Frequently asked questions

Some of the most common questions we are asked are listed below. If you can't find an answer to your question here, then please feel free to contact us using our contact form.

About our web design services

How much does a website cost?
If I ask for a quote, what happens next?
How long will it take to design my web site?
Do you use pre-made templates?
What do I need to supply to build a website?
Should we put lots of graphics on my pages?
What is a content management system (CMS)?
Which tools and techniques do you use?
How are our payments taken?
Will I own the finished product?
Are there any hidden costs?
I don't live in the south west: can I use your services?

About our search engine optimisation services (SEO)

What is a web browser?
What is a search engine?
How do search engines work?
I have a new site but why isn't it in the search engines yet?
How do search engines rank a web site ?
Can one get instant results with SEO?

About our web design services

How much does a website cost?

What your website will cost will depend, to a great extent, on what you want (number of pages required, functions on the website, CMS...) - as every website is unique, the time involved in one can vary considerably compared to another. This is why we offer a free price quote so we can give you an estimate as to how much the project will cost.

If I ask for a quote, what happens next?

- We call you to discuss your project within 24 hours and provide you with a quotation.
- We meet with you and your team, or talk to you on the phone or discuss by email to find out your exact requirements.
- We analyse your requirements and make possible recommendations to achieve your web design objective.
- We create a design prototype, along with detailed information about the website: once you are happy with our proposal, we start working on your website itself.
- The last phase is to thoroughly test the web site to ensure that it is error free.

For a free, no obligation website design quote or more information about web design options please call us on 01275 544 376 or send an email through the contact page.

How long will it take to design my web site?

This largely depends on what is involved, as well as how soon you, as the client, are able provide us with the essential documents, such as copy and pictures. A simple brochure site can be up and running in 1 or 2 weeks. More complex projects can take longer. When we know your exact requirements, we will send you a contract with a realistic end date.

We know that project deadlines are very important : we will always do our utmost to meet them.

Do you use pre-made templates?

No, we never use pre-made templates because with pre-made templates, your site would end up looking like hundreds of others sites on the internet. At Clifton Web Design, we create each and every website from scratch, so every design we create will be unique.

What do I need to supply to build a website?

You will need to supply us with the text and pictures you want to appear on your site. The more complete this content is, the easier the process will be. You can supply your text and pictures (e.g. full sized jpegs from digital cameras) via email or cd but we are also able to scan them for you. We can also search for pictures or graphics for you on the internet, if you don't have any of your own. It is also helpful, if you have any particular ideas about colours schemes or styles that you want, to tell us as much as possible at the start.

Should we put lots of graphics on my web pages?

It's essential to keep a balance between aesthetics and clarity: not everyone has a fast broadband connection, and overly complex graphics can take a long time to download; it's very important to maintain a fast download time so that people on slower connections can browse your website without having to wait for too long. However, all the graphics we incorporate on our web pages are optimised for fast-loading time.

What is a content management system (CMS)?

CMS stands for Content Management System. CMS's are designed for organising and easing creation and management of documents and other content (text, images, graphics, audio, video files...) directly on the server through a browser interface. It typically stores the material in a database, generating pages for users on request. CMS's allow users to easily edit and organize a website in a collaborative manner.

Which tools and techniques do you use?

We believe in the importance of hand-coding web sites, as it gives us more precise control over every aspect of the site. We usually hand-code our websites using an open-source editor called Bluefish. We code using W3C compliant code and we don't use (deprecated) tables but only CSS. By keeping most of the code on a separate file, this ensures your website is standard compliant (a legal requirement sometimes), loads faster and that your pages are clear and easy to update.

How are our payments taken?

Once a final price for any work is agreed, we ask for a 50% deposit up front with the balance payable on completion of the work.

Will I own the finished product?

Yes. All we ask is the right to post screenshots and a description of your site in our portfolio.

Are there any hidden costs?

There are no hidden costs: we agree a fixed price with you, which means you know exactly what you will pay. Quotes are always given before we start any work, and costs are clearly documented. The only time we would charge additional fees would be in the instances where a client requests a new page or some additional material or images for the website after work has commenced. Charges for additional work such as this are always given before the work starts.

I don't live in the south west: can I use your services?

Yes. By using the Internet, email and the telephone, we can communicate effectively with clients in any location.

About the world wide web and search engine optimisation

What is a web browser?

Web browsers are software installed on computers and used to see the pages of a website located on the Internet or stored locally on a hard drive. Some well known browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, Safari, Konqueror and Lynx (text-based browser).

Our websites are compatible with all browsers and running platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux...). We always ensure that each and every website we create is tested to the fullest.

