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Frequently Asked Questions
Whether your business is new to the internet or you already
have experience of developing an internet solution, we appreciate
that you might have lots of questions that you need help
answering. We have tried to collate some of the questions
that we are often asked here, along with some general answers.
We hope these help, but for specific help and advice, why
not give
us a call or send us an email?
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Website planning |
"Where do I start?"
Well, of course we think you've made the right start
by reading through our website! We can't run through
the whole process here as it requires a lot of time
spent working in conjunction with you individually.
However, before speaking to anybody, the first thing
to do is to think - and put down on paper - what it
is you're trying to achieve through the internet.
This might vary from producing online marketing support
material, to delivering sales through an online e-commerce
site, or to developing intranet systems to manage
your business processes.
Taking the example of a shop based retail business,
the overall objective might be to produce additional
sales revenue through an online e-commerce website.
This might then break down into increasing geographical
reach, driving increased traffic in-store, promoting
loyalty amongst existing customers, targeting new
customer profiles and reducing selling overheads.
"Where do I start?"
Well, of course we think you've made the right start
by reading through our website! We can't run through
the whole process here as it requires a lot of time
spent working in conjunction with you individually.
However, before speaking to anybody, the first thing
to do is to think - and put down on paper - what it
is you're trying to achieve through the internet.
This might vary from producing online marketing support
material, to delivering sales through an online e-commerce
site, or to developing intranet systems to manage
your business processes.
Taking the example of a shop based retail business,
the overall objective might be to produce additional
sales revenue through an online e-commerce website.
This might then break down into increasing geographical
reach, driving increased traffic in-store, promoting
loyalty amongst existing customers, targeting new
customer profiles and reducing selling overheads.
Having established the 'Why?', next establish some
constraints: how much time have you got to put into
this, how much are you prepared to spend, how soon
do you need a website. Words of advice: "Be realistic
or else you are doomed to fail.", "Don't bite off
more than you can chew: develop your solution in small
steps if needs be.", "Keep it simple to start with:
you can extend it later."
Having done this work you will have established an
outline requirements plan of what it is that
you want. This needs to be fleshed out in considerable
detail to ensure that what you end up with gains the
maximum possible benefit from your business. Even
before this stage many businesses simply go to a group
of website design companies and say 'I want a website'.
We feel getting independent advice at this early stage,
helping you to develop the outline plan into a detailed
requirements
specification, is absolutely key to getting a
quality, value for money website design.
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"How much will developing a website cost?"
Costs are clearly going to vary according to what
it is you require: what the website does, how many
pages it will have, how much design you want etc.
Having a detailed requirements specification document
will make it far easier to approach website developers
and ask them for a quotation (but make sure they read
it and respond to ALL points raised in it) - AND easier
for them to give you as low a price as possible (the
more specific you are, the less they have to allow
for specification creep: new requirements coming up
later during development and increasing their costs)
We thought long and hard about putting actual cost
values in this FAQ because we didn't want to put people
off with high costs when their requirements are simple,
nor did we want to put too low a cost in here causing
unrealistic expectations. But taking these ballpark
figures with a large possible variation you might
like to budget £1,000-£2,000 for a quality design
6 page marketing support website; add up to £2,000
for a Content Management System (possibly a lot less
if you discuss
your specific requirements with us); and say £4,000-£8,000
for an online e-commerce solution.
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"How long will it take to make my website?"
Having a detailed
requirements specification will help move things
along more quickly. Obviously this depends on the
complexity of the site, but typically from awarding
the contract to ending up with a finished website
can take 2-4 months. Don't underestimate the time
that it will take you to write content for the website
and (if an e-commerce website) get product information
into the product catalogue. Our experience is that
the constraining factor is often the customer trying
to find time to deal with the website alongside all
their normal work!
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"How do I pick a domain name?"
Many 'decent domain names' have now been grabbed by
speculators hoping to sell them on for profit. We
find this practice abhorent but not neccesssarily
a problem. Pick something simple, memorable and mainstream.
For UK focused businesses we prefer .co.uk domains,
but you might like to get the corresponding .com domain
name - if you can - to stop people trying to pass
themselves off as you. We prefer to avoid .biz, .cc
etc. although if you are selling, or hoping to sell,
to a european market then .eu might be a good bet.
Use one of the many domain name sellers to find available
domain names: cost should be from £5-£10 per year
for a .co.uk and £10-£20 per year for a .com.
