Web Design - Frequently Asked Questions

• How much does a website cost? How much is an ecommerce site?
• You're in Teesside but I'm miles away, is that a problem?
• Do you offer Search Engine Optimisation?
• What is hosting, and do you provide it?
• What are templates?
• I've designed a site in Word, can that just be uploaded?
• How are updates made to my site?
• What is the legal situation with regard to Accessibility?
• What other legal requirements are there?

How much does a website cost?  How much does a web design cost?  Or an ecommerce site?

There are three components to a site: the domain name costing less than £10 a year; hosting, which for a typical site of 20 pages will be about £40 to £60 a year, while for an ecommerce site it will be upwards of £70 a year; such charges shouldn't vary too much from one company to another.

The web design cost for the site will depend on a range of factors such as the number of pages, the content and complexity of the design, whether a contact form is required, or a banner design etc. You're paying for the web designer's time, so the more complex the design, and the more variations that are considered, the more it will cost. For a non-ecommerce site, expect to pay anything from £30 to £100+ a page, perhaps with a set-up fee and VAT added on as well. [ComeUpSmiling's Web Design Packages & Prices]

For a customised ecommerce site selling several hundred products, offering a typical range of options such as customer accounts, web design companies are likely to quote anywhere between one and five thousand pounds. [ComeUpSmiling's Ecommerce Packages & Prices]

Buyerzone, a US online marketplace, took responses from its users to come up with a cost for a 4 to 6-page site of $800 to $1500 (£400 to £750) for a customized design. For Ecommerce sites, a 2007 survey from Actinic found that: 'the average price charged by web designers for deploying an ecommerce site was around £3,300'.

Do make sure that any quotes are comparable, as some companies charge via a recurring monthly fee, rather than a one-off payment. In the case of a low quote the designer may be relatively new and looking to improve their portfolio, or they might possibly be creating the site using templates. A more expensive quote is likely to include extras, such as graphic design - or maybe the designer is famous, or greedy, or both...

You are based in Teesside but I'm miles away, is that a problem?

Roughly half of ComeUpSmiling's clients are from the local area e.g. Stockton, Stokesley, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm; the rest range from the Scottish Highlands to Portsmouth, with email and phone ensuring that contact with clients, wherever they're based, is never a problem. We have face-to-face meetings with about a quarter of our clients; even then it's just the inital contact, with email/phone then taking over.

Do you offer Search Engine Optimisation? Will my site be on page one of Google?

Google, like other search engines, ranks sites using a wide range of criteria, which they keep secret and tinker with regularly. Among the many criteria used are: title, keywords, internal and outgoing links, keywords appearing in domain name, and heading, keywords appearing early on etc. It's far easier to achieve a high ranking if the search keywords match 'Lowry and Jones House Sales', as opposed to 'London Estate Agent' where potentially hundreds of sites might have opted for these same keywords.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is consequently a complex topic and best dealt with by specialist SEO agencies; their charge options often seem as complex as SEO itself, and paying hundreds or even thousands of pounds a month is apparently not unusual. Some SEO companies charge by the hour, or by Google ranking. You do need to be very clear as to exactly what you're getting for your money and exactly what the SEO company is going to do to get you on to page one - and what happens if they don't? One unfortunate aspect of optimisation is that it can take a while before any improvements become apparent.

A quick way to get on to the front page of Google is to use Google AdWords, but again this needs to be looked at very carefully to ensure that the cost (which can be significant) reaps appropriate benefits. Adwords advice and optimisation also comes under the umbrella of most SEO agencies. The cheapest option is to do it yourself; it may take far longer and score 10/10 for frustration, but there are a wealth of sites offering free SEO advice, together with various inexpensive software packages to help make the task a little easier.

ComeUpSmiling will add your chosen keywords to the metatags and do other basic SEO tricks, but we certainly cannot offer any guarantees as to Search Engine rankings, and a client should be wary of anyone offering such guarantees, especially if it's at a relatively low cost.

What is hosting, and do you provide it?

