Company website FAQs

Company website FAQs about business website design, hosting and search engine optimisation.

Here are some of the answers to questions clients have asked me over the years.

I'm accumulating knowledge of workflows, prices and other such answers from website designers besides myself. I'll keep adding to this page to keep you informed and up to date. It is nice to have some comparisons.

If you're a website designer, get in touch with me. I love a good chat and I'd love to understand your processes.

Questions remain unanswered? Please email me. I am happy to help.

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How much does a website cost?

It's difficult to say how much a website will cost without knowing the requirements, but I outline prices considering my experience.

I provide two tiers:

Custom websites built with solid search engine foundations.
Custom websites with foundations and written for search engines.

Custom website design starts at £1500 for a static 5-page small business website.

Custom website design consists of £1200 for the bespoke web design. I have experience in WordPress or HTML/CSS and the Bootstrap framework, the best SEO option.

I then charge per web page, which starts at £100 depending on functionality.

When I write the website content as well, I charge twice that.

I know designers that will double those prices again if they provide graphic elements.

E-commerce (shop) websites start around the £2500 mark because more work goes in, setting up a payment gateway and ensuring a smooth customer experience.

My particular website design style is kept simple for a good user experience which helps search engine page rank.

I optimise each page around a chosen key phrase. Optimisation gives foundations for a robust website that can build and grow to become strong online.

For a more specific answer to 'how much does a website cost' email me for a quote.

How much does a website cost per month?

Websites need a domain name (website address) and hosting; they can’t exist without either.

Hosting is much the same as renting space on the internet. An experienced web designer will host a website on a shared server for anywhere between £6 - £15 per month.

Prices vary depending on the quality of the service provider.

There can be other monthly costs.

For example, WordPress needs to be updated, maintained and kept secure, and it is worth having someone taking care of that.

There’s usually a set fee for backups, updates and maintenance, which should also include the software. For a small website, maintenance should not be more than £100 per month, but this can depend on the size of the website and its functionality

For the website’s lifetime, Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com (hosted version) charge per month. These platforms update the server and website software.

The fees are around £20 per month. The cost depends on the space used, the design themes and the plugins.

What information should be on a website?

Information that should be on a website by law

All businesses, e-commerce or not, must provide minimum information which should be easily accessible at all times. Include the following somewhere on the website, like the footer, the contact page or terms and conditions:

The company name may be different from the trading name – e.g. "Kaydee Web is the trading name of Kaydee Web Limited".
Include the registered address. A P.O. BOX (post office box) will not suffice. If different to the geographical address, also include this and differentiate between the two.
Full details including email address, allowing fast, direct contact and effective communication. A contact form is not sufficient.
List the registration details, such as the company registration number.
List the VAT number if a business has one – even if the website isn’t e-commerce.
Display full details, including email address. Double this up with a contact form, allowing fast, direct contact and effective communication.
Confirm membership of trade registers available to the public and display registration numbers.
Add any professional bodies or institutions where the business is registered.
On e-commerce websites, prices must be unambiguous and state whether prices include tax and delivery costs.

Limited companies

By UK law, limited companies must include on their website:

The registered number.
The registered office address.
Where the company is registered (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland).
Make it clear it is a limited company by spelling out the company’s full name including Limited or Ltd.

If you want to include directors’ names, you must list all names of directors.

Information that should be used for website layout

To determine the information used in a website, decipher what type of business you run.

Businesses can generally be split into three areas 'service businesses', 'merchandising businesses' and 'manufacturing businesses'.

Sometimes a business can be a combination of all three.

Use the information below to determine your type of business.

Service business

A service business sells products of no physical form.

Service businesses offer professional skills, expertise and advice.

Examples of service businesses are web designers, content copywriters, photographers, accountancy firms and coaches.

Service businesses often require a static website to advertise locally. Members areas, product or voucher sales can encourage visitors.

Consultants and coaches can sell knowledge online, so their audience could be broader and use an online payment system.

Merchandising business

A merchandising business is a buy-and-sell business model, whereby profit is made by buying products at trade price and selling the products at a higher price. The product does not change form.

Examples are goods shops, toy shops, clothes shops and distributors.

Usually, merchandising businesses require an e-commerce website from which products sell locally or internationally.

Sometimes a merchandising business will require a static website used for extra advertising, especially budgeting or already selling on eBay.

Manufacturing business

A manufacturing business buys products and use them as materials to make a new product.

Included in the final consumer price are labour and factory overheads.

Manufacturing businesses often only sell to trade customers. Some use a static site for advertising. Others may use a private trade area where clients can log in and purchase products in bulk.

Combination business

Some businesses, for example, tourist destinations, hotels and restaurants, could come under all three categories.

For example, a restaurant buys products and creates a meal from them (manufacturing), then offers waiter service (servicing) and also buys and sells drinks (merchandising).

