Frequently asked Questions

Questions to ask your web designer

We’ve done the heavy lifting for you to help answer your frequently asked questions. Which you should be asking your web designer about when scoping and planning your small business website project.

Asking sydney website design questions

Fifty questions for your web designer

Website Development Experience

1. Have you worked on other websites similar to our industry?

We have customised and developed websites for various industries, products and services, we have been building websites for over 15 years. There only a few industries or services we wouldn’t build a website for though we have enjoyed developing sites for building companies, veterinary, wholesales distributions, travel, finance, coffee, fitness and health and many others. The best way to find out if we can help with developing websites for your industry is to give us a call or get in contact with us.

2. Are you able to provide examples of your work in the price range similar to our proposed project budget?

Yes, we have displayed a few of our sites in our portfolio area of the website, along with some case studies. Early on when we are starting our discovery phase we will show you some sites which would be in the range of the proposed budget for your budget. The only type of sites where the cost will be beyond our normal pricing is 100% custom designed and e-commerce sites. E-commerce sites can require more time and effort to set up with various other factors required to ensure viability.

3. Are you able to provide references and contact information of past clients who we can speak with direct?

Absolutely, we would be more than happy to provide you with contact information of 3 or more small business owners who we have developed websites for, so you can run a reference check on our work.

Website Development Process

4. Do you have a framework or process you will follow when developing our website?

With all our projects from customising, developing and launching a website we follow a framework so we can keep the project on track. We will also provide you with your own client portal so you can track the project and see what development phase or stage we are at with the project.

5. Are you able to provide examples of your work in the price range similar to our proposed project budget?

Yes, we have displayed a few of our sites in our portfolio area of the website, along with some case studies. Early on when we are starting our discovery phase we will show you some sites which would be in the range of the proposed budget for your budget. The only type of sites where the cost will be beyond our normal pricing is 100% custom designed and e-commerce sites. E-commerce sites can require more time and effort to set up with various other factors required to ensure viability.

6. Are you able to provide us with a copywriter who can assist in writing copy and content for our website?

Yes, we can, we currently have two copywriters who can help you with writing content for your website. Utilising a copywriter for your website is a great practice to use when creating a website. As they can assist in the process of ensuring your grammar, spelling, tone of voice, and sales copy is on target with your key personas and audience.

7. How long will it take to build our website?

Typically a 5 to 7-page website project will take between 3 and 4 weeks to completion, as long as we are all meeting our deadlines and content is submitted on time. However, I will note, if you are wanting a copywriter to be part of the process it’s good practice to allow another 2 weeks on the project line. As you will be required to liaise with our copywriter on the written content in respect to supplying material to help them with creating your copy for your website.

8. Are you able to help us with sourcing and purchasing images as part of the website project? What costs are associated with purchasing images for our website?

Yes – we use a couple of free stock libraries for sourcing images for our projects, however, for the best images, it’s often best to purchase images which belong to you or get images sourced from paid service the free services we like to start our search for images is unsplash and pexal images.

9. Are you able to provide our website as a package at the end of the project so we can reference if we require?

Yes at the end of the project and at the time of the handover period and the final invoices have been settled. We are more than happy to provide a package file of the website so you reference later if required. This will be provided inside your client portal so you can download when you are ready.

10. What is your planned start time for a website project?

We will advise you of the planned start time during the proposal stage. On average we will start all our projects on time subject contracts being signed and the deposit is paid.

Web Design 

11. If I don’t like the first design for our custom built website that is presented, what is your process to rectify?
When we are designing a custom site from scratch, we will present three concept designs to start with and then work with you on your chosen design to help refine the design to your liking. Once we have the design locked down
12. Do you have an expert designer who understands UI design and conversion optimisation?
With over 10 years plus in building and developing web sites we have remained skilled up in the latest trends when it comes to UI and understanding conversation optimisation. What we can say is less is more a lot of the time when it comes to developing a site to ensure the goals and objectives are being met to what your site really needs to achieve. When we start a project we work through a strategy session to help get to understand what is going to be a key focus of your small business website.
13. How many design changes can we make to our proposed website design until we are happy with the direction?
You are more than welcome to make as many as three major changes to your site design once we are underway with the project. Extra changes outside of the originals brief will need to be compensated for extra time.
14. Are you able to work on our proposed design for the website until we are completely happy with the outcome?
We are more than happy to work your proposed website design until you are happy, however, your project priority may be pushed back due to constant changes being made to the original design you have chosen. It’s important you understand the parameters of project creep which can affect a project meeting its deadlines.

