Website Development - FAQ

​We work with a broad range of company types [small start-ups, large corporations, nonprofits, B2B, B2C and more] across many business industries [technology, professional services, travel, finance…. See here for a list of verticals]

Over the years, we’ve helped businesses improve customer service, market their products, and attract customers. Functionality requests range from basic to advanced. Our team takes the time to get to know your industry, organisation, and competitors to ensure your site supports all of your goals.

​This is a great question to ask and you should ask it of any web design and development firm you are considering. Many firms will farm out work to freelancers or interns. Our clients work directly with our tight knit crew of 7. Who that will be, depends on your project needs and what stage of the process you are in during the project.

Click here to learn about our team.

Click here to learn about how we work as a team.

Web have been building web experiences for over 12 years. In that time we have gained a vast amount of experience and knowledge to what works online and generates businesses leads and sales.

​The cost of a website can vary depending on various factors, just like the cost of a house may vary. Though our website projects generally start in the $5,000 range for business sites and range upward depending on your unique needs.

Websites are quoted as a fixed cost. The cost structure is based on the package selected, the complexity of functionality, the size of the website, and the need for marketing support such as SEO, copywriting, and social media integration. Every project is unique and we try to make sure our pricing is based on your specific needs.

There are a few costs you need to be aware of when running a website for your business. Here they are:

Website and Plugin updates.
Websites are like any other software application you may use, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, etc., in that they have versions, each new version adds features, or fixes security flaws. If you don’t upgrade your website then you can’t take advantage of new features and hackers could gain access to your website through some “backdoor”. This is why it’s always advisable to keep your website version up-to-date. Our Digital Club service takes this completely off our clients’ hands, else we can do a bi-annual wordpress and plugin update for around $500+GST.

Website Hosting
Hosting is a basic recurring cost. Depending on the complexity of your website and how much bandwidth you are using, your website hosting costs could range from $30+GST a month to $100+GST a month for a mid-size business website. We can take care of your website hosting for you.

Domain Name:
Your domain name (or URL or website address) costs $90+GST every 2 years.

SSL
Google is now giving preferential ranking to businesses with SSL certificates. We now build it into all our websites for extra security. These start at around $160+GST a year for a shared SSL and $360+GST for a dedicated(more secure) one.

Backups
Website backups are cheap insurance, no matter the size of your website. If you get hacked or infected with malware, you could have to completely rebuild your website. Basic backup services are included in our standard website hosting, but our digital club can provide a more robust and regular backup solution.

​Everything that we build will be 100% owned by you. Most of our clients stay with us for the life of the website and onto the next one too.  But if for any reason you decide you want to take your site to another hosting service and get another company to service the site, we will happily assist you in making the transition as effortlessly and efficiently as possible.

​The beauty of WordPress is the ease of use it provides. Each website design project will include one hour of WordPress training, so most clients are more than capable of updating and adding website pages as needed. Since some clients do not want to maintain their own websites, we offer ongoing done for you website support solutions in our digital club. If you need additional training, we’re happy to provide it at our standard hourly rate.

​Think of WordPress as the “operating system” of your website, just like a desktop PC uses Windows as its operating system or an iPhone uses iOS or a Samsung Galaxy uses Android. WordPress is simply the platform we use exclusively to build websites, and it’s used on millions of sites worldwide.

Your website should be mobile responsive to provide mobile users with an easy experience using your site. Mobile responsiveness may also affect your website’s search engine rankings. All of the websites we create are fully responsive ( mobile friendly ), and as such will render on all devices. Ie Desktops, Laptops, Tablets and Mobile phones.

​Absolutely. We can not do that without your input. If there are other sites with a design style that you would like to emulate, we can do that. If you have a logo or brand collateral that you’d like us to work around, that’s no problem. We will be sure your new site is consistent to your look and feel and an integral part of your overall brand.

​Not directly, but if you feel you will be struggling writing the text for your website just let us know. We work closely with the team at Incredible Communications who are amazing at writing website copy. We will however be build your sitemap with you and help structure the foundation of your website in the planning stages.

​We will help you source stock photos from sites such as www.123rf.com and www.istock.com. We also have a fantastic photographer – Eden from Zoom in with Eden and videographers available to produce custom photography and videos for your website.

​We will provide one hour of free training with each all inclusive web design project. Additional hours are available at an hourly rate. In addition, the WordPress community is vast and there are a wide range of books, online tutorials, and classes available to help new users learn WordPress.

​Absolutely. References can be provided at any time.

Our payment terms for website projects are usually 50% prior to commencement and the final 50% payable on launch. These terms are applicable for projects up to $10,000 and may vary beyond that based on the project size and duration.

Without question, a new website is a big investment in effort and money. If you want to kick the project off in the best way, here are 5 questions it would be great to have a think about prior to the initial meeting with us.

1. Why are you building this website?
All too often a web redesign is planned because the site “just feels old” or “it’s not working as well it should for us.” But what do you mean by that? Why are you really going to all this effort? How does your web strategy align with your overall business goals?

2. Who will use the website?
It’s very important to structure your website to entice your visitors to take the specific actions you want them to take. Whilst we will spend time with you reviewing the kinds of people who come to your site, so as to better understand your visitors’ needs and habits, it always helps to maybe have a think about this first.

3. Where is the content?
Content precedes design in the web development cycle as without it, it is very hard to hit the mark. Have a think about what content you want in your website. Look at your competitors, think about your customers. Consider just drawing up a little map of what pages you want. From there, start on writing up some content for each page. Even some bullet points are a great start. We will review it with you throughout the process, but it really does help to get at least something on paper before you begin.

4. Which keywords are important for search engine optimisation(SEO)?
Good search engine optimisation starts by putting yourself in the shoes of somebody actually looking for the kinds of products or services you are selling. Brainstorm the keywords that you think would bring you the best traffic, not necessarily the most traffic. If you are an lawyer, trying to optimise on the keyword “lawyer” is pretty pointless. Currently, that keyword brings back 404,000,000 results.

It’s much more relevant to optimise for something like “family lawyer sydney” (assuming you are a family lawyer in Sydney). Also, any traffic you get on that term is much more likely to actually become a paying client, since clearly this was a visitor searching for something quite specific.

5. Do you have your logo and branding kit?
Your website needs to reflect your company brand. Ideally you have already prepared all we need for the website which usually includes

– Logo and tagline – Do you have a final one that you’re happy with? Does it need any change?
– Color palette – What is your primary color? Do you know its hex value? What are your secondary or accent colors?
– Fonts – Do you have a set of standard fonts you can provide?

​We’ve seen those ads online. Our suggestion: Be wary of anyone who says they’ll build you a web site $600. What’s likely is that they’ll take your money and then build you a very basic site. They’ll ask you for five pages of text and then slap it into a template and then that’s it. There is very little consultation to ensure what you put in there is right and whether it will actually help your business or hinder it. Then… whatever you put in… You can’t change. You can’t have custom graphics; you can’t have any interactivity; your site won’t be optimised for search engines. Any hint of change and the billing starts. At the end of the process you end up with a website that will look like a $600 site. Is that really how you want your customers to perceive you?