What is a search engine?

A web search engine searches for information on the public web by sending out a spider to fetch as many documents as possible. Some well known search engines include Google, Yahoo! and Bing.

Search engine traffic is considered to be the best traffic a website can receive, along with printed or online directories : nearly 85% of traffic to most web sites is found by using a search engine or directory.

How do search engines work?

Search engines employ the use of spiders to gather information from websites. The spiders continuously crawl websites pages, following the links on the pages.

What does «optimising a website» mean?

It's essential for a web designer to find a balance between several elements: usability (e.g. navigation, menu), accessibility, search engine visibility and fast download time. For example, if your website is not accessible, you will lose visitors; if it has a low visibilility for search engines, you will lose potential visitors.

Optimising your website means optimising your internet business.

I have a new site but why isn't it in the search engines yet?

It can take a certain time before the spiders used by search engines find your first pages and include them in the search engine's results.

How do search engines rank a web site?

Every search engine uses a different algorithm for ranking the various websites. An algorithm is a very complicated set of rules that a site needs to adhere to, in order to rank well in the search engine's results.

Can one get instant results?

Unfortunately, no. Beware: a few SEO firms which promise instant and magnificent results might use unethical techniques prohibited by the search engines which can eventually get websites banned temporarily from the search engines.

At Clifton Web Design, we never use any of these techniques, nor do we promise instant magnificent results, because it is just not possible to promise instant, magnificent results in a very short space of time. Yes, high rankings take some time to build up- especially when using ethical (and safer) practices: however, the benefits will be huge once your website naturally ranks well in terms of visitors and potential clients.

Website hosting, domain names and site updates

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a unique address which points to your website. Eg. www.cliftonwebdesign.co.uk.
Many personal sites use only the domain name of their Internet Service Provider (ISP) but we strongly recommend you get your own domain name if your site is a commercial enterprise.

How do I register my domain name?

First, you will need to check if the domain name you are looking for is available to be registered : you can use Nominet's free on-line search facility - called WHOIS- in order to determine whether a domain name is available and, if not, the organisation or person to whom it is registered, and at what time that registration was made.
Alternatively, most web hosting companies allow you to do the same checking before you get a webhosting package which will be associated with the domain name you have chosen.

If you need help choosing the right domain name for your business, we'll be happy to advise.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the process of renting some web space on a remote server in order to publish your website online. Web hosting companies offer several web hosting packages. We will help you to determine which one is the best for your requirements.

Do you provide Web Hosting?

We do not provide web hosting ourselves. Quite a lot of web design companies who "offer" web hosting are re-sellers who use the services of a dedicated web hosting company. It is also possible that a design company may not have the technical expertise needed to ensure total reliability. We believe that our clients should have complete control over their website, which means a separate web hosting contract between the client and the host, which doesn't tie you to particular website design company. We will be happy to help you to determine which web hosting company and which web hosting package is the best for your requirements.

I already have a domain name but no web space?

Most of the time, transferring your domain name to a new web server is a straightforward process. In any case, we will be happy to assist you with this.

How do I update my site?

We can offer you different website management solutions. These include Clifton Web Design carrying out your maintenance with regular updates, traffic monitoring, search engine resubmission and full support.

Alternatively you can update your website with the use of a WYSIWYG editor, which doesn't require any technical knowledge and works very much like a word processor and allows you to immediately see the result of any changes as you edit the web page.

For more complex sites or simultaneous collaborative work, updating can be done through a content management system (CMS).

What does uploading mean?

While downloading is receiving a file from another computer, uploading is the exact opposite: sending your web pages to your webspace so that they can be accessed by the public across the Internet.

How do I upload my website online?

If you use a WYSIWYG editor to update your site, once you have finished editing your page, you will need to send the updated pages to your web space. This is a very simple process. It can be done in 2 ways: you can either use the "control panel" which is associated with your hosting plan (just click on the file you want, to upload it to you webspace), or use a FTP program installed on your computer. If you choose the second option, we suggest one of the following programs - which we can set-up for you.

Mini ftp clients (these ones are light and easy-to-use):

Drop up Load (Windows) is a very light and simple ftp utility. No installation is necessary : just copy the DropUpLoad.exe file on your disk and double-click on it to launch it ! From this point, you can upload your files on your web space with a simple drag and drop. Our recommended choice.

wlFxp (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) is a light and simple ftp utility. No installation is necessary (note : you need to first install the J2SE package from Sun to use this utility).

Fully-featured ftp clients:

FileZilla (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.

Cyberduck is a robust FTP browser for Mac OS X with a nice and easy to use interface. Our recommended choice for Mac users.