development tools

15. When developing our small business website what is the content management system (CMS) will you use to build the website?
We develop and build our websites on WordPress. There are various things we love about WordPress but one of the main things is that its easy to use for everyone, and there are lots of resources available which support WordPress. Another great thing is it easy to continue to change and update designs and layout to match your business needs. Some developers will want to build a site on their own CMS systems which can be a real pain later down the track when it comes to wanting to update things on your website.
16. Do you develop your websites using layouts and themes or will our small business website be built from scratch?
One of the best ways to ensure you can have a great looking website for your business at a fraction of the cost of a fully customised website is using themes and layouts. Majority of our customer sites are customised theme sites using the DIvi framework from elegant themes. By the end of the project, your website will look different once you apply your brand colours, images, typography and a some little touches of flare to make it unique from the original theme.
17. Can you explain how hosting our website will work do we need to host ourselves or are you able to look after this as well?
We offer to host with all-out websites which covers the first 12- 24 months (depending on package), this hosting is cloud-based and we also provide a CDN (content distribution network) to help with access and speed of your website.
18. What about email, is this something you can help us configure and set up for us?
We always recommend you set up your email separately from your website, for security and access reasons. We can help you set up your email on Gsuite account with google or with office 365. Please inquire with us for the current rates to set you up, as you will need to also pay an ongoing user fee starting from $8 per user per month.
19. Do you offer a backup process for our website so we can recover our website in case it falls over, or we need to revert back to changes we made previously?
Yes all our websites managed under our hosting plans are backed up daily, we hold a copy of your site on a week rotation. Plus we also offer a monthly backup for customers who are on our higher hosting plans
20. Are you able to maintain WordPress and associated plugins with the website up to date as part of any hosting fees you offer?
Yes if you take our mid to higher hosting plans we will also ensure your WordPress website is update and associated plugins are also updated. Please note we will not update any WordPress updates within the first week of an update coming out, unless for security reason.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

21. Can you help install Google Analytics on our website for us?
As part of our small business website package and custom packages we will install Google Analytics on your website for you, so you can track and report on your website’s performance.
22. Are you able to help set up Google Analytics reporting, so we can get monthly reports sent to our inbox?
Yes as part of the set up we can also set up basic google analytics report which can be emailed to your inbox on a monthly basis.
23. Are you able to help set up Goal tracking for us using Google Analytics or Facebook pixels so we can track and measure any results?
Yes for custom packages can also set up google tracking or facebook pixel tracking, LinkedIn tracking so you use for marketing and lead optimisation efforts for your small business.
24. How will you ensure our small business website is search engine friendly?
When building your website we will be working through our own checklist to ensure we have all the correct SEO basic practises setup in place before we go live with your site.
25. Who is responsible for onsite search engine optimisation of our website?

What is onsite SEO? Onsite SEO is the optimisation of your website pages so that they are friendly to the search engines. We will help you with setting up a framework so you can easily apply the basic elements to any extra pages or post you create for your website. This will cover Meta descriptions, URL titles, keywords.  To learn more about Onsite Seo we recommend reading up on moz.com

26. Are you able to help with directing any old links to our new website by using 301 redirects?

Yes, we can help, with this all we require is a spreadsheet of your current URL links which you would like to ensure are pointed to their new website address.

27. How will I know if my website works on different browsers and different devices like mobile phones?

All our sites are built on a mobile responsive website and are designed and developed to be functional on your mobile phone. We understand the importance of mobile devices in for searching for information, so it’s important you are looking good, and your mobile site is also optimised to load fast as well.

28. Are you able to set up social media buttons and widgets onto our site?
Yes, we are more than happy to set up your social media buttons and widgets into your site. We recommend that you should not make the social media buttons to prominent on your website unless it’s part of your online strategy. The goal of a good website is to have your visitors take action in some way, and not lead people away from your website.
29. Can you make our small business website mobile responsive and friendly?
Yes, your website will be set up to be mobile and user-friendly. It’s important to allow your visitors to get the essential information quickly when viewing on their mobile phones.
30. Will you be testing load and speed times for our website to ensure the site loads under 4 seconds?
Yes, we will be optimising your website so that it loads as quick as possible, we do this by optimising the images, and working on a render blocking issues, along with CSS and javascript optimisation.
31. Can you install an SSL certificate onto our website?
Yes, all websites hosted on our platform receive a free SSL certificate, there are a lot of hosting platforms that still charge extra for SSL certificates starting from $135 a year, with us it’s FREE.
32. Will, you set up and create a sitemap for our business website?
Yes, all our small business website packages receive a sitemap to help search engines and bots navigate your website with ease.
33. Are you able to submit our website to google console so that Google knows about our website so it can index our pages for search?
Yes, all our small business website packages will have their sites submitted to google console. Google Console is also a great resource for your website, as over time you will be able to view which keywords your site is being discovered for, and which keywords you can work a little harder on to help with your organic search results.
34. Can you help us with creating a content strategy plan for our small business website?
Yes, all our small business website packages and custom websites will receive a 12 months content framework plan to help you with your ongoing content marketing efforts.
35. Are you able to maintain WordPress and associated plugins with the website up to date as part of any hosting fees you offer?
Yes if you take our mid to higher hosting plans we will also ensure your WordPress website is update and associated plugins are also updated. Please note we will not update any WordPress updates within the first week of an update coming out, unless for security reason.

