Useful Information
Please use these links to quickly find what you are looking for:
- Domain Name Registration
- Payment methods
- Charges
- Search engines
- Webhosting
- What do the logos on the bottom of the page mean?
Domain Name Registration
The Domain Name is the address of your website, for example www.successbydesign.co.uk each name has to be unique, so once it is registered it is gone.
There is a choice between .co.uk names and .com names. .com names are slightly more expensive and are the norm for businesses in the USA. .co.uk names are for U.K. based businesses. Both names can be accessed anywhere in the world.
Domain names are purchased with your web hosting package. Choosing the right name is important, use the link below to try a few posibilities.
Contact us if you want any further information.
Payment methods
For U.K. customers I prefer to be paid by a cheque drawn on a U.K. bank account. For overseas customers I use paypal which enables you to pay using credit / debit card regardless of whether you have a paypal account.
Once payment is received in full you site will be published onto the internet.
Charges
I am confident that you will be delighted with your website, as such for most smaller sites I do not ask for payment until the site is complete and you have seen it.
Having initially discussed your requirements I will provide you with a specification for the site and a fixed price.
Unless otherwise stated the price does not include webhosting or domain name registration. Web hosting / domain name registration charges cannot be avoided and are the only on-going cost of maintaining the site.
Should you require changes to the site once completed, the cost of the additional work will be agreed before the work is carried out.
Search Engines
Two questions I regularly get asked are:
- How do I get my website onto the search engines?
- How do I get my website to number one on a search engine?
The best method to get your site listed on search engines is to visit a site named www.dmoz.org. This site is used by the major search engines. Before doing so consider the search terms you want the site to respond to and write a 25 to 30 word summary of the site including those keywords in the first sentence, you will need this when you register the site. There are no guarantees.
Getting a good search engine position will generate visits to your site and subsequently increase business, however getting your site there is not easy. At the end of the day only 10 sites can occupy the first page and competition is fierce. Even when you achieve a top ranking, it is not long before your site starts to slip backwards.
Search engines do not make it public knowledge how they rank sites, they also regularly change the criteria. Information about increasing search engine performance tends to be a mixture of facts and myths. Trying to improve search engine performance is a very complex business.
As a web designer I have written a created a number of rules which have resulted in good search engine performance. My websites are written to these rules, however I make no guarantees or promises regarding search engine performance.
Search engine performance is the "Holy Grail" of web development. There are many businesses trying to take advantage of the desire for good rankings. My advice is "BE CAREFUL AND DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU ARE TOLD".
Web Hosting
You website must be stored "hosted" on a computer called a server. The server must be connected to the internet 24/7. This service is provided by web-hosting companies. To maintain your website you have to pay for hosting.
NOT ALL WEB HOSTS ARE THE SAME
At one time storage space and information transfer were critical factors for web hosting, however with developments in technology this is no longer the case.
Success by Design offer a limited web hosting service which is ideal if you want to leave everything to us. Your website will be hosted by a market leading webhosting company. Any charges will include domain name registration. A fee is chargable annually for this service, currently £45 per annum for .com names and £40 for .co.uk names. Some special offers include the first years hosting free. This is a good option if you want to leave everything to us, it includes one small annual update to the website (normally updating the prices on your site) and the option of one catchall e-mail address forwarding or a mailbox.
If you want more control you are welcome to arrange your own web hosting but please ensure that the hosting package includes php4 and ftp access. If in doubt please get in touch or click the link below to www.1and1.co.uk, the home package at £4.99 a month plus VAT is the minimum requirement.
What do the logos on the bottom of the page mean?
You will notice that most Success by design sites have these logos on the bottom of the page. These show that the language that is used to code the page and that it is written correctly.
This is very important as nearly all web pages have coding errors.
An easy way to tell how well written a website is is to test the coding, click either of the logo's and you can test any website you like. It is amazing how many errors you can find.