Interested in working together? Designing and developing a new website can be a daunting task if you don’t know what it involves. We try to make it as easy as possible for you to understand how we go about it. Have a look at the most frequently asked questions and our process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you use WordPress?
WordPress is open source content management software and currently powers around 25% of all websites on the Internet. The project is contributed to by tens of thousands of developers all over the world and is growing from strength to strength. WordPress allows us to develop flexible and customisable websites to modern standards and observes web development best practices. Furthermore the community of web developers that use WordPress reaches far and wide and allows us to tap in to this collective intelligence and bring that wealth of experience to your project.
Where is the website hosted?
Your website needs to be hosted by a hosting company that specialises in WordPress hosting. There are many companies that do this. We work with Afrihost, a reliable hosting company based locally with superb support and backup. If you already have an existing hosting company and would like remain there, that is in order. We are more than happy to assist with the transfer of your domain should you decide to move to Afrihost.
Who do I call if something goes wrong with the website or I can’t figure something out?
Provided you subscribe to one of our ongoing website maintenance plan, we will be your first point of call should something go wrong with your website. We will determine whether it is something the hosting company needs to fix something that is covered by your website maintenance plan.
What happens after the website is launched?
Once your website is launched, we will provide 30 days of support to make sure any bugs have been ironed out and that you are confident using your new website. After this you will need to subscribe to one of our ongoing website care plans to make sure your website is looked after and maintained. These website care plans include updating your software, regular backups, security checks and making sure your website is online and open for business 24/7/365. More information on our website care plans is available upon request.
How long will it take to appear at the top of Google?
The time it takes for your website to appear on page 1 of Google depends on a number of factors. It depends on the search phrase people are using to find your website and the number of other websites that are also available for those search phrases. Nobody can truly say how long it will take for your website to appear at the top of search engine results pages (including people who actually work for Google), however there are a number of factors that can improve your chances. Building your website on WordPress is a good start as WordPress has some great Search Engine Optimisation fundamentals built-in. Creating unique and interesting content on a regular basis for your website is also critical to increase your visibility amongst search engines. Launching your website and then forgetting about it is a surefire way to get lost amongst the noise.
Our online marketing plan forms part of strategic search engine rankings and contributes significantly to appear on Google’s search results.
How will I know if anyone is visiting my website?
We will install Google Analytics on your new website and show you how to log into your Google Analytics account where you can see a wide range of statistics about your website including number of visits, page views and the amount of time people are spending on your website.
What happens if I want to add some features to the website while you’re building it?
Whilst we like to be flexible and responsive to your needs, we also like to deliver what we promise within the time frames and budgets we have allowed. If you ask us to add new features to your website while we are building it, will most likely ask why? If we all agree that your new request will help us achieve our objectives then we will be more than happy to oblige. If your new feature is something you would like to add to your website but is not directly tied to your original objectives then we will suggest to schedule it for a second iteration of the website once it has been launched. This will require a new proposal.
Starting the process:
If you want us to help you get more clients, let’s talk (over a coffee, via Skype, email, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, phone or live chat). We will send you a detail proposal based on our conversations.
To proceed with a project, take the following steps:
1. You accept the proposal as is by replying to us by email, or discuss desired changes. Please note that changes to the scope of the project can be made at anytime, but additional charges may apply.
2. Submit the first installment to start the process. Once these steps have been completed we will begin the project with an introduction of all relevant people and begin the discovery process.
Step 1: Site Structure and Planning
The functionality of the website is discussed in-depth. There are many features available but each must fit into your existing business processes.
Step 2: Look & Feel
We design your website to represent the business, serve your customers and grow your online presence. We do a maximum of 3 iterations of designs, but we almost never do more than one as website designs are carefully planned and implemented.
Step 3: Web Development
We now take the design and develop it in code. This is where the magic happens!
Step 4: The Content
Once the site structure has been developed, we’re ready to upload the content. That is text, images, videos and PDF documents. If you want to learn how to add content like blog posts or rate sheets, this is where we will teach you.
Step 5: Approval
We send you the final website for your approval. Small changes are made here before we move the website from the test server to the live server.
Step 6: We tell the world about your new website!
Our Mutual Agreement
Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty
Design
If we are designing your website or application we’ll create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of your website.
HTML and CSS Layout Templates
If the project includes HTML markup and CSS templates, we’ll develop these using valid HTML and CSS code.. The landscape of web browsers and devices changes regularly and our approach is to look forward, not back. With that in mind we will test all our markup and CSS in current versions of all major desktop browsers to ensure that we make the most from them. Users of older or less capable browsers or devices will experience a design that is appropriate to the capabilities of their software.
We do not cater for people using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and cannot predict the behaviour of that browser.
We will also test that these templates perform well on Apple’s iPad. We will not test old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 5.5 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need us to consider these older browsers, we will charge you at our standard old browser rate for any necessary additional design work, development and testing.
Text Content
We may have written a hundred blog posts but we’re not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy unless we specified it in the original estimate. We’ll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you at our standard copy writing or content input rate.
Changes and Revisions
We know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. We don’t want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind.
The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the amount of work we estimate we’ll need to accomplish everything that you have told us you want to achieve/or what we proposed based on existing resources available to us at the time. If you do want to change your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that won’t be a problem. However, you will be charged accordingly and these additional costs will need to be agreed to before the extra work commences. This additional work will affect deadlines and they will be moved accordingly. We’ll be up front about all of this if and when it happens to make sure we’re all on the same page before proceeding. We may also ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes. If the nature or functions of the project change significantly throughout the process, we reserve the right to deem the current project cancelled. At this point you will pay us in full for all the work we have done and may commission us to complete the new project based on the new requirements. This will require a new quote and contract.
Technical Support
You may already have professional website hosting, you might even manage that hosting in- house; if that’s the case, great. If you don’t manage your own website hosting, or your current hosting environment does not support the solution we are providing, we can set up an account for you at one of our preferred, third-party hosting providers. We will charge you a one-off fee for installing your site on this server, plus any statistics software such as Google Analytics, then the updates to, and management of that server, plus any support issues will be up to you. We are not a website hosting company and so do not offer or include technical support for website hosting, email or other services relating to website hosting, but assist where and when possible.
Payments
- 1st installment up front to start the project
- Monthly installments as per the proposed costing
- After the development fee has been paid in full, the online marketing and maintenance fee is due from the next month.
NB: If you are unable to supply all of the right content required for the website project, it does not mean we have not done our job. Once the site has been tested and is ready to go live, either with your content or placeholder images and dummy text, we will request that all content is made available.
As easy as that!
Let’s Talk
Ok, that was quite a mouthfull… If you are ready to get started on growing your online presence or have a question about how we can help you get more clients, send us a message below.
We look forward to working with you!