Frequently Asked Questions about the Internet and HVAC-City
What is HVAC-City? HVAC-City was formed by Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) and Wrightsoft Corporation to provide an easy way for HVAC companies to have a presence on the Internet. HVAC-City provides home pages for contractors, manufacturers, distributors, and system designers.
What is a home page? It is your own electronic face, which anyone on the Internet can see. If the page has your own domain name, then Internet surfers can find your home page by searching for www.yourcompany.com.
What is a domain name? Your own unique, registered name. Once you have the name registered to you, then it's yours (as long as you pay the Internet fee of $100 every 2 years). For example, 'whitehouse.gov' is a domain name. Whitehouse is the registered domain within 'gov'. Most companies are registered in the form of 'yourcompany.com'.
How do I get a domain name? We can register your domain name for you. First, we search to be sure that your name is not already taken, and then we submit your request ($25 fee). It takes 2 to 3 weeks for us to receive confirmation that InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center) has granted your name request. Once your name is confirmed, InterNIC bills us $100 for the 2 year name rental fee. We bill you for the $125.
Do all home pages use domain names? Yes, but some home pages are buried within other home pages. Many Internet presence providers will give you a home page which is reached through their name. For example, under such an arrangement, your home page might be reached by the address 'www.dds-xyz.net/users/yourcompany/', rather than 'www.yourcompany.com'. You would probably prefer your company to stand on its own.
Will my home page use my domain name? Yes. As part of our standard service, we devote an Internet address to your domain name, so that surfers reach you as 'www.yourcompany.com'. This service is known as 'virtual web domain'. Some Internet providers charge as much as $50 per month for this service alone, but at HVAC-City, it's part of our standard package, at no extra cost.
What are the monthly charges for a home page on HVAC-City? If you are an ACCA member or associate member, the charges are $35 per month. For all others, the charges are $45 per month. This includes free posting on the top 15 search sites, use of the secure server, virtual domain operation, and linkage through HVAC-City.
What if I don't want to register my domain name right now? We can give you a home page without your own domain name, either as just one number (for example, it might 204.180.77.70, which isn't real catchy), or a sub-name off HVAC-City's. For example, it would be something like, 'HVAC-City/sites/yourname/. Saving the domain name fees is one way to get going, but if someone else registers your name while you save the money, you'll be sad.
How long does it take to find out if my domain name is reserved? Once we submit your domain name, it will take InterNIC from 1 week to 3 weeks to respond with a confirmation and a bill.
What can I put on my home page? Whatever you want to put on it. You should think about your home page as your combined advertising brochure, order form, information request form, and catalog. There can be many pages attached to the first one that a surfer sees. For example 'www.yourcompany.com' would bring a surfer to your home page.
Who puts the information on my home page? If you wish, we will do it. Or you can have us get you started, and you can continue to refine it yourself when you have more time. Or you can hire a graphic artist/web designer to work with you and us.
What if I want to change my home page? We set up your page so that you can edit it yourself, or you can ask us to make changes. You should think in terms of adding specials to your page that change, so that potential customers will come back to your page to see what's new.
If HVAC-City makes the changes, what does it cost? We charge $45 per hour for composing and modifying home pages. Our minimum charge is $15. We can set up a simple, text only page, using your own company information (faxed or emailed to us) in about one hour. If you want to have several pages, with a few graphics, scanned photographs, and an order form, the charges might run up to $300 to $400. We encourage you to start simple, and add as you go along. It's much more important to be there than to wait to be fancier.
How will surfers on the Internet find my home page? Through search sites, like yahoo.com. As a free service, we will register your home page with the top 15 search sites, using keywords for HVAC. Also, HVAC-City maintains a search page where consumers can locate HVAC companies by geography and specialties. Building owners can find contractors through HVAC-City. You may also seek out other sites where it makes sense to set up links to your home page.
What else does HVAC-City do besides provide home pages? In an effort to draw building owners and others interested in HVAC to the site, HVAC-City will continue to build an information data base on HVAC design, performance, and multiple how-to sections such as how to find a quality contractor. We also expect to offer a way for building owners to post requests for bids on jobs they may have, and we will make that information available to HVAC-City members. HVAC-City also provides a secure server, and your domain is available as a virtual domain.
What's a secure server? Internet communications (such as credit card numbers) can be made safe from prying eyes by scrambling data, and encoding it so that it can only be read by someone who has a special digital 'key'. This process is called 'encryption'. When we provide you with a home page on our Web server, we can set up your order forms so that your customers' order information is encrypted.
What's a virtual domain? When one server operates with several domain names, the domain names are called virtual. The service of providing a web site which appears to be 'www.yourcompany.com' is called a virtual domain name. Many providers charge an extra charge for virtual domains. At HVAC-City, the virtual domain is part of our standard service.
So how much money altogether will I spend? First, to register your domain name, $125. Then you will spend from $50 to $400 to set up a typical home page. Your monthly charges will either be $35 per month (ACCA members) or $45 per month. Your monthly charges are paid in advance, and will start the on the first day of the first month your page is operational.
How long will it take for my home page to be on-line? We can put a simple, basic home page on-line for you quickly. If your home page requires considerable work, allow two weeks, depending on our backlog, and when we receive all your materials.
How do I get going? 1. Call us at 800-225-8697 and we can register your domain name. 2. Collect your current flyers and any photos or graphics you would like to have on your page, and send it to us, and we'll give you a quote on a home page. 3. Give us the go-ahead, and we'll do the rest!
HVAC-City
394 Lowell Street
Lexington, MA 02173
(800) 225-8697
Last Update: 05/24/96