We understand that creating and launching a new website can be daunting, and we are sure that you have lots of questions about it! To help you better understand the terminology and process of building your new website, we have compiled a list of common questions we get asked.
The key factors we consider when determining which platforms to specialise in are usability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. This is why we selected Squarespace and WordPress. We find that these platforms allow for us to be creative with our design, efficient with our build, and keep the costs low for our clients. These platforms are user-friendly and easy enough for you, the client, to learn how to navigate/update the backend of the site yourself.
Squarespace is our most cost-effective web solution. So, if you are on a tight budget, we usually recommend Squarespace. It is a beautifully designed platform that is suitable for small businesses that wish to manage their own website.
You don’t need to buy any separate web hosting to build a Squarespace site. Your site is built and hosted on Squarespace’s own servers. This means that when we hand over the site at the end of the build, you can easily manage the website maintenance yourself and not fret about things crashing or breaking without warning.
If you are after a more customised website that allows for greater creativity and diversity in the design, we recommend WordPress. WordPress offers a number of features that aren’t standard in more basic platforms such as scrolling banners or animated elements.
If you are wanting an e-commerce website, we will recommend WordPress. While Squarespace has its own inbuilt e-commerce functionality, there are quite a few options that can be customised on WordPress that Squarespace doesn’t support. For example, if you are a food delivery service, selling wholesale, wanting advanced customer accounts, have many products, or have specific payment or shipping requirements, WordPress can incorporate these functions.
Let us know upfront if you have any ‘must-have’ features or design quirks that you would like implemented into your site, so we can recommend which platform is going to best meet your needs.
Yes, we specialise in these two platforms because they are easy and user friendly enough for you to update your own website. Also, our website projects include a 1-2 hour website tutorial where we teach you how to update and manage the backend of your website.
If you prefer on-going website management support, we offer a site maintenance package at a fee.
Web hosting is the place or home where all the files of your website live. A good analogy is to think of the domain name as the address of your house, and the web hosting as the actual house itself. All websites on the internet need web hosting.
With WordPress, you can choose any hosting provider, however we recommend Ventra IP as it is super affordable. Smaller websites usually only need to purchase the Starter+ plan, however if your business grows you can easily upgrade to a higher plan that accommodates your business needs. Find out more about VentraIP here.
All our web packages include copywriting, so yes! We’ll just need some rough notes from you on what is important to include on the site, then our copywriter will write all the words to ensure they read well, are engaging, and speak directly to your target market.
If you choose to have a WordPress website, we can keep your hosting with your current provider — no problem!
If you decide to go with a Squarespace design, you will need to cancel you current hosting and subscribe to Squarespace. We can help you with this process.
Web hosting requires you to subscribe to a plan and those ongoing costs vary for each provider.
Elementor Cloud charges $99 USD per year, which is equates to around $150 AUD, plus applicable taxes based on your billing address. This price includes hosting powered by Google Cloud Platform, SSL & CDN from Cloudflare, premium support and Elementor Pro page builder.
A business or basic commerce Squarespace subscription is $300-$408p AUD p/y when paid annually (or $35-$40 p/m when paid monthly) which includes hosting, a custom domain, SSL security, and 24/7 support.
Of Note doesn’t gain any revenue from the aforementioned costs and they are not included in our project quote.
Servers are responsible for uploading website pages to the internet. Servers interact with each other to exchange digital data, from the reception of emails to the presentation of high-resolution images. Every server includes an IP domain which gives the server a unique online address. If you type www.google.com into an online browser, the browser retrieves the unique IP for Google.
Every single website on the internet is located on a server somewhere in the world. A host is a company that owns many servers. Your website will be located on a server that is owned by a host company.
Read more about servers vs hosts here.
Your domain is your website address, for example Of Note’s domain is www.ofnotedesign.com; it’s what people type in the browser’s URL bar to visit your website. We usually get clients to purchase their domain themselves through Go Daddy or another provider so that all the registration is in their own name. However, if you need help doing this, we are happy to assist in purchasing your domain.
An SSL certificate ensures that the provider is who they claim to be. It also indicates secure connections between personal devices and websites. Understanding SSL certificates is important for website trust and to help protect customers from becoming a victim to scammers. It’s smart to keep in mind that not all websites, or SSL certificates, are created equal.
An SSL certificate helps secure information such as:
+ Login credentials
+ Credit card transactions or bank account information
+ Personally identifiable information (e.g. full name, address, date of birth, or telephone number)
+ Proprietary information
+ Legal documents and contracts
+ Medical records
Squarespace hosting comes with the SSL certificate with backups. Elementor hosting also includes SSL certificates and backups. However, if you choose to go with an external host for your WordPress website, they will require SSL certificates to be purchased separately and configured manually. So, this is an extra thing to consider when deciding whether to use an external hosting provider for your WordPress website.
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the practice of improving a website’s visibility on Google or other search engines, therefore increasing the quantity and quality of organic traffic to your website.
Yes, we offer SEO set up & ongoing support to our website clients exclusively. This is an additional service that can be added to any website build project.
Set up includes integrating Google Analytics, Google Search Console, optimised Google My Business listing, integrating Microsoft Webmaster tools, page titles & descriptions, image captions & alt tags, crosslinking & backlinking — for up to 15 pages. Local site listings are registered, your sitemap is submitted to be indexed and site speed is optimised. Set up is important, but we also recommend doing SEO maintenance for a minimum of 6 months to start to see good results.
The amount of time it takes for us to design and build a website varies depending on included features, complexity of the design, and how long it take for us to receive all the required elements from the client (eg photos, bullet points for copy). Typically, our Squarespace website builds take 4 weeks from start to finish, a simple WordPress site can take 4-6 weeks and e-commerce websites take around 8-12 weeks to complete.
Of Note keeps a login to your website as a backup for you and can send a reset password request whenever required. If you prefer to remove us from your site, that’s fine too — we just won’t be able to offer ongoing tech support if needed.
First up, we will ask you to complete a pre-project questionnaire to help us to gain insight into you and your business. We will then have a face-to-face kickstarter meeting to discuss your ideas and vision for your new site. Before our designers start working on your project, we require you to supply a signed agreement and a 25% deposit.
We recently launched our new brand, and cannot be happier with the whole process delivered by Of Note Designs. Their professionalism, curiosity, on going support and process to deliver a project that is line with their clients wishes is exceptional.
– Imogen, Mud Organics
Our Squarspace website packages start from $3,375 +GST and include:
hello@ofnotedesigns.com
(08) 6153 1579
Suite 4, 103 Colin St, West Perth, WA
(appointment only)
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We respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on this land and commit to building a brighter future together.
hello@ofnotedesigns.com
(08) 6153 1579
Want to see if we are the right fit for your business?
Book a 15-minute informal call with us so we can answer your initial questions and get to know your key objectives. If you can’t find a suitable time using our booking tool, feel free to email us at hello@ofnotedesigns.com or call us now on (08) 6153 1579