TEAM Heypressgo

36. Can you tell us about your team, suppliers, subcontractors you are working with and what parts of the website project will they be working on?
Majority of the time you will have me (James ) working on your project and being your main contact throughout your project. Occasionally we may bring in one our sub contractors to help with some of our website projects. With regards to copywriting and social media management, we have external contractors to help manage these tasks. These contractors also assist us with our own copy and social media management.
37. Do you have support contact area we can refer to for ongoing support and assistance?
Absolutely we have a dedicated support area set up via email. Your email will get logged and ticketed for action and reply within 24 hours.
38. Are you able to meet with us face to face for any meetings?
We love face to face meetings if you are local on the northern beaches of Sydney or located on the north shore of Sydney we are more than happy to meet with you during the project phases if you like. We also have a video service available or can meet using facetime or via face time. For meeting outside of our area that require a face to face meeting, we will apply a $120 per hour meeting charge to cover the cost of time and transport.

COst AND PAYMENTS

39. Can you provide a money back guarantee on your work?
We are more than happy to provide you with money back gurantee. If you are not happy with the way the project is tracking by the end of the design phase of the project. After the design phase, we don’t offer a full refund, however, we will offer any funds not used after any costs we have incurred as part of your project.
40. What payment plan options are you able to provide so we can manage our cash flow?

We offer two types of payment plans for your project. One is based on Deposit plus remainder balance paid at completion of the project we also provide a discount for upfront payments. The second payment option is the 50% deposit of the project plus the remaining costs spread over a 24 month period, which will be billed monthly along and extra support packages or services.

Short Video Explaining Payment Options

41. Are there any unexpected costs or extras costs that we need to be aware of for our website project and ongoing expenses?
No, but maybe! One of the ways we like to offer affordable website solutions to small business owners is getting all the costs lined up in front. If there are extra services or add ons to your project as we move along the project timeline that you request and approve. We will advise you of the associated costs at the time.
42. How much does it cost to get a website built?

We can offer a cheap website package from as little as $200 which is a DIY approach where we will set up the site and framework of the theme. Then it’s up to you to manage and customise to your liking. However if spending your precious time on setting up, designing, coding and developing your site is not your cup of tea. We can build and develop your site from as little as $75 per month after the initial deposit.

43. After the final payment period or final invoice who owns the website?
After the final payment periods or final invoice you own your website, you are more than welcome to transfer the site to hosting server of your choice or continue to let us service and support your website under one our hosting packages.
44. I’ve read about project creep, what is it and how do we manage the costs associated with project creep?

Project creep is when you the customer start to ask and request extra services, elements, pages and products to your website outside of the initial project brief. Project Creep will often blow out the time line on your initial project as well as add extra costs to the project. What we will tend to do is check to see if the addition of the request is necessary under the current project and if it so, will adjust the project to accommodate the changes required. If it’s not a high priority, we will recommend that we leave the request until after the project and include as an extra service. We will let you know if feel any extra requests or addition are bordering on project creep, please don’t take it personally if we do, we just want to ensure the best success of your website and ensure we are also compensated correctly for any extra work required.

Support and maintenance

45. What is your turnaround time if we call, or email you for support or assistance with our website?

We set our selves a benchmark under our own SLA (Service level agreemtent) we will get back to you within 24hours of your support or assistance request?

46. Do you provide training services so we can learn how to use our new WordPress website?
All our websites built for you come with WordPress training videos to help you and your team with managing their website. We also offer extra training for yourself or team at $360 a three-hour training session. We also supply you with training resources and links. All our customised website packages also include a handover session, where we will walk you through the basics of login, how to create a post/blog, how to add media files and using the divi the framework if required.
47. Do you have training documentation, resources or video help you can provide to manage our website?
The great thing about WordPress it the internet has lots of free resources available to learn WordPress we will guide you in the right direction to access any documentation. Any custom training videos we have done for you will be available in your client portal.
48. After the website has gone live and is launched are you able to provide ongoing assistance for updates to the website?
After the website goes live, we offer a range of support services to help maintain and service your website. These range from the essentials in updating and maintaining plugins on your website, to offer content services, and support to make ongoing tweaks and adjustments as required. We are more than happy to discuss your website support requirements at any time.
49. Do you charge extra for support and maintenance services?
Yes we do, our monthly support and maintenance services start from $180 per month depending on the package and level of service you require.
50. Will you help with the purchase of our domain name for our website?
We are more than happy to help guide you to help with any purchase of domain names for your project. However we will not purchase the domain names on your behalf under most occasions, if we do so there will be extra charges to purchase, and to transfer ownership of the domain back to your business. Domains are your driver’s licences or your IP. It’s important you have access and control of your domain details in a safe and secure place. A website designer and developer should supply you with the necessary details to set up hosting. If you are not comfortable in setting up DNS address for your domain, we are happy to manage this process for you. However, we recommend to all clients they update their passwords to their domain account after any developer has completed there work.

Credit: These fifty questions have been adapted from the PDF document from five by five.

Some Project Examples

We have worked on a range of different projects designing and developing WordPress websites utilising divi frameworks for various business categories.