How much time will this take?
From start to finish a website can take anything from a week to 6 weeks to deliver in full. It all depends on how quickly you provide content, feedback and decisions for the website and how much availability I have.
How much time do I need to dedicate to this?
Consider investing at least two to three hours per week during the build. This is essential to understanding your requirements and enables you to get the best out of our expertise and experience.
If you are sourcing your own images and writing your own text then we suggest allowing quite a lot more time depending on how quick you are (or speak to us about getting help with this).
How do I contact you?
We keep in touch throughout the project by email and Zoom. We encourage talking via Zoom just for the key discussions as allows for a much more productive and personal experience and then the rest is done via email or phone call.
How much contact will I have with you?
We’ll be in touch at least once a week throughout the project, generally via email. At key stages we will chat on Zoom . If we find emails are getting too much we might suggest alternatives to keep track and project manage.
What happens if I’m not happy?
The way we work means that we discuss the work at every stage. You’ll sign off the work at key stages before moving forward to the next step. Also it’s crucial to have filled out the questionnaire and had the initial kick off session to discuss this before moving forward so I have a good idea of what you require. It also helps a lot if you have been through a branding process and you are clear about what you want, what services you offer and who you want to attract.
Can I change things myself?
At the end of the website build we provide a 1 hour training session via online video (which can be recorded) showing you how to edit content on your website and add new images and blogs. Or we may break this into smaller chunks and send you screen recordings. For additional training, take a look at our Tech Support options.
Do you provide any other training? For example, how to use Mailchimp or how to edit images?
Please look at our website add-ons or additional training can be provided – take a look at our Tech Support options and get in touch and we can give your an estimate on price depending on what you require.
Can you change things for me after launch?
Yes, we charge an hourly rate or competitive daily rates for extra changes. Look at our Tech Support options or get in touch and we can give you an estimate on price. Alternatively if you will be making regular changes, then we recommend putting a monthly retainer in place (to save money) or take up our WordPress Support PLUS Package.
What are your websites built on?
All our websites are built using WordPress and are hosted on your own hosting or our recommended hosting. WordPress is easy to use and is flexible and scalable, so you are not restricted in any way or having to pay expensive monthly costs if you want to add some extra functionality to the site. It is opensource which means it is free from commercial restrictions and limitations, so you can host your website anywhere you choose without the fear that changes in someone else’s business model will have an adverse impact one of your most important business assets.
What theme / plugins do you use?
We use a proven premium theme which is highly flexible, customisable, well supported and easy to update. Clients find it easy to use. We also use a range of reputable free WordPress plugins to provide extra functionality. In some cases, depending on the needs of your project, we will recommend a paid plugin but the choice is up to you (they are often very low cost anyway and can save a lot of time and trouble = cost). In all cases we source from reputable developers and ensure we have tested them before adding them on your website and can advise on options and costs before using.
Can I use my own theme and plugins?
We prefer to work with our proven themes and plug-ins, however by all means please do let us know and we’ll take a look. Extra costs will be involved for themes as they all work in different ways and require a degree of learning. Extra costs may be involved if it is a complex plugin to set up.
Where will you host my site and does the cost include domain names and email accounts?
We recommend clients purchase domains under their own name and keep control of them, then allow us access to set things up. We can also recommend a few domain name providers. Domain names range from a few £s to about £30 a year or more if they are a specialised domain. They try to sell you a lot more than you need like email packages which you could get as part of our hosting, so please speak to us first.
We offer our own hosting from £100 a year or free if you take up one of our WordPress support packages. It is reliable, affordable and offers good support, fast loading sites and Let’s Encrypt (free SSL or https:// which is required now) as standard (so no need to purchase an SSL certificate) plus free emails (not Office365 or Google Workspace). Many of these things help your visibility in search engines and for better user experience. The datacentre is UK based which again is good for SEO and they are green – the centre is run on 100% renewable energy.
Can I use my own hosting provider?
There are several companies out there offering hosting and domains and we recommend speaking to us before you purchase anything so we can offer our advice and recommendations. There are a lot of poor quality providers out there or others selling you a lot more than you need or ones where the speed is very slow (affects seo and credibility) and service is not good. There would be extra costs if using one we are not familiar with or we know are not good as it takes a lot more time to get things done and tends to cause more problems with maintenance and support due to email problems, slow speeds, not updating to latest software and so on.
Will my website show up on Page 1 of Google once launched?
SEO (search engine optimisation) is a complex process and just because you have a new website, it does not mean you will suddenly show up on page 1 for certain search criteria, especially if there is a lot of competition for those search terms. You need to also take into consideration:
- Site loading time – we recommend our hosting and include any necessary plugins to improve this
- Structure – we ensure we use the correct headings and hierarchy for posts and pages
- Images – we optimise, resize and compress them for faster loading and label correctly so that Google can read them
- The amount of traffic/visitors to your site – we can give a bit of advice on this or take a look at our website add-ons or go for our WordPress Support PLUS Package
- How long people stay on your site – we make recommendations to make the most of your site and you can look at our website add-ons
- How often you add new content to your site – look at our website add-ons and perhaps choose the blog strategy
- The quality of the content on your site – we can recommend copywriters
There are a number of other things that can help improve your SEO so let us know what your goals are and we can advise what you need.