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Do they just buy in ready made templates or use free software?
Does the company actually know how to write HTML code from scratch?
Or do they just use ready made templates? Many web design companies just purchase templates or even use free ones - this can cause massive problems when you need your site updating. Webgloss writes all the HTML code for its websites and we never use bought in templates.
Have a good look at their portfolio of websites
Have a good look at their client base and check that they are actual businesses, not just 'invented' to show examples of what they could do if they did have clients.
They should have a good portfolio on their website and if they say they have 100 clients but you can only see 3 or 4 examples, then be suspicious.
Unfortunately many web design firms are good at selling but not at web design! We know because people
come to us every week with tales of how they have been let down.
Do their charges include everything?
Ask how much everything is going to cost.
It's amazing how many web design firms charge extra for hosting.
They give you a price for your website but they forget to mention that
you have to pay server costs to host your website on the Internet or they say you will have to arrange your own hosting.
Webgloss charges include hosting your website on a fast business quality server. The quality of the server
really does matter because if people have to wait too long for your site to appear then they will just move on to another - time is money!
Updating your site yourself can be catastrophic
Think carefully before you sign up to a website that you have to update yourself - do you really have the time to do this?
Many sites designed to be updated by the client are extremely limiting in design and layout. Often the system used to update does not work properly and this can mean that you are left with a very strange looking website!
With Webgloss, you will receive free textual alterations to your site once every two months and
only pay by the hour for other changes - the most common charge is £20 as most work takes less than 1 hour
- we will update your website for you and remove the worry of learning how to use a content management system.
Paying monthly with no design fees is a good idea
Finally, ensure that your designers won't 'run away' once your site is online. Pay a huge fee for your design work and you may receive a great looking site - but will the designers still be there when you need them six months later?
Paying monthly at least ensures that you can stop paying if your website is no longer online & you won't have paid a huge initial fee for something that no longer exists. We have many clients who did this with their previous web firms and were later left with useless
sites when their designers moved on to other careers.
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Unsure of what to do next?
Decide what you would like your web pages to convey about your company
For your potential clients your website needs to contain sufficient information to give you the edge
against your competitors. Your website should be a brilliant marketing tool for your company so make sure that you
think about the image it should convey.
Do you have photographs that you would like displayed? Do you have a great deal of text
that needs to be on the site? Think about the content for your new website - looking at sites for similar companies may help.
Just type a few phrases into Google for your type of business and check out the competition!
Calculate how many separate pages your site will need & think about your available budget
Think about the main topics for your site and calculate how many separate pages you will need.
For example, most companies have at least a home page, a services page and a contact page but you
may only require a single page website.
Webgloss monthly charges are based on the number of pages in a website so take a look at our packages page to ensure your budget covers the monthly cost.
Think about any regular changes you may require and whether you will need more than our free 'once every two months' textual updates. This will need to be
thought about as a percentage of your website budget.
Contact Us
Then just get in touch and ask for a no obligation draft design. We will discuss layouts and colour schemes with you and guide you
towards a design that is suitable for your site.
You may telephone us on 023 9236 0528 & you can be sure
that the conversation will be devoid of 'techie talk' unless you
specifically ask for technical information!
Contact may also be made by completion of our online form
or just email us
telling us that you are considering a website with Webgloss.
We will ask you to email us your company logo, if you have one, and
sufficient information for us to create a draft layout for your website. The draft will be ready for you to view
approx. 2 weeks later. At this stage there is no obligation to come to us for a full website. We provide the draft design
to give you the chance to decide whether you would like Webgloss to develop a full website for your business.
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What is a domain name?
A domain name is the 'web address' of a website - it is what you type into your browser when going to a website.
Below are examples of domain names:
http://www.teddies-galore.co.uk
http://www.allthebestbaskets.co.uk
http://www.freedom.org.uk
http://www.gifts-for-you.com
A domain name is essential for you to have a website and you may choose a suitable name for this. Your chosen name may not be available (someone else may have already registered it) but, if it is, Webgloss will register the name for you - just ask us to check its availability.
We currently charge £20 for this registration.
If you register your domain name with another registration company it will have to be transferred to our servers. You will probably pay for its registration with the other company and we charge £20 to transfer the domain name to our servers.
It is therefore cheaper and less time consuming to allow us to register it for you.
click for more information about domain transfers
It is imperative that your business does not 'lose' its domain name and, for that reason, Webgloss will ensure that it is renewed prior to its expiry. All domain names have to be renewed - once every two years for a co.uk type and once every year for a .com type.
Before the domain expires Webgloss will renew it for you and you will be sent an invoice for £20. If you do not wish your domain name to be renewed you need to let us know in writing at least 90 days before the renewal date.
The only characters allowed in a domain name are the 26 letters of the standard alphabet, numbers 0-9, and hyphens (-).
A domain cannot begin or end with a hyphen, but it can contain a hyphen.
Underscore characters and spaces cannot be used in domain names.
Names must have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 63 letters (this figure does change though and may be different at the time of registration).
Two-letter .co.uk domain names are not allowed by Nominet, the regulating authority for .co.uk names, because
all two-letter combinations are reserved for the ISO country codes. When this rule was introduced, there were already a few companies that had registered two-letter names and they have been allowed to keep their domains
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How long does it all take?
Initial draft layout
Once we have received your company logo, if you have one, and sufficient information to enable us to create just a
single page layout for you, it takes between 7 and 10 working days for us to complete your draft design.
We then email you to view your draft and await your feedback.
Development time-slot
When your draft has been agreed, we ask that you send us the rest of the content for your website.
You will need to tell us when you can do this by - give us a date.
Once we have that date, we will book a development time slot for you which will start
as near as possible after the date you have given us.
When your time slot begins, as long as we have received all the content for your website, we will begin full development of your new website
and this takes between 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the content.
Checking your new website content
When your website development is complete we will ask you to check through it and advise of any changes. These will be
carried out before your site goes live online to ensure that the content is accurate.
Getting online
Once your full site has been agreed and we have either registered or transferred your domain name, we will then send out a request for
monthly payments and an invoice for the domain registration or transfer. When payment has been received we will set up
your email accounts and your website will 'go live' on the Internet.
From start to finish the process will normally take under 6 weeks - 2 weeks for the draft and less than 4 weeks for full site development.
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Will Google list my website?
There is no guarantee of a free listing with any major search engine.
This is an indisputable fact but, unfortunately, many web design firms will tell you variations of the truth.
Any web design firm that advises differently is lying to you unless they are personally bribing the owner of the search engine firm.
Having said that, Webgloss has an incredible success rate with client sites in Google. We optimise your website for
Google from the moment we design it and we advise you carefully of things you should do to help it reach a high position within the Google search engine.
Soon after your site has been designed and is 'live' online we will submit it by hand to the major Search Engines. Many web design companies charge extra for this service and are unable to offer the excellent results that Webgloss achieves.
You may well have received emails from SEO firms offering to get you in position 1 with Google. Many of these firms
don't actually specify which search phrase will be used to reach position 1. It's easy to get to
position 1 for people typing in the name of your company! You want to reach a high position across a number of search phrases
that people who don't already know your company name may type in when they are trying to find businesses like yours.
Webgloss advises that you think very seriously before parting with any money to firms offering wonderful guaranteed results with search engine listings.
take a look at how our client sites perform in the Google search engine
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