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.
QWhat is a responsive website?
AA responsive website responds to the device that accesses it and delivers the appropriate output for it. A responsive website looks great on all devices; desktop computers, tablet computers like the iPad, and mobile phones. Many web designers do not currently provide responsive websites – always ask before you buy!
QDo you provide domain names?
AYes, we can arrange a .co.uk domain name free of charge as part of a web design package (if required). Many of our clients already have access to a domain name that they wish to use for their website. Either way, we can get you up and running quickly. We pay your domain registration fee to cover the first year. After that, we charge a small annual renewal fee (free if you take up our annual hosting package).
QShould i buy a .co.uk or .com?
AFor 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.
QDo i have to provide hosting?
ANo, absolutely not. We provide reliable, UK based hosting completely free of charge for the first year 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.
QI want to move to my own hosting. What should i do?
AWe 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.
QHow long will my website take to get up and running?
AWe take great pride in providing a well organised, fast turn around on all projects. Brochure websites can be completed within 7 days. Ecommerce websites take a little longer – up to 14 days – but timescales for ecommerce projects are often dictated by the time taken to set up a payment provider and/or an internet merchant account. The timescales noted assume that the client provides timely responses to all information requests.
QI need to change some text on my site. How much will it cost me?
AAbsolutely 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 small changes done on an hourly rate and larger modifications on a quotation basis.
QDo I have to pay a deposit?
AAll website design and ecommerce projects require a 50% advance fee prior to us starting work. The final 50% is due on completion prior to the site ‘going live’.
QHow do i pay an invoice?
APayments can be made by bank transfer. Details are available on all invoices. Payments are due upon receipt of the invoice. For new clients, cleared payment will 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.
QDo I have to provide artwork or photos for a new site?
AWe expect that you will want to provide your own business and product photos for use on the site at the beginning of any design project. We also have access to over 11 million high quality stock photographs that we can utilise for the main site layout and to ‘flesh out’ the site if necessary.
QI need to send you text and images. How do i do that?
ASmall projects can send content via email. Larger projects are provided an alternative, secure method of sharing the content. 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 a separate document allocated to each page. Any text that requires formatting (bold, italic etc) on the website should be formatted in the Word Document. Any specific linking would also be set out 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.
QI need articles written for my blog, website or for article submission. Can you write them for me?
ASure; 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!
QWill you optimise my new website for Google and the other search engines?
AWhen 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 and provide some initial traffic for your new site. Thereafter, traffic levels can be improved by a sustained program of search engine optimisation.
QWill you submit my new website to the search engines?
AAs soon as the site has been completed and is set live, we’ll submit it to Google, Bing and Ask. We’ll also ‘ping’ a variety of online services to help get your site noticed.
QWhat is an XML sitemap?
AAn 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.
QWhat is robots.txt file?
AIf 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.
