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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Do I need to pay for anything else aside from the website design?

When you pay for a website design with us, this is a one-off fee. Once you have paid in full, the site belongs to you. Unless you want to expand or change your site, you need not pay again. However, there are two other things which you need for your website. You need a domain name and hosting. We do not provide this but can help you to set them up. Please speak to us before signing up for these services. We will not charge you, we just want to help you to avoid some common problems.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is like your address. It points to where your site lives. For example, our domain is www.dr-graphics.co.uk, or to list it's full name http://www.dr-graphics.co.uk. You generally only need to type in the part which follows the www. The address ends with the extension. Ours is .co.uk, other common extensions include .com .org .biz etc. The cost of the domain name depends on which extension you choose. The .co.uk is generally the cheapest and it also suggests that you are a UK based company. You can have more than one domain pointing to your website. It is important to note that you do not own a domain name, you can only rent it. When your domain expired, you must renew it or it will go back onto the market. We can help you to choose and purchase a domain name.

What is hosting?

If a domain name is your address, hosting is your rent. When you pay for hosting, you pay for your space on the web. You pay for a company to keep the files for your site on their server, which can then be accessed by anyone. Hosting can be paid for monthly or annually. You can get hosting for as little as £2.50 per month. We can advise you on purchasing a hosting package.

What is branding?

A brand is an idea or image of a specific company or product which consumers can identify by recognising the name, logo, slogan, or design of that company. We aim to build brand recognition, to enhance your good reputations and cement that positive impression in the minds of users. A logo is usually the starting point. This logo and design should be used on all print, web and other visual products to reinforce your brand. This is just as important for small companies as for large multi-nationals.

If I already have a website, will it go down while you create a new one?

No. We build your new website offline. We show you progress and when it is complete and you confirm you are happy with the result, we publish it. Your old site will remain until it is replaced with the completed new site.

What are Search Engines and what is SEO?

Search Engines are what we use to find information on the web, such as Google and Bing. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It refers to how visible a website or page is in Search Engines. There are ways you can pay for your site to appear in searches, but SEO refers to "organic" or unpaid listings. Generally, the more visible the site is in search engines, the more visitors or "traffic" it will receive. SEO considers the way search engines see the site, what people might search for to find the site and what content the site has which is relevant to that.
Optimizing a site can take on many forms. We edit the content, HTML and other coding to maximise the relevance of the site in the eyes of search engines. We always code our sites by hand to ensure that all coding is as "search enging friendly" as possible. This is something which you do not get with the pre-built templates which many low-budget companies offer. Subscribing to SEO Services and Business Directories can really help to boost your listing. Many Business directories are free to submit to. B2B Index is an online directory of B2B companies.

What is a CMS?

CMS stands for Content Management System. This is a service you can log into to easily change the text and pictures on your website. The system we use is really simple. If you can use email or Microsoft Word or Facebook, you can use our CMS. Having CMS means that your site can always be up to date and fresh, which in turn improves your SEO.

What is E-commerce?

E-commerce means selling online. An e-commerce site has the facility to take money and send orders to you for you to dispatch. Read more about our e-commerce service

What do I need to be able to sell online?

All you need to be able to sell online is a bank account and some products to sell. The best way to take money online is through PayPal. You can easily set up a PayPal business account, or we can help you, then we do the rest. Customers do not need to have a PayPal account to be able to use a PayPal checkout. You and your customers will have the peace of mind that comes with PayPal's secure checkout service.

What happens if your company goes bust? Will I loose my website?

We very much hope to be here for the long term. However, we know that particularly in the current economic climate, that can never be a certainty. This is why we have engineered our process to ensure that if the worst does happen, your site will be safe. Firstly, unlike other companies, we encourage our customers to host externally with large, established hosting providers. Secondly, when your site is complete, we hand over a disk with all of your website files. This puts you in control and allows you to take your site elsewhere if you need to. If you have an e-commerce site or Content Management, you will still be able to use the log-in facilities provided as they are independent from us. We also build sites with standards-compliant HTML and CSS, which may not mean much to you, but it definetely should to any other designer you may employ in the future. If they know their stuff, they should be able to make any changes or amendments from the files we give you, regardless of what software they use.
If you decide to choose another company, please ensure they have similar safeguards in place.

If I put an email address on my website, will I receive a lot of spam email?

It is true that Spam mailers can find email addresses from your website, but it is not particularly common. As you can see, we show our email address on our website and we do not suffer from excessive spamming. None of our customers have contacted us with complaints. Email clients such as gmail, yahoo and hotmail are also becoming more sophisticated in filtering out junk. There are measures we can take to minimise the risk if it is something you are oncerned about. However, we take the view that a website is there to increase interest and enquiries. We would rather have to delete 50 spam mails than risk loosing one genuine enquiry.

How do I get my email address to contain my domain name, i.e. me@mydomain.com?

You have to arrange webmail through your hosting company. It is relatively simple to set up. We can offer help with this if you need it. You can have these forwarded to your existing mailbox and configure it to reply from the same address.

What is social media?

Social media is a term to describe websites which allow users to interact and share information. The most popular of these include Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. As well as being used for personal socialising, they can be a great way to advertise your business and maintain contact with customers.

How can I link my site to my social networks?

There are a number of ways to link up your website and social networks and it is worth doing. Whether you have a facebook, twitter or other account, you can take advantage of a "Share" button such as the one featured on the bottom of this page. This allows visitors to share your site over their choice of hundreds of social networks, which is great free advertising. We can also include a Facebook "Like" button, "Tweet" button or live feeds from Twitter or Facebook. If you use another network which is not mentioned here, or are interested in another service, please get in touch.

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