Frequently Asked Questions

Read my web design & development FAQs for information on web design costs, how I work, hosting and much more.

Web design FAQ’s

Hiring a freelance web designer is almost always less expensive than hiring an agency since they have fewer overhead costs. They’re also generally more responsive due to the fact that the client will always have direct contact with the freelancer. Freelancers will often specialise in a few distinct skill sets and can assist you in creating anything from tiny brochure site to a large e-commerce website

That’s a difficult question to answer, because the fees for a web designer don’t just depend on the skills and experience of that designer… you also have to consider how in demand that person is. Such factors as location and practice area will determine how much a web designer charges for their services too. I typically take on projects starting from £2,000 plus vat and work upwards from there, depending on the scope of your project.

I usually ask for an initial payment in advance, this ranges from 25% to 50% of the total project fee and depends very much on the size of the project. For smaller projects, I will generally do an initial payment followed by a final payment once the site is live. For much bigger projects, it is good to break the payments up into 3 or 4 chunks. This helps with my cashflow, being a freelance web designer, I rely on good cash flow. And it helps you too, as it prevents large sums of money being needed all at once.

Sorry to say, but I don’t work on existing sites (unless they were made by me). I only really work on new builds, or rebuilds of sites. I can’t help with edits or updates to your existing site unfortunately.

Yes. You’ll receive a login to the website so that you can have access to all the pages. And just so that you feel confident to update things, I’ll provide a tutorial on how to update your site.

Depending on the size, complexity, and type of business you want to create, a brochure site might take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks from start to finish. A more complicated build or an eCommerce website may take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks depending on the amount of work and how complicated it is.

All my websites are created with search engines in mind and the website design is compliant with best practice SEO techniques. It is a good idea for your website to be reviewed over a period of time as search engines do alter their rules and algorithms and you will want to be certain that your website is kept up to date and complies with any changes.

The most important thing is your content and an idea of your site structure. The idea of structure is absolutely necessary, but the content COULD wait. We could use ‘Latin’ text to fill the gaps.

I provide ongoing support packages to help manage your website post-launch. If there is an issue with the website and you don’t have a support package in place however, I will take a look and see if it can be fixed easily. If not I can provide a quote to get this resolved as quickly as possible.

SEO FAQ’s

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the practice of optimising a website in order to improve its ranking on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo and DuckDuckGo.

SEO is important because it helps to improve the visibility of a website on search engines, which can lead to increased traffic, leads, and sales.

SEO works by using a variety of techniques to improve the visibility of a website on search engines. These techniques include keyword optimisation, backlinking, and on-page optimisation.

The design of a website can affect its SEO in a number of ways. A well-designed website with a clear structure, easy navigation, and fast loading speed can improve its SEO. On the other hand, a poorly designed website with a confusing structure and slow loading speed can negatively impact its SEO.

I work very hard to make sure your site is Search Engine friendly and optimised for relevant keywords. However I don’t control Google and I cannot guarantee that your website will show up on the first page for your keywords or phrases. There are many factors involved with Search Engine Optimisation including who is linking to you, how often you add content, the websites code base and about 300 over ranking factors that I know of…

There is no fixed answer to how long it’ll take you to see SEO results, however, in my experience, most clients start to see a decent impact within 3-6 months.

That said, I’ve ranked websites #1 within 3 weeks, and on the other hand, it’s taken me 6 months to get a website on the first page of Google. It depends on your online competition and many other factors.

I only take on SEO clients where I am able to build (or rebuild) their website, write their website’s content and provide SEO services following this. This means the foundations are perfect; the website is fast, optimised for conversions and written with SEO in mind from day 1.

Speed & Maintenance FAQ’s

Website speed optimisation is the process of improving the loading speed of a website. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as reducing the size of images and other media, minifying code, and using caching techniques.

Website speed is important because it impacts the user experience. A slow-loading website can lead to frustration and a higher bounce rate, which can negatively affect the performance of the website. In addition, Google has stated that website speed is a ranking factor, so a faster website may also improve its search engine rankings.

Yes, in most cases I can improve the load time of the site and the page speed score by quite a good amount especially if I know what previous work has been done on the site before.

Once your website has gone live, if you don’t have the time to update it or would rather someone else updated it for you, for a monthly fee, I will update your site content as often as is required (this option doesn’t include redesigning the site).

Ongoing website support typically includes things like bug fixes, updates and general maintenance to ensure the website is functioning properly.

There are several factors that can contribute to slow website speed. These include large image and media files, too much code on the page, and the use of poorly optimised plugins or scripts.

Yes, but not all of these are errors in the traditional sense. I do focus on remove these red flags but some are just part of how your sites built.

Yes, you can typically make requests for specific updates or changes to your website as part of the ongoing support process. However, the ability to accommodate these requests may depend on the scope of the work and my availability.

Hosting & Technical FAQ’s

Website hosting is a service that allows your website to be viewed online. I offer fast web hosting that is affordable.

A domain name is your address online. Normally it’s something like yourcompany.com or .co.uk. I always suggest that you buy your domain name and keep it under your control.

An SSL certificate allows your site to send data securely. It used to be just for online stores, but now it is a must-have for all sites. I offer free SSL with all my hosting packages.

If I build your website, I can manage the hosting for you so you don’t need to do anything. I use the same hosting company for my own website. Each website is managed individually to avoid any security issues. My hosting provider offers PCI Compliance, Free SSL Certificates, 99.9% uptime, LiteSpeed Cache integration and much more.

Yes, you can buy your own web hosting but I always prefer to work on my own hosting. If you do have your own hosting just let me know during the discovery phase.

There are no cancellation fees. The only fees that may be included are for my time if you request that I move your site to your new hosting provider.