low cost affordable small business website design solutions

frequently asked questions: relating to web design, domain names, search engine optimisation and more...

We have provided a questions and answers page as we often get asked questions relating to web design and the process of having a website designed, what's involved in domain name registration and what is search engine optimisation.

Why do I need a Website?
Well maybe you don't!. Some businesses will get by quite nicely without one. However, many large corporations and high street names find that having a website online is a great way of business promotion. Once you get online, your small business website will be promoting your business name, services or products 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to a potential global market. The internet, at the moment, knows no boundaries. It is possible for a single page business card website to attract potentially hundreds of new customers, as well as a excellent method of keeping your existing customers informed.

What is involved in having a website designed?
Basically, to have a website designed is an amalgamation of many different facets

  • DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
    By registering your own domain name you will help people find your web site as this will become your web address. A domain name is a name exclusive to you or your business. Once you find a domain name you like it has to registered with a domain name registrar. The biggest company that is a domain name registrar is Nominet. There are currently over 6 million domain names registered with Nominet. Nominet maintains the register of all .uk domain names they also hold information about renewing registrations and administering transfers of domain names.
  • WEB HOSTING
    Web hosting is renting space on a server that is forever connected to the internet. Your files and folders that constitute your web pages will need to reside in that space as that is their location on the internet. There are Linux and Windows solutions to web hosting.
    • Linux hosting is our preferred and recommended type as it is cost effective, feature packed and easy to use.
    • Windows hosting is required for ASP.NET, ODBC, Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL databases.
  • WEB DESIGN
    The services of a website designer is required to design your web pages unless you are familiar with programs like Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop and Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML). Of course, you can always find designs on the internet where you just cut & paste your text into the design, click here, job done. But for a lot of business people it's not what they want, a) because they haven't got time to do it and b) they are looking for results. A web designer should know how to put a website together that is going to produce results and enhance the image of that business.
  • SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
    Search Engine Optimisation is defined as the process of improving a web page so that it ranks higher in a search engine results page for targeted keywords which will generate more visitors to that web page. There are two techniques involved in search engine optimisation off-page and on-page.
  • WEBSITE MAINTENANCE
    It is important the content of your website is up to date. By regularly updating the pages of your website you are giving your visitors a reason to return to your site.

How many webpages do I need?
The answer to this question is really your decision. Your web site could be 1 to 1000 pages. A single web page rich in keyword text can be just as an effective marketing tool as a web site that has many pages that has just been cobbled together. However, we suggest the following as a typical starter website:
- A Home page rich in keyword text about your business services, business activities, etc.
- A Profile page to inform people about you and your business.
- A Services page to inform people about the great services you provide.
- A Site map page will allow people to navigate your website, better to do it now and add to it as your website expands
- A Contact page to allow people to contact you and your business.

Is it expensive to have a website designed?
The simple answer is, it will depend on the type of web site you want. Define your budget and have your web site designed to fit. Generally, the more features you choose to include in your web site the greater the cost is going to be. Features that will affect the overall cost would be :- database integration, such as for an estate agency, or incorporating a content management system enabling you to update the content of the website yourself.
Find out more about our starter website design package deals.

How often should I update the website?
Once somebody has visited your web site and read the information you provide, why should they return? Give them a reason to repeat visit. We recommend that you update the information of your web pages at least once a month. As a rule websites that remain the same will get less repeat visitors than those web sites which are regularly updated.

What do you require to design a website?
To get started designing you website all that we require you to supply are:

Your Domain Name -
Your first decision is choose a name to use for your domain name registration (the domain name is what follows the www).
Find Out if your preferred domain name is available to register
Once you have found a domain name you'd like, let us know and we'll register it.
I would like you to register a domain name for me
Your Graphic Choices
The images you would like to use on the pages of your website. We can work from photographs, pictures saved on disks, e-mailed jpegs, or good quality brochure material.
Your Text
The written content of your web pages.We do not charge if you transmit your text to us by e-mail. We prefer to receive text as a word document as this will facilitate to cut and paste directly into the pages of your website.
A guide to writing your web content for the internet is available here.