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"What is hosting and how much does it cost?"
Paying for your domain name effectively rents you
a place in the internet directory. Hosting is effectively
paying for renting your website space; your internet
shop front. Costs vary dramatically according to your
requirements, but budget between £100-£250 per year
(at the lower end if you don't have e-commerce or
database functions). Beware low cost solutions: the
market is highly competitive and costs tend to be
comparable; lower cost usually means they have cut
something out which might impact on the effectiveness
of your website.
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"What is a Content Management System (CMS)
and do I need one?"
A CMS is a system which lets you edit your own website
content after the developer has created the website
for you. They use sophisticated programming to allow
you to edit just the core content of the site (without
disrupting the look and feel, navigation etc.). You
will pay extra for a CMS (typically up to £2,000,
although we
can suggest cheaper solutions for specific circumstances).
Without a CMS you must pay the website developer for
each change you request (usually on an hourly rate
basis, typically £25-35 per hour). You need to balance
the extra cost of a CMS against the extra flexibility
it gives you; the decision on which way to go depends
on your exact circumstances. Note: a CMS can not easily
be 'added' later, it usually entails developing a
whole new website.
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"What are the most common website planning
mistakes?"
- Not planning sufficiently.
- Not planning at all.
- Changing your requirements half way through
development.
- Not realising how much time this is going to
take you, the client, alongside your normal work
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Website design |
"How do I choose a website designer?"
There are many great website designers out there (us
included, we'd like to think). We would recommend
that you get some quotes in and, presuming they are
all in roughly the same ballpark, don't simply go
for the lowest price - go for the developer who cares
most about delivering a solution to your problem,
understanding your business; explains things to you
in straighforward language; somebody you can trust
and get along with: it's all about the working relationship.
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"How do WebSanity develop a website?"
Typically...
- We meet with you to understand your business,
what your requirements are and what the best way
to develop a solution for those requirements is.
- We write a document saying what will be in the
website, discuss and agree with you.
- We work on some designs: give you some 'mocked
up' pages to explore with you how you want your
website to look (some people get very closely
involved at this stage, others with less graphic
design skill less so).
- We refine the design to produce a design that
you agree with.
- We give you a document split into sections into
which you can enter your content to put on the
website. (Depending on your budget we can supply
the starting content for you, written by people
highly experienced in website marketing to ensure
your website delivers the best possible results).
- We build the website, showing you it as it develops
and discuss any areas that need clarification
or explanation.
- We test the website.
- We 'handover' the website and train you in how
to use the functionality in it.
- We support you closely during the early days
as you launch the website.
- We remain on hand if you need any further help
or advice throughout the life of the website.
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"What do I have to do?"
- Put time aside to discuss your requirements
in more depth with us.
- Read, comment and agree on a website specification
document.
- Give feedback on design options and agree to
a final look and feel.
- Test the final website to make sure you are
happy with it.
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"I've heard of ASP and PHP: what are they?"
ASP is a website development technology produced by
Microsoft, PHP is a website development technology
produced by the 'open source' community. We always
develop using the latter technology: we feel it is
cheaper, better supported and far more widely used,
amongst other things: and these benefits all pass
on to you.
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"What are the most common website design
mistakes?"
- Not planning sufficiently.
- Not taking time to understand what will be delivered
until it is actually delivered.
- Not allowing sufficient time to write content.
- Writing content that doesn't sell your benefits
and with insufficient calls to action.
- Concentrating too much on the look not the content.
- Not promoting the website once it has been launched.
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Internet support |
"What ongoing costs do I have to pay?"
- Hosting costs yearly.
- Domain name costs.
- Any support costs at an hourly rate for changes
you request to the website.
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"What do I have to do after my website is finished?"
- Try to monitor how it is performing.
- Look for weaknesses.
- Keep an eye on your competitors' websites.
- Continue to evolve content as you evolve.
- Promote your website at every possible opportunity.
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"What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?"
This is an involved process consisting of many different
tactics with the overall aim of lifting your website
higher up in the search engine results. We tend to
think that if you're not on the first page of a Google
search (for example) then you won't get visited. SEO
costs money but delivers
results.
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"What are the most common ongoing mistakes?"
- Not continuning to monitor your website.
- Trying to gain new customers and forgetting
about retention of existing customers.
- Not continuing to promote your website.
- Not continuing to evolve your website.
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