Combination businesses need a broad audience. Geographical maps, like a Google map listing, can be handy to find them. Online booking forms with payment systems are beneficial.

Local or international?

Take into consideration whether you intend to sell locally, nationally or internationally. Having an idea of the businesses catchment area will help to target your content.

Advertising or ecommerce?

Would you like to simply advertise services or products online?
Can you sell the services or products online?

Local or international?

Does the business offer services or products locally?
Can the business sell services or products internationally?

Once you know your type of business and targeted markets, planning the company website will be easier.

Now write down which products or services you would like to advertise or sell. Do they come in different formats?

Pages to include on a website

A service page or product page is likely to be included on any website.

For transparency, Google likes to see an ABOUT page offering background information on the business owner or company itself.

Include a contact page with company information and contact details to make it quick and easy for users to contact you.

An FAQ page can often help an audience and provide search engine content.

What information should be on a website for search engines?

Build and create websites that are accessible and provide the best user experience. User experience is crucial in delivering a website built for search engines. Google rewards well-built websites.

When creating web pages, follow search engine guidelines use correct meta-tags, page elements, and schema markup. Websites should be kept clean and code-light.

There are on-page search engine guidelines that should be put into place when creating web pages, such as meta-tags, page elements and schema markup. Websites should be kept clean and code-light.

Blog posts and informative articles significantly increase the chances of being well ranked.

How many pages should a website have?

The more information included on a site, the better chance it has of survival. However, many small businesses need to start small and build.

When planning pages for a new site, ask yourself:

Are you a one-person band?
Are you a large corporate business?
What do you do?
Who is your target audience?
Have you got the resources to keep the site up to date?

I recommend an 'about' or 'background information' page, including the brand story and a professional photo of you and your team.

Every brand has a story, and background information helps you connect with your audience and gives clarity. Google rewards company websites that are transparent.

If you offer several services, choose separate pages for each to gain the best benefits on search engines.

Businesses with a low budget could start with one page of services, but I don’t recommend it. You’ll benefit from targeting each page for two to three related key phrases.

Companies that sell a product will benefit from an e-commerce solution with an online basket and secure payment facilities.

Or simply display the product example and use an enquiry form.

Visual services, like an architect or a photographer, would benefit from a gallery page. Or could use a portfolio or a case study page.

Hospitality businesses should include online calendars and booking systems so visitors can quickly request availability.

Include a contact page with an enquiry form and, for local businesses, a map.

Data collection forms linked to a newsletter are a good idea so that you can capture visitors. Try to offer something for free to encourage sign-ups.

I can help with the structure of your website. Just email me with your general ideas.

How much does it cost to host a website?

To own and run a website, each website owner needs hosting for that website. You are renting space on a computer which connects up to the internet.

Website hosting varies between ISPs (internet service providers). There are very cheap ISPs, which can be as low as £30 per year. After a lot of experience with hosting companies, I avoid the cheap ones. They often have terrible technical support, and you can come unstuck.

There's a big difference between shared hosting and a dedicated server. Shared hosting is like renting an apartment; a dedicated server is a detached house.

Websites that are resource-heavy or expert a lot of web traffic should consider a dedicated server. However, for most small businesses, a shared server is more than enough.

A realistic figure for hosting on a shared server is £80 - £120 per year for a small website. A dedicated server would be more like £100 per month.

There is an additional charge per year or multiple years for the domain name (aka website address).

I charge £100 per year to host a site on a shared server, please click here for hosting details and prices.

What is responsive design?

A responsive website responds to the device it’s viewed on; smartphone, tablet or computer. It changes shape and layout. Your business website must be responsive for easy user access.

Responsive websites are mobile-friendly because they are compatible with all devices, essential for search engine page rank. Google will show mobile-friendly websites first.

What is responsive web design?

How will you get your website to show up on Google?

Achieving a high rank generally requires time, effort and a host of tools.

Once your website is live, you should regularly check search results, analytics, key terms, generate inbound links, consistently provide good content, encourage others to share your content and much more.

Once your site is live, it should not be left to run its course. It needs help throughout its life.

Depending on the competition, a website won’t reach the first page of Google search results without time and effort.

I use MOZ Pro to analyse websites. I use MOZ to improve the website and write quality blog posts around your industry to encourage a good page rank.

What does SEO mean?

SEO means 'search engine optimisation' or 'optimization' in the US.

The term SEO can umbrella a few things, like on-page SEO, off-page SEO and search engine marketing.

When people use the term SEO, they are generally talking about the art of programming a website so that search engines understand and rank it.

Both layout and programming affect the way search engines rank a site. Ultimately Google requires websites to be accessible, fast, content-rich and programmed so that search engine crawlers easily understand the pages.

Any more questions on website design?

I'm very happy to help, if I have not answered your question here. Do email me to ask.