What makes a great website?

Like a shop interior should adequately represent a business’s brand in its nuisance of design, layout and general feel; acting as a brands physical home while evoking and aligning with their ethics, purpose and intentions… a great website should equally create the perfect digital home/space/identity that mirrors the business’s ethos through it’s every detail – design layout, functionality, accessibility and content. A great website should be coherent, concise, uncluttered, engaging, fast, secure and easily navigable, encouraging visitors to want to take time to explore the site to find out more about who you are, what you offer, and how they can engage via the site’s content and functionality – putting the user experience first.

You live so far away! How can you help me?

In lots of instances, I can. If it’s a computer related issue where your computer is still bootable and accessible, I can login using remote access software such as TeamViewer or AnyViewer (my preferred method currently). I’ll guide you to download the TeamViewer, AnyViewer, or AnyDesk software and once opened you’d share your session login details to allow me to take control of your computer so I can diagnose and hopefully fix the issue. Your remote computer access login details will reset every time the remote software is closed to prevent unauthorised access to your computer to guarantee your computer is kept secure. While I use the remote software we can also communicate via phone, Whatsapp, Zoom, or Skype to explain any specific issues.

I also offer computer and software tuition via Zoom and Skype allowing you to share your screen while I can talk you through the steps as you do them. I can also create and send you video instructional videos for computer, software or website related tuition in which I film my screen and talk you through the steps.

For clients with websites requiring maintenance or building outside of Cornwall I usually work solely remotely in a combination of email, phone, Whatsapp and Zoom/Skype communication.

What’s the Difference Between Domain Name and Web Hosting?

Well, seeing as WP Beginners explain this so succinctly, I’ll paraphrase them…

What is a Domain Name?

Domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser’s URL bar to visit your website. In other words, if your website was a house, then your domain name will be its address.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the place where all the files of your website live. It is like the home of your website where it actually lives.

Conclusion…

Domain names and web hosting are two different services. However, they work together to make websites possible. A good way to think about this is if the domain name was the address of your house, then web hosting is the actual house that address points to. All websites on the internet, need web hosting.

How much do you charge?

For both website and computer related work I charge by the hour at £35*, however if you would like me to provide you an estimate for a larger job to help you gauge costs please get in touch.

* Time charged per 15mins increments and if work sits between an increment it is rounded up to the next increment. For example, 10mins is charged at 15mins and 2hrs 50mins would be charged at 3hrs.

Do you offer fixed packages for websites?

No, this doesn’t feel fair to me on the client, nor me in some instances. With people’s needs varying so much I find it hard to ‘lump’ someone in a fixed price package and charge them for things they may not need. I charge by the hour ensuring you only pay for the time it takes. I am conscientious on being fair in relation to time and money spent so where I feel something has taken an unreasonable time (based on an industry standard) I will ‘gift’ the additional time to avoid unnecessary costs being passed on to you.

How much will a website cost?

How long is a piece of string?! Jokes aside, it really is hard to say as the cost of a website depends entirely on what your needs are and whether you want something to look and feel amazing, or just something “that’ll do for now”. What can be achieved in web design these days is pretty limitless, so where in the past it would be relatively easy to cost a website because a site would have a few pages with text, images, the odd video, the odd widget here and there, and a way for your visitors to contact you, sites can now do almost everything making a guess at website costs very difficult. With the simplest of simple sites taking only 10 – 20 hours and the most advanced taking well in excess of 100 hours it’s really important to initially define your parameters and what you want the site to do. A site’s functionality and attention to aesthetics and details could be the difference in a small site taking 20 – 30 hours and costing between £700 and £1050, or 50 – 80 hours and costing between £1750 and £2800. A site can be small but with complex features and functionality, or large with basic functionality making it difficult to ‘pigeon hole’ site costs by size, therefore in our initial communications/meetings we’ll discuss in depth what your needs are and what your budget is so that I tailor the site to best respond to these.

As you can imagine from what I just described above, I find it difficult to give fixed answers to this question, though for some examples of previous sites and the time taken for the initial build please see here. In an effort to keep the prices fair I have avoided offering fixed price packages, and instead charging by the hour (£35) so that you only pay for the actual time taken to build the site. There are occasions where I ‘gift’ some time here and there for tasks that I feel may have taken an unreasonable amount of time to avoid additional costs being put on to you. I strive to provide a website that best meets your needs at a reasonable price. The cost of websites have increased in recent years and for clarity/transparency on what’s generally included and what my process is I’ve outlined this in my responses to the next FAQ questions below.