Hosting is where the files which make up the website are stored on a computer (server); when someone types in a www address, they are automatically directed to this server in order to view the website. Hosting companies ideally provide a range of back-up systems, security, plus air-conditioning for stable temperature and humidity etc. Consequently, ComeUpSmiling does not offer hosting directly but picks and chooses from a selection of third parties. Some Web Design companies do offer hosting, but in many (the majority?) cases it is 'Reseller Hosting' in that they also use a third party's facilities, and are not hosting their websites directly. Normally, lots of sites will be hosted on one server; however, as a site gets bigger then it may require its own server. Dedicated hosting comes at a cost, £100+ a month or so, and larger companies often choose to have all their sites hosted on one dedicated server.

What are templates?

The term 'template' in web design can have two very different meanings. Firstly, some Internet sites offer ready-made designs (design templates) either free or for a small fee, typically £25 to £50; the customer then adjusts these templates themselves by altering the text and changing the images. The structure of the page remains fixed, although with the more sophisticated templates the colour scheme can be altered; such templates are often the route of choice for individuals adding their personal site to the Internet. Some budget web design companies, despite supposedly offering a 'cutomised' site, in fact only offer a choice of layouts from a fixed range of styles. So, again this is effectively template-based design.

Secondly, all web designers use certain useful pieces of code in more than one website; if two sites both require a three-column design, the coding framework would start the same then evolve as each design evolves. In some senses the three-column coding that was used as the starting point for both sites is a form of 'template'. Similarly, ecommerce sites use templates for their product pages: a unique template design is first created for a typical product on that site, and this template is then used for every other similar product. Of course, there might several product templates to cope with different types of product. It's unfortunate that most people associate templates with cheap designs, as they are essential components of any ecommerce or database site.

I've designed a site in Word (or Publisher or PowerPoint), can that just be uploaded?

The design still needs to be coded appropriately; while designs in Word can be exported directly to the Internet, the coding is very difficult to adjust and there may well be problems with the different browsers. However, as the site has already gone through the initial design stage, this will normally be reflected by a discounted price, but the exact amount will depend upon the complexity of the design. Some businesses opt for a graphic designer to create the overall design, then use a web designer to code it.

How are updates made to my site?

Design companies that charge a monthly fee will often include free updates as part of the design package. Alternatively, a certain amount of free updates may be included in the initial cost. To use a web designer to make frequent changes to a site is not particularly cost-effective, and an alternative is to use a Content Management System (CMS), which is a bit like using a word processing package. A wide range of CMS packages are available via the Internet, generally costing less than £100 - and most web designers will recommend something appropriate for your specific site and your level of computer expertise. Any CMS will take a little time to learn how to use, but they are useful for making basic changes to text and images, although more complex adjustments to the structure of the site can also be made.

Database sites (e.g. Ecommerce, Estate Agents) are a little different, in that a CMS component is often included as part of the design, being tailored to the database content and the specific needs of the site.

What is the legal situation with regard to Accessibility?

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 has been implemented in stages, and since 2006 company websites are expected to take (reasonable) steps to ensure that their sites are accessible to disabled users. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has laid down criteria and guidelines for web designers (relating to visibility of text, verbal description for images, ease of navigation etc), and ComeUpSmiling websites are checked for accessibility against the W3C Guidelines prior to completion.

What other legal requirements are there?

Companies in the UK must include certain information on their websites and in their emails. Minimum information is: name, registered office address, email address, company registration number, VAT number, membership details of any trade or professional organisation. Prices on an ecommerce website must be unambiguous, with clear information as to whether VAT and delivery charges are included. The UK's distance selling regulations are detailed at http://www.out-law.com/page-424

What's this coding and metatags all about?

A website is created using lines of code based around a software language, such as HTML or php. To view the code, right-click while on the site and then left-click on 'View Source' or 'View Page Source'. Unless the site has deliberately disabled this option, then the coding will appear; at the top are usually some lines with the word 'meta'. These are the metatags which pass on information such as the title of the website and the site's search engine keywords.

ComeUpSmiling Web Design, Frequently Asked Questions