faqs

Below we've tried to answer the most common questions people ask relating to all aspects of the website design process.

What content should I have in my website?

If you're having trouble figuring out what sections to have in your website, it's a good idea to have a look at some of your competitors sites and write down the sections they have. You can use Google to find some examples. About half a dozen should do it. If you discover something you want and can't include it in the sections you have written down, just think of a new title. Before you know it, you'll have an overall picture of the site and a starting point to prepare the content.

We want to prepare a website brief for you. What do you need from us?

Once you know what sections you're having in the website it's time to prepare the content. Microsoft Word is always a good way to supply the copy but make sure you spell check it. In addition to the text, we also need the images or a description of what you'd like (for us to source suitable ones). Next, logo artwork (could be your headed notepaper), colour references, a few examples of site designs you like or dislike, email addresses required (an passwords if using Outlook/Outlook Express to collect your mail). Having everything ready at the outset will ensure that your site is completed quickly.

How do we transfer our domain to you for hosting?

There are two main types of domain names, each with a different transfer process. The most common domains are .co.uk, .com and .net.

The .co.uk domains have what is called an IPS tag which is unique to each hosting company. Adam Warrick Design uses Fasthosts for hosting and their IPS tag is FASTHOSTS (all uppercase). To transfer a domain name to us, you will need to ask the company currently holding your domain to change the IPS tag for your domain to FASTHOSTS. Some like to have a request faxed on headed notepaper and others will accept email requests. There is a possibility that you can change the IPS tag yourself. Some hosting companies supply you with a control panel to manage your domain. If this is the case, you should have a username and password. Once you have that information, either change the IPS tag yourself or send us the username and password and we'll do it for you.

.com domains have a registrar lock to prevent people from transferring them without authorisation. To allow the transfer, you will need to request that the domain is 'unlocked'. The status of the domain will then change to 'Active' for 7 days during which time, we can request the transfer.

Transfers normally take around 24 hours which obviously depends on everyone playing ball. We can still set up your web space and email accounts in readiness for the transfer.

If we transfer our domain to your website hosting company, will it still belong to us?

Absolutely, yes. Your domain is literally just sitting on a different server. Owner and billing contact details will remain the same. We will change the admin and technical contact details to us though as you probably won't want to administer the technical side of domain management yourself.

While you're building our website, can we keep an eye on progress?

Once we've created some of the pages in your site, we'll send you a secret address at our testing server which you can access to view your site as it's built.

When will we need to pay for our site?

For large sites, where development is likely to run into months rather than weeks, we will ask for a percentage up front. Small sites will be billed once the site is live. Our normal terms for payment of invoices is 30 days.

How long will it take to complete our website?

How long is a piece of string? Having said that, if we have all brief to complete the website we can pretty accurately estimate a completion time. Small websites can be completed in around a week.

How do we get our site to rank highly with Google?

Achieving a high rank in Google required a sustained effort from multiple directions. As you can imagine, if you achieved a top 10 rank, others will be trying to better your result all the time so, your rank will drop as others place higher than you. There are however, things you can do yourself to improve your website's importance. One of which is increasing the number of websites linking to yours. The more the better.

We can advise and help in many other ways to improve your page rank at a price to suit any budget. Of course, as with everything, the more you spend the better the results. We will never tell you that we can achieve a top 10 rank for £50 because it simply isn't true. Anyone who suggests they can is just trying to win your business and will always disappoint.

I want to update my own website, can I do this?

The short answer is yes. There are three possibilities for website updates, each with positives and negatives as follows:

1. We design a bespoke, password protected, web based admin area which you can use to add content to a database connected to your website
2. You can purchase a cut down version of the software we use to build your site for around £100 which works like a cross between Microsoft Word and your web browser.
3. Email your changes to us and for a small fee, we'll update it for you

Method one has the benefit of being web based. Therefore your site can be updated from any computer with web access, anywhere in the world. On the down side, we need to create the admin system which is extra cost up front. This method however, requires little or no training.

Method two is the cheapest method and allows you to create new pages and modify existing ones with ease. On the down site, the software can only be installed on one computer and requires some training.

Alternatively, we'll modify your site for you. It's worry free, fast and cheap. We normally charge a small fee for each update (in the region of £10) and once we've made five changes we'll invoice for £50.