I appreciate you may be none the wiser from reading the above so if you want a figure to help with you budgeting, please do get in touch to discuss your needs and I’ll do my best to provide you with a estimate.

What’s included in the total website costs?

• Support with setting up all the technical elements required for the website (web hosting, domain, SSL certificate, web platform installation, theme, plugins/add-ons/extensions)
• Multiple site drafts until you are happy with the look, feel and functionality of the site
• Device specific content to ensure that your site looks great on all devices and screen orientations (Desktop, laptop 11″ – 18″, tablet landscape, tablet portrait, mobile landscape and mobile portrait)
• Connecting your site with search engines and submitting sitemaps to ensure your site is crawled and that your regular updates are submitted providing search engines with the most up to date version of your site
• Basic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to help your site get found in search engines
• Website speed optimisation using server level tools and various plugins/add-ons and extensions (depending on platform) to increase your site’s loading time

What can I expect to happen during the website build?

Building your website from ‘scratch’ will including the following steps:

1. Liaising about your needs (functionality and design) and agreeing on the right platform (WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace etc), website editor (if using WordPress), and theme to best represent what you do.
2. Liaising to help you choose a web host and domain (if you don’t already have these).
3. Supporting you to purchase any of the above if needed.
4. Setting up the website infrastructure (depending on the platform), connecting the domain, installing a SSL (security certificate), and installing and configuring any necessary plugins/add-ons/extensions.
5. Building the first draft, and upon your feedback, making any necessary revisions. In creating the first draft, I usually begin working on the homepage first and once design elements and page layouts/structures are agreed, I’ll proceed to building the remaining pages and functionality that utilise these. The first draft is always built with computer/laptop devices in mind, with mobile and tablet versions of the site addressed once the complete website first draft is signed off.
6. Through a process of testing the site on multiple devices and browsers (Windows and iOS), I’ll tweak the site for mobile and tablet (landscape and portrait orientations) using custom CSS and where necessary build device specific content.
7. Do basic general SEO for the site, page specific SEO, and image descriptions and alt descriptions. For some web platforms the extent of this will depend on what plan you are on and for WordPress for instance will depend on whether you are using a premium SEO plugin or a free one (such as Yoast). SEO is not my expertise so if you require more advanced SEO, I advise you to seek a specialist SEO company once the site has been completed to handle your ongoing SEO needs.
8. Connect your site with a Google Search Console (and other search engine consoles – Bing Webmaster Tools) and submit your site’s sitemaps so that your site can be crawled via Google, Bing and other search engines.
9. Optimise the website’s speed using server level tools and various plugins to ensure the site loads as fast as it can for your visitors.
10. Testing the site with friends and family before launching to the world. Where necessary, from feedback I’ll tweak any final bugs/issues to ensure the best user experience and representation of what you do. And finally… Launch your site!

I already have a website but it needs some updating, can you help?

Sure, yes in most cases… as long as it’s a platform I’m used to using and compentant in. See below…

What web building platforms do you support?

My preference for building and maintaining websites is WordPress (.org and .com versions – preferably the former) however I do also support Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Ionos 1&1, and GoDaddy Website Builders and am somewhat familiar with Joomla and Drupal CMS. If you are using a different platform, please do get in touch as it’s possible I might support it or will be able to pick it up quickly!

Do you offer SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

I do offer SEO, though my service is basic as this is not where my expertise lies and so for those wanting more advanced SEO packages, I recommend clients to find a SEO company to pay to do more advanced and specialised SEO work. In what I offer, I will connect your site to search consoles (Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools etc) and submit your site’s sitemaps to search engines so that your site can be crawled and your pages and posts indexed. In addition to this I do basic general SEO for your site, for your images/media, and for your site’s main pages.

Do you fix computer, tablet or mobile phone hardware problems such as cracked screens?

No, I do not repair hardware issues for any device due to my increased website workload and through not having a dust free environment. My computer support is therefore limited to software related support, tuition, and the occasional hardware issue diagnosis and installing new batteries, hard drives, and RAM upgrades. Please contact me to see what I’m currently offering.

What changes have you made to keep your customers safe from Covid-19?

I am following the necessary COVID 19 protocols for clients visiting my office at home or for when I make client visits, as well as respecting any additional COVID precautions requested by my client. For those unable to meet in person I also offer remote services too. Please do contact me to discuss your requirements.