Frequently Asked Questions
What would you like to know?
Services
Once I’ve got your initial requirements I’ll build the website and share it with you, you give me your feedback and changes and we iterate, once you’re happy you commit and the website goes live. If you’re not happy with what I’ve put together for you, we just go our separate ways, nothing owed. Hopefully you’ll be excited though and want to move forward.
At that point, you’re committing to a minimum of a 12 month contract but after that, with one only months notice you’re free to cancel at any time, no hard feelings and i’ll give you everything you need to transfer to a different host.
First I’ll help you to choose an available domain, it can be anything you want but it’s commonly yourbusinessname.co.uk. Now you’ve made your choice, I will get it officially registered and owned by you. Once the domain is in place I will configure it for your new mail service to ensure you can receive emails sent to it e.g. you@yourbusinessname.co.uk.
Once that’s up and running we can build your Google Business Profile and get you onto Google Maps and Google Search. Throughout this we’ll keep in touch, I’ll need plenty of information from you but I’ll make it as simple and as easy as I can.
It’s symbolic, a point of honesty and trust. If I pay for your domain, I own it. I don’t want to be in a position where you’re not happy with something but don’t want to tell me because I hold the keys to your online name, I wouldn’t like that. However, if you pay for it though, great, it’s yours, your details are against it and I’m simply your tech guy managing it.
Even when you pay for it though, I’ll still sort it all out for you, that bit is what’s covered in your monthly cost. A domain is approximately £10-£20 per year, you will be billed separately each time it renews.
Absolutely, having the presence on the internet is the key factor, and whilst having imagery of your business and what you do is a huge boost for building customer trust, it’s not mandatory. Potential customers love seeing authentic imagery of what you actually do but I can still make your website look good with what is available for free for commercial use. In fact, all of the example portfolio sites I’ve created are using CC0 public domain imagery.
Yes, everything can be swapped out to suit you, colours, imagery, text is all adaptable.
I would recommend viewing it from the perspective of financial value, what does one successful new lead make you per month? Think about growing your business or making it more resilient with less patchy work.
A multi page website gives more opportunities for better online SEO and articulating what your business does to potential customers but a single page is far, far better than no website at all.
Yes, that’s no problem, the old contract will be cancelled and you will need to sign a new one for a new 12 month period.
No, not at all, whilst features like those can be hugely beneficial for some businesses they may not be appropriate for others. As a minimum I would always encourage a customer to at least have a Contact Form and a Phone Number but no more than that is strictly neccessary.
That’s not a problem, you own the domain not me, that’s the key to ensuring you have online continuity. Anything provided by you such as content or images is returned or provided to the new supplier. There’s no cost from me for assisting with this, I don’t gatekeep.
However, anything I build, write, configure or provide for you is retained by me, you don’t keep the website. If I did that everyone would just stay for 12 months and then move on with a nice cheap website in their pocket, this is why the website is built for free. I’m trying to build long term relationships with my customers.
Well that really depends on what you’re looking for, there’s certainly other services I can provide and help you with, maybe a virtual landline just for business calls, or some Google Adwords campaigns to drum up business, or even email marketing.
There’s plenty of possibilities, I’ve got experience of most things, so just ask. Booking systems, payment systems, CRM systems, email marketing, chat systems, helpdesk systems, website management, social media presence, process automation, data management, AI image creation, and loads more. If it’s a cross over between Marketing and IT I’ve probably done it.
No, I can manage the profile overall but the reviews themselves, especially any that are less favourable would be better if they are responded to by yourself. You’ll be able to provide a positive and a professional response with full understanding of the context of the customer, that’s much more authentic than a boiler plate response by me.
Possibly, get in touch to discuss what you need, custom doesn’t have to mean expensive.
No problem, that’s included. If you need new colours, new photos, new fonts, something moved or changed, no problem at all.
Possibly, integrations bring greater complexity so focusing on simpler sites helps me keep things affordable for small businesses but every case is different, tell me what you need and we’ll see if we can work it out.
Billing & Delivery
My aim is to have longterm, trusted, relationships with my customers. If that isn’t how you feel and you cancel before 12 months has completed you will owe the remainder of the monthly payments. This will be stated clearly in the service agreement you sign.
Everything is setup to be collected via DirectDebit, in the event of a failed payment, the following timelines are observed:
• 7 days after missed payment: Formal notice sent
• 14 days after missed payment: Website suspended (shows maintenance page)
• 21 days after missed payment: Full service termination and early termination fees apply
The annual cost is the administration charge, that goes to the companies that manage the domains across the entire internet, it’s standard practice. It will typically cost £10 – £20 renew it annually and ensures that you continue to own your business name on the internet.
A simple monthly payment is typically easier for small businesses to budget for but if lump sum payment is better for you, get in touch with me.
Up to date full service website prices are listed here.
My time, for anything outside of that, would be charged by the hour.
From the point we’ve started communicating it’s likely to take approximately 2 to 3 weeks for a site to go live. This is of course subject to how many changes we have to make and whether you have your own images or not.
From your first payment, you are paying in advance for the forthcoming month.
You just call or email me at anytime. Out of hours I may not answer, (like the middle of the night!) but you don’t have to wait until the next day when you’ve just had an idea, just leave me the details and I’ll get back to you.
Technical
You can also login to the dedicated email web portal and see them there. If you don’t want to do that you can have the emails configured to be sent to any standard email client on the web such as Gmail, Outlook on pc or mobile, it can all be achieved in the same mailbox you’re already using.
If you do want to use your own email client, whilst I don’t have access to your device, I will absolutely try to help you and I have plenty of guides too. Once this is in place, when you reply to the emails your response will come from your new domain, not your standard gmail, btinternet, hotmail etc address.
CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) imagery refers to photos and graphics that have been released into the public domain by their creators. These images are completely free to use for any purpose—personal or commercial—without attribution requirements or restrictions. Sites like www.pexels.com, www.freepik.com, www.pixabay.com, www.rawpixel.com are an excellent source of imagery we can use if you don’t have enough.
An SSL certificate is a security feature that protects information on your website. It shows up as a padlock icon in the browser address bar, letting visitors know their data is safe. SSL creates a secure connection that shields sensitive information from hackers while verifying your site is authentic and trustworthy.
Hosting is simply the online space where your website lives. Just like a shop needs a physical location, your website needs digital space on the internet. Good hosting ensures your site is always accessible, loads quickly, and remains secure. It’s the foundation that keeps your website running smoothly for visitors around the clock.
WordPress is a user-friendly website builder. It powers millions of websites worldwide through an easy-to-use dashboard where you can create and edit content, change your site’s appearance, and add new features. Whether you need a simple blog or a complex business site, WordPress makes website management simple and straightforward.
Yes, absolutely but you can also just ask me, that’s the benefit of the service I’m offering. If you do want to though I’ll explain how to do it, it’s not as scary as you might think, we can set it up so that you can update content on the site but not do anything that can impact the structure or cause any issues, no problem.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the technique of making sure search engines recognise your website for what you have written about. So if you’re a plumber in Elmswell for example, your website is optimised to appear for search terms like that. It’s not magic, it can’t be gamed, it’s just doing the basics well.
I’ll do your on page SEO as part of the service. Your offpage SEO, like social media or reviews, is not included.