Frequently Asked Questions
We've put together a list of questions that tend to come up regularly. If you still have questions, please get in touch on 0845 226 0736.
do you provide domain names?
We do not provide domain names; they are available very cheaply through a wide range of providers. Many of our clients already have access to a domain name that they wish to use for their website. This ensures that you have complete control over your domain names and renewals at all times.
If you need to arrange a domain name for your project, we recommend purchasing it through Fasthosts.
should i buy a .co.uk or .com?
For businesses based in the UK selling products or services to the UK market, we recommend buying the .co.uk domain and using this as your primary domain; this will give you a small advantage when it comes to search engine optimisation for UK traffic. We also suggest purchasing the .com version of the domain when available; we'll use it as a secondary domain by pointing it at your .co.uk.
do i have to provide hosting?
No absolutely not. We provide reliable, UK based hosting completely free of charge for year one for all web packages and ecommerce projects. Annual renewal charges are low and arranged by a direct debit that you can cancel at any time.
I want to move to my own hosting. what should i do?
We would appreciate feedback on why you wish to move hosting. We are happy to provide ftp access for you to copy the site over to your new hosting. If you would like us to transfer the website on your behalf, and assuming that your new server meets our minimum requirements, we can do this on an hourly rate basis payable in advance.
I need to change some text on my site. How much will it cost me?
Absolutely nothing if you want to do it yourself! All our web design packages and ecommerce stores come with their own content management system that will let you make changes to text and images without harming the website structure, colour palette or style. Need a little help the first time? just give us a call. Alternatively send us a joblist and we'll get the changes done on an hourly rate.
How do i pay an invoice?
Miscellaneous payments can be made by cheque or bank transfer. Details are available on all invoices. Payments are due within 7 days of the date of the invoice. In some cases, payment may be required prior to starting work.
Regular payments, such as those required for hosting or search engine optimisation require you to complete a direct debit mandate for the pre-agreed amount. An invoice will be issued for your records once the payment has cleared.
Do I have to provide artwork or photos for a new site?
We expect that you will want to provide product and other associated photos that you wish us to use at the beginning of any design project. We also have access to over 11 million high quality stock photographs that we utilise for the main site layout and to 'flesh out' the site if necessary.
I need articles written for my blog, website or for article submission. Can you write them for me?
Sure; no problem. Let us know your requirements and we'll arrange a quotation for you. We may be able to offer discounts for repeat or large orders. We can usually arrange articles within 7-10 days. They are a high quality starting point for you to adapt and modify for your blog or website as required; after all you know your business better that we do!
will you optimise my new website for Google and the other search engines?
When we design any new site, we will investigate the most appropriate keywords for the page content that you provide. After agreement with you, we'll incorporate those keywords into the title tag and meta area of the pages. This will help the search engines understand what each page is about but is unlikely to cause a stampeed of traffic to your site. Traffic levels can only be improved by a sustained program of search engine optimisation that includes more detailed keyword research.
I need to send you text and images. How do i do that?
We ask that the text content for each page of your website is your FINAL version and is provided to us in a Microsoft Word Document with the appropriate page title given before each section of text. Any text that requires formating (bold, italic etc) on the website should be formated in the Word Document. All images would normally be provided in JPEG/JPG format and should be of sufficient quality / size for the required use. Other acceptable image formats are; PSD, PNG.
What is an XML sitemap?
An XML sitemap lists the pages on your website, rating each page in order of importance and noting an update frequency. An XML sitemap can be submitted to Google, Yahoo and other search engines to help them crawl and index your website. This is different to sitemaps normally found in larger websites to help visitors locate items of interest.
What is robots.txt file?
If a site owner wishes to give instructions to web robots, he must place a text file called robots.txt in the root of the web site. This text file should contain instructions in a specific format to instruct search engine robots which web pages it should index and which it should ignore.