Frequently asked questions
If you can't find an answer to your question, please contact us
Q1. How long does it take for a design to be completed?
If you have a deadline in mind we will try to meet it for you. The most common delay in the creation of a site is waiting for content (text/images) to be sent to us by you. It can take as little as a few days to several months depending on the complexity of the design and the number of page designs required. For more about our design services, click here
Q2. I would like you to design my site, what do I need to do now - what is the process?
The first thing we need to do is arrange a fact-finding meeting - in person or by telephone - where we discuss your business goals and what you want your website to achieve for your business. Then we can agree the type of information you want to display and the best styles for the optimum results. Colour schemes to match your logo or corporate branding are the final part of the equation before we create a number of 'mock-ups' for you to review and select the final design. This is then refined/changed in consultation with you until a satisfactory design has been reached. We will then need you to forward content and images for your site and off we go! For more information about our design process, click here
Q3. Do I need to buy a domain name and hosting?
We can purchase a domain name on your behalf but we always advise our clients to have it registered in their company name - it is YOUR name after all! We help you set up your registrar account and if you wish we can administer it for you on your behalf. Website hosting is included as part of the design package. For more information about our domain services, click here
Q4. How much does it cost to register a domain name?
It varies from as little as £10 for 2 years for a .co.uk name to £30 per annum for a managed .com domain.
Q5. How much will it cost for you to design and build my website?
The cost of a website varies, depending upon the type of site you require. A basic site will start from around £500; a simple eCommerce site from £1000. We set our prices on the number of different pages styles and amount of functionality you require. A simple brochure site with every page looking the same will take far less time to build than a site with multiple customer interactions, shopping carts and individually styled product pages. Each site is custom built and designed around your business objectives and available budget. As our system is scalable, you can always add additional features and pages later very easily. If you would like a free consultation to find out more click here
Q6. Do you need payment up front?
Yes, we request a non-refundable 50% of the build cost as a deposit for all sites as the bulk of the work takes part in the early stages of a website build. For larger projects and ecommerce, deposits will vary depending upon the complexity of the work required. The balance of payment is then due on completion of the project. The only ongoing cost will be your monthly Support Fee for technical support and site hosting.
Q7. I can get it cheaper elsewhere so what do I get for my money?
All our designs are created and conceived from your requirements and hand built as we don't use 'out-of-a-box', 'off-the-shelf' templates or Open Source (free) software that may have support issues in the future. This gives us complete flexibility with your design - if you want a green website with pink spots you can have one! - and a secure software platform that has excellent technical support. As we design a solution based around your business objectives and budget, we aim to give all of our clients 'value for money' websites that are easy to navigate, targeted at your customers, designed to achieve your objectives and already optimised a basic level for the major search engines. You will find a cheaper offer out there - but will your customers find your website?
Every item below comes as standard with our designs:-
- Custom Website Design - your own unique look and feel.
- Secure UK based site hosting on premium servers
- Ethical and validated coding
- Web pages and images optimised with basic meta information to aid search engines index your web page quickly
- Cross Browser Compatibility
- Hosted on a modular platform so you do not need to redesign to add extra functions as your business grows
- Free Advice
Q8. What happens when I complete your contact form?
If you are making an enquiry about a possible site you would like created, please provide a brief outline of your requirements. We will then call or back to have a brief discussion with you and arrange a meeting either in person or by telephone to go through your objectives and requirements. This is FREE. You are not obliged to use our services at any stage during this process, so feel free to use the form to ask any related questions you may have. To request a FREE consultation, click here
Q9. How do I get listed in Google?
It is free to submit to Google and we submit all websites we design to Google, Yahoo! and DMOZ if the client wants us too - not all do! Please note that for new domain names/sites it can take up to several months to get an organic listing if there is a lot of competition for your selected keywords or sector.
Optimisation is correctly using text in your website that search engines need to catalogue each web page. Websites need to be designed so that they are easy to find on the internet and ensuring your website is designed correctly is the key to getting your website ranked highly on search engines. Search engine results are based on many variables and our designs as standard come with the basic principles such as links, the use of keywords and phrases, alt and meta tags and the relationship and relevance of page text and correct page titling.
We do not guarantee a top 10 place on any search engine as your website's position depends on many factors which are beyond our control. There is no magic formula that will propel your site to the top of the search engines but we do know how to give your site the best chance of getting a good ranking. For more on optimisationclick here.
Q11. What after sales support do you offer?
After the completion of a website project we are available for after sales service. Any slight tweaks, corrections or amendments are carried out to the site free of charge in the first 30 days. All technical support is free of charge at any time. We are available by telephone during normal office hours and by email outside hours. For more information, click here
Q12. What are your search engine optimisation prices?
These vary depending on the type of website, quality of code and competitiveness of market, but a typical Keyword Research report would start at £349 plus VAT. Contact us for an initial assessment of your website and an indication of likely search engine optimisation costs. For more information, click here
Q13. What are your search engine optimisation results?
Usually very good, with many happy clients who have had websites appear on the first page of Google for their selected keywords and phrases!
