Frequently Asked Questions

Are there setup charges? Do I get charged for changing pages? Are there hidden fees?

There are no other charges! It may be hard to believe, but the only charge is the monthly or yearly subscription. Your website is set up for free. We even pay for your domain name, if you don’t have one. There are no charges for changing or adding more pages. We like keeping things simple, and charging you fees for miscellaneous things is a pain for us too – so we don’t do it! Having a subscription based service makes it easy for both of us.

And yes, our prices really are that low. We’re able to do this by having an efficient business based on great software. (Note that occasionally, we do website conversions from existing sites, which are not free. This is rare. Usually our templates are much better.)

How does this all work?
What happens when I sign up?

What happens when you sign up:

  1. You fill out some basic information.
  2. Your subscription is set up. For security’s sake, we use an outside payment processor and do not store financial information on our website.
  3. You fill out your clinic’s information, such as the clinic name, phone number, address, etc. You’ll also choose a design. This is used to personalize your website.
  4. Our system creates a complete website on our server. It also sets up your professional email address.
  5. We receive an email about the new website. We then:
    1. Check several things to make sure the site was set up properly.
    2. Register your domain name (if necessary).
    3. Fix your (Google) map page.
    4. If you chose a restricted design, we’ll enable it for you.
  6. Once your website checks out, we send you an email with instructions on how to use your site. It includes several how-to videos explaining how things work, and how to make changes.
  7. You test your email address and contact form. Check the site, and add a few things such as a bio and your office hours. (The only part you have to worry about)
  8. Your website is then ready for the public!

Once it’s ready,

  1. We’ll send you two lists of places to register your website. One list of about 12 different websites is for business directories. This list shows you other websites to register with, such as Google, Yelp, etc. There are services that charge $650 to sign up your website at other websites on the list we give you, but our list is more complete and you can do it for free! This is a one time investment of time, and is probably the #1 thing that will make your website successful.
  2. Patients will start to find you through your website, only after you’ve registered it as shown above. This is true for ANY website out there – your website is only found if other websites are linking to it. The difference is, we tell you and help you with this. Other website services leave you to figure this out on your own – if you ever figure it out at all!
  3. We have a second list that includes about 30 holistic/alternative health directory listings. This gives your website an additional boost in results. (We can have someone from India fill it out for you for $130 or you can do it yourself. This list requires less information from you, while the first list requires more understanding of your clinic, and can’t be outsourced.)
  4. You can easily edit your website and add photos, articles, videos, etc. We have how-to videos showing you step by step how to do this. It’s almost as good as having us at your side showing you how. If you still have questions or run into problems, you can always email support@alternativehealthwebsites.com. We’ll almost always help within a day, usually much less.
What about having patients find me online? Do you offer Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

This is actually THE most important part of our service. Without SEO, your website is like a beautiful clinic off in the woods, with no way for anyone to find it. It doesn’t matter how gorgeous it is, because no one knows how to get there.

Most website services are like this. They create a website for you, but if you want it to actually be found, you’re on your own.

We start by on-page SEO. This basically is setting up your site so that Google and other search engines can recognize that it’s relevant for what people are searching for.

  • Meta Description tags
  • Meta Keywords
  • XML sitemap for search engines (and a regular sitemap for people)
  • Heading (H1, H2, H3) tags

This is all well and good. When most website services say they do “SEO”, this is what they’re talking about.  Half a solution.

They STILL leave you with the “clinic in the woods” problem. With “on page” SEO there are STILL no paths leading to your clinic.

That’s where off-page SEO comes in. We send you lists of where to register your website. This helps build paths to your website. It also gives you links back to your site, which make Google and other search engines realize that your website is important. The theory is, if your website is important enough to link to, it must be important enough to show up well in search results.

I’ve been approached by other companies wanting to sell this for $650, but it turns out that my lists are more complete, and you can do it for free!

Obtaining these links is pretty straightforward, and is a one time investment of time only. It will pay off for years to come.  It creates paths from other websites, and make sure that Google has a nice path right up to the front door of your clinic’s website.

By the way, a lot of companies will try to sell you SEO like it’s magical and mysterious. It’s really not. Only top markets like New York City require SEO services. In special cases we do offer SEO services, but for the most part it’s something that’s built into your website (on-page SEO) or can be done using our lists of sites (off-page SEO).

Can I add an online store or sell things on the website?

We don’t offer stores, because they will cost you money instead of bringing you more income. There’s three problems with having a store that you may want to think about:

  1. An online store distracts users from making appointments with you. Unless you’re selling something high-priced, a new patient is may be worth more than 10 sales at your store, and give you far less hassle.
  2. Most online stores don’t make enough to pay for the cost of setting them up, let alone the ongoing order-fulfillment. It sounds good in theory, but actually finding buyers and getting them to visit your website isn’t easy. Most people visiting your website will not be intending to buy.
  3. Offering stores would increase the price of your website dramatically.

We’re fully capable of offering stores, but would rather offer you patients instead.

I want ____ for my site. Can you help me with it?

Probably. We provide basic customizations for free. We also support many plug-ins that add features, and many things are built in.

However, if you want a lot of design work, we’d have to talk first. Please see the page on custom designs and converting existing sites.

Feel free to contact us for details. This is the ONLY time we charge extra, but often people are surprised – what they want is already included in the service! Some examples:

  • Setting up ebooks/brochures for download.
  • Inserting a mailing list/newsletter signup form.
  • Setting up a blog – we don’t automatically create one for you because most people don’t use it. But if you want one, it takes us longer to tell you about it than to set up.
Can I add pictures?

 

Example picture – Pagoda

Our system has built-in capabilities to upload pictures. You can insert full sized pictures, or have a smaller picture in-line with the text, like this. It literally took me 2-3 minutes to insert the picture – most of that time was taken up by choosing which picture I wanted to show. The actual insertion just took 40 seconds, because it was a huge picture but needed to be scaled down.

What’s a domain name?

A domain name is the web address of your site. For example this site’s domain name is AlternativeHealthWebsites.com. It’s managed separately from your website by a domain name registrar – which is basically a domain name management company. We provide domain names for free, or you can direct your own at our server.

The domain name itself works by acting like a cell phone number. In the US, you’re allowed to switch cellular carriers and take your phone number with you. You can use a different phone service but keep the same number. When you have a domain name for web hosting, you can switch to another web host, then change your domain to route to access your site on the new web host.

It’s not complicated, but the biggest source of confusion is that your domain name is separate from the web hosting service we provide. One way to think of a domain name/web address is like a street address for a house – you can easily have mail forwarded to another house, but you have to make arrangements with the postmaster (domain name registrar) to make it happen.

May I use your prewritten templates if I’m not hosting with you?
Our pre-written templates and emails may only be used on websites hosted by us. Our template is pre-written, persuasive, and usually much better than what’s on most sites. We put a lot of effort into this, so please don’t copy them.That being said, copyright law protects the wording, but not the idea. Feel free to take the general idea – but if you steal the wording, neither of us are going to be happy about it.
Can I cancel if I don’t like the service?

Of course. You can cancel your hosting services at any time. If you cancel, you won’t receive any further charges whatsoever. Just let us know.

We are a subscription based service, so we’re motivated to keep you happy. If you’re not happy, you’re free to leave at any time.

  1. Patients will start to find you through your website, only after you’ve registered it as shown above. This is true for ANY website out there – your website is only found if other websites are linking to it. The difference is, we tell you and help you with this. Other website services leave you to figure this out on your own.