Q: What gives Creative Anvil the necessary edge required to manage my company's image?

A: We're not like other web design and development firms. We're not new to this. The owners of Creative Anvil have over 20 years of experience in this industry.

Our team has experience ranging from developing corporate identity systems to managing 150 employees as Chief Information Officer (CIO). We've worked with financial industry companies, international real estate brokerage firms and government agencies. We're serious about this business. And we're serious about your project.

Q: So, how is your approach to technology and design different?

A: Have you ever tried to use software that performed the function intended, but it was difficult to maneuver or less than graceful in terms of performing its duty? Of course you have... We've all experienced those systems over time. At Creative Anvil, you won't experience those glitches in your company's systems...here's why:

Technical Specialist – a member of our technical team will work with you to determine all the nuts and bolts of your system.

Design Specialist – our design team will assess your system from a graphic and usability standpoint.

At Creative Anvil, the key is all about communication. We know all the angles associated with your business upfront, and we come up with a system infrastructure that not only speaks to your needs visually, but manages all the day-to-day nuances from a functionality standpoint.

Q: How do I know you're working in the best interest of my company from a budget perspective?

A: What sets Creative Anvil apart from other web development firms is our fixed bid guarantee. This promise from our staff to yours protects your budget and supports you with confidence. If you have worked with other software development or web development firms in the past, you know that in most cases the premise of the project is based on an "estimate".

When other companies provide you an estimate, there's always a chance that project costs will experience an overrun. This can occur for several reasons:

• Inexperienced developer providing the quote
• Overly optimistic developers
• Development firm low-balling costs to earn the business, or
• Scope creep which results in a project expanding beyond the original intent

Let's face it – software developers tend to be optimistic and often estimate a task will take four hours, when in reality it may take seven. This leaves you, the customer, with an unexpected increase in costs. And when these overruns occur in the middle of a project, it leaves you – the customer – with two options:

• Cancel the project, leaving no finished product, yet a fully expended budget, or
• Pay the additional amount to bring the project to fruition irregardless of cost.

Neither of these scenarios will happen when you work with Creative Anvil. Avoid unnecessary surprises with our fixed bid guarantee, which includes:

• An outline of services to be performed
• A description of the end product you will receive
• A fixed bid price – which is the exact dollar amount you pay.

If for any reason we underestimate the project, we will complete it at no extra cost to you. We believe that with our combined 20 years of experience in the industry, we know what it takes to get projects done – efficiently, economically, on time.

And to take it one step further...we're willing to put our money where our mouth is...

Q: I've heard some nightmares about web servers...what is different about the hosting platform at Creative Anvil?

A: The term "web hosting" refers to the space provided for your project on a web server including usage of the underlying network to ensure your site is accessible. There are literally millions of hosting companies on the market today. They charge a range of fees from as little as $5 per month to tens of thousands of dollars per month, depending upon the level of service provided, server complexity and bandwidth used.

At Creative Anvil, our hosting platform rises head and shoulders above the rest based on the following principles:

We ONLY host our clients' websites. Other web hosts – primarily of the discount variety – host literally thousands of websites on each server. By hosting only our clients, we know exactly what is on the servers and have full capability to monitor server utilization. More importantly, we correct any potential problems before they affect your site.

Most hosting companies have absolutely no idea what scripts are sitting on their servers. This means they have no idea what type of security threats (such as SQL Inections, Cross-Site Scripting, or Remote Code Execution) are lurking on their servers either. One bad script can affect every site on a given server. It only takes one uneducated user to affect your website and potentially cause an outage.

By reserving hosting services for our clients, we are not limited by what technologies are provided by the hosting company. At Creative Anvil, we offer the best solution to meet your needs. Likewise, we can customize our hosting environment to meet the exact specifications of your project.

Our hosting services are managed in a "clustered" server environment. Clustering servers allows us to place two or more servers in a configuration that provides back up capabilities. In other words, a hardware failure on one server will not create a service outage.

It is rare to find a web host that provides a clustered environment for less than a few hundred dollars a month. But at Creative Anvil, we have made this investment with you in mind. Why? Because we understand the importance of your website and want to provide the best service possible.

And if all that wasn't good enough, we collocate servers in a top-notch data center in the St. Louis metro area. This data center provides multiple gigabit Internet connections to backbone providers to ensure maximum network uptime. As a frame of reference, a standard DSL connection runs at 1.5 megabits per second. A gigabit connection is 1000 megabits, or 667 times faster than the standard DSL connection.

Like we said early on...it's all about fusion...the ability to provide the ultimate in look and functionality. At Creative Anvil, we cover all the bases and give you the absolute best framework for making that happen on your behalf.

Q: A difficulty I've experienced in the past revolves around keeping our website current once it's up and running. How do you handle follow-up aspects?

A: In order to protect your website investment, Creative Anvil offers assurance plans. All website Assurance Plans include web hosting on our Anvil Platform. Additionally, the website Assurance Plans include Browser Compatibility Assurance for up to five years after the launch of your site.

What does this mean to your business? As new web browsers are released, we will fix any compatibility issues that occur with the major web browsers at no additional charge to you. These major web browsers include: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari.

Beyond web hosting and browser compatibility assurance, the website Assurance Plans allow you to request maintenance-type changes to your website. For example, a maintenance request could include changing telephone numbers, updating text on a web page, or even adding a new section to the website.

When you work with Creative Anvil, each website assurance plan is quoted individually, based on the specifications of the project. With your proposal, you will receive a quote that includes the number of hours per month your assurance plan will include.

At this stage of the game, we will provide you with a list of "maintenance-type" requests. We will also discuss other more functional site enhancements that require a separate bid structure. Generally, the website Assurance Plan will run at 10-20 percent of the original project cost, per year, with a minimum of $1,200 annually.