How do I see my web site in progress?
Once we receive all materials required, we shall start to design your website and allocate a space on our website for you. We shall then send you an email detailing a link on which you can click to view your website. Your website will download and you'll be able to view at your leisure. All we ask for is your feedback via email, what you like, what you dislike, is the layout right, is the colour scheme right. We shall keep making any necessary changes to your website until you are 100% satisfied. When you are happy with your website we shall upload to your host.

What if I want to make alterations to my newly created website?
We generally find that once a website goes live it requires a bit of tweaking here and there so small changes will be implemented FREE OF CHARGE, however if after making these alterations further small changes are requested these will be charged at £5.00. Larger changes will be £15.00 and if a completely new page is requested £45.00

Are there any restrictions?
Depending on the content of your website. WE WILL NOT PRODUCE SITES THAT MAY CAUSE OFFENCE
(Please read Terms & Conditions of Agreement)

What do I get for my money?
The 5 page starter website package we offer, we think, is great value for money, these are just some of the features

  • 5 pages of your chosen web site design using Cascading Style Sheets
  • Search Engine Optimisation applied to all pages of your website
  • Your website can be scripted in PHP which easily allows for adding further webpages at a future date
    • 100MB of webspace (this is ample webspace for a starter site)
    • 1 POP3 Mailbox (i.e. your own e-mail facility)
    • 1 user account
    • 1 auto-responder (so you can send e-mails even when you're closed)
    • Unmetred bandwidth (no limit to the amount of traffic your website can get)
    • Unlimited e-mail forwarding to an existing accounts
    • Access to visitor statistics
    • Firewall & Port-Monitoring
    • No adverts or pop-ups
    • Hosting on fast, reliable Dell servers
  • Domain Name registered as a co.uk
  • 1 Year web hosting

Find out more about our website design package deals.

Is it time consuming to maintain?
It can be very time consuming maintaining a website that contains many webpages, a small website may only take 2 or 3 hours per month though a larger site will take a bit longer. Therefore, we offer a range web maintenance services that will suit, from an hourly fee to a monthly maintenance package.
Find out more about website maintenace packages

Contact us for more information about website maintenance

What is a search engine?
A search engine is a huge database of crawled websites. Search engines are continually trawling the internet finding websites and when it finds one it crawls (or spiders) its pages indexing the page content. When somebody enters a particular term or phrase (keywords) into the search box, the search engine trawls its database of crawled websites and produces results. An example of a search engine is the now household name - Google.

What are keywords?
Keywords explain the content of your website to a search engine. Nowadays people search using keyphrases, by entering two or three words in the search box of a search engine they are fairly sure of getting the results they require.
Think of a search engine as your local library, would you enter the library and say to the librarian "Hastings". If you did they would probably look at you a bit dumbfounded and point in the direction of the door. If you then asked the librarian for a book on "Website Designers in Hastings" they would be able to find that straightaway. The more information you give to the librarian the better your chances of finding the book you require. It is the same with search engines to gain the results you want.

What is a search engine optimized web site?
Throughout the web site all title tags, meta tags, descriptions inform a search engine about the content of your web pages. A search engine optimised website is compatible with the search engines on the internet.
Find Out more about Search Engine Optimisation for your website

Who are Iris Website Design?
Established in 2004, Iris Website Design evolved to create affordable small business website designs. We are located in the United Kingdom and Spain. Being located where we are does not limit us to the type of works we undertake. We are happy to receive enquiries from any person or organisation, that feels our services would benefit them. As we are now in the 21st century, all business can be conducted via the internet. However, if you prefer to speak to a human voice, please feel free to give us a call, you will find more information on our contact page.

Find out more about small business website design

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