professionals and their peers to find out what can be done to address their specific needs. Even though each customer "knows" what they want, they don't always know what they need. If you take the time to explain to us what your goals are, we may be able to make recommendations on how to meet those goals that you may have never considered. This may include ways to save money in meeting your goals or simply a different way to approach your needs.

The second most common issue is that customers are not ready to get involved with a web designer to begin and end a web design project. The most time-consuming part of a web design project is getting feedback from a customer. As each phase of a project is completed, work is placed on-line for a customer to review. This is when it's up to the customer to tell us whether we got something right or need to make changes. This dialogue can go back forth on each phase quite a few times. If the customer does not make himself/herself readily available to discuss the work, the project can come to a grinding halt. This is why we always ask the client to appoint a contact person who will be responsible for making decisions or communicating the decisions to us. If the person that is chosen cannot make adequate time to review work and give us feedback, a project will go past the anticipated completion date.

What's the first step in hiring Cool Bananas®?

Contact Us