For those looking to start their online business or take the step online for an established business, it’s quite important to understand the key differences between template and bespoke web design. A simple table of pros and cons is below:

Conclusion

FABI Designs would recommend if you have unique company branding established, or you are a meduim to large size business, then Bespoke Design is the only way forward for you. However, if you are a small business or even a start-up, and are serious about your online business presense, you should also consider using bespoke designs to get your site just right.

If you are a small business or start up and have little in the budget for a website, or need a very quick online presense, then website templates are always a low cost, even temporary option until you have then budget for a bespoke re-design.

Remember, your website is the first thing that a potential customer may see about your business; if you skimp on the way it looks then that will not sell your services or products.

What is worse than no website at all? Answer: A badly designed site!

If you would like a free consultation please call me on 0113 2797731 / 07818 058158 or fill out our online website quote form.
You may also like to read:

• Choosing a Domain Name
• A Guide to Web Hosting
• Do I need a small business website?
• How to Choose a Web Designer
• Benefits of Search Engine Optimization for your Website

Bespoke Versus Template Web Design is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

A web hosting service allows individuals and companies to provide their own website accessible on the Internet. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a web server they own, for use by their clients. Quite simply, you rent some space on a web hosts server, so that your site can be available on the internet for your target audience and potential clients or buyers.

Why do I need a web hosting service?

Well, if you want a website then it needs to be put somewhere where other people can see it. In essence, a simple website is made from a bunch of files; a web page is a file; a website is a file or a group of files stored on a computer, just like any other file you store on your computer at home. Only people who log onto your computer can access your files, so how do you share your files / web page with your audience? You use a web hosting service of course.

To be honest you could install and configure software on your own computer and then open that up to the whole world, but quite frankly it would not be worth the hassle dealing with the maintenance, the security, etc. Besides that, your computer would have to be left on at all times for your audience to get to your website! Now thats a lot of overhead costs and maintenance. This is why buying a web hosting service is the most reliable, cost effective solution for running a website.

A web hosting provider allows you to rent some space on a computer that specialises in serving files out across the internet to “host” your website pages for you. Simple eh!

Types of Web Hosting

Shared Web Hosting

For small businesses and individuals the most common type of hosting is shared web hosting, or web hosting using virtual servers. Shared web hosting is the most cost affective way to host your web site. The bonus of shared web hosting is small websites pool their resources and therefore lower the costs of running their websites, while getting great hardware to run their website.

Dedicated Web Hosting

Dedicated hosting is when you have a server and all it’s resources dedicated to your website alone. Very few websites receive enough traffic or use enough resources, or require a totally dedicated server for their needs. If you are hosting a site with high traffic, or if you need high security, or you expect you will need to have root access to the server and install your own software, change server configurations, etc, you will definitely need dedicated hosting. MOST small businesses DO NOT need dedicated hosting and can spare themselves the cost! If your website grows and your requirements change it is pretty simple to switch to dedicated web hosting.

Of course their are pros and cons of shared hosting when compared to a dedicated web server which can be read in our article shared versus dedicated web hosting. For now we will assume most people need little more than shared web hosting to meet their web site needs.

Choosing a web hosting service

When you begin looking for a web host you may find yourself overwhelmed with features and pricing. I mean how many people apart from the web experts would be able to figure out how much bandwidth your website may require, how much space your website will need, and if you need SSL. Even the experts have to take a guess at your requirements most of the time. When you are new to website building it’s difficult to decide what you need, as you’re probably not sure what most of the features list means anyway.

There are thousands of web hosting companies offering web hosting packages, so how do you choose one? Do you choose the cheapest? Do you choose the one with the most features? Do you choose the one with the best features? No! You should choose the one with the features that best suit your needs for the most affordable price.

As a rule of thumb I would say that if you don’t understand it then you probably don’t need it. There are so many companies out there to choose from and my recommendation is to make a list of what you need. Will you need a database and a secure connection to take payments? Is your site dynamic (ever changing) or static? Will you need an email account, a spam filter, create mailing lists? How much are SSL certificates with the hosting company? How much is a dedicated server with the hosting company? What are the features of the top package that company offers and how much does it cost? The list is endless. Look at the features and choose web hosting companies that suit your requirements.

Bare in mind you need to be able to grow quickly and without disruption to your service; in that case choose a web hosting service that allows you to upgrade the package seamlessly in the future.

The final step is to do some research, try to find independent reviews of those companies, baring in mind that many reviews sites are not independent and are affiliates of some of the web hosting companies therefore, reviews can be positively filtered!

One of the most important things you should bare in mind when choosing a web host is not only does that web host suit your needs now, but will it suit your needs in the future. It’s fine choosing a cheap web host now, but when your website grows, migrating to another host can cost time, money and expertise, and leave you wondering why you did not take a little more time to work out what you would require in the beginning.

How much should you be paying for your web hosting?

Well, that depends on your requirements? Web hosting is relatively inexpensive starting at as little as £35 per year (at the time of writing this article), making it affordable even for personal websites, and incredibly cheap for small business sites. However, you get what you pay for. If you choose a provider that gives you everything you need for a very low amount a year, you can’t complain if you get poor service. Generally speaking web hosting will cost between £40 – £120 a year. GOOD web hosting will GENERALLY be around £60 plus a year.

Website Hosting and Domain Names

Although it is not entirely necessary it is usually best and easier to buy your domain names from the web hosting company you choose or vice versa, especially as most web hosts provide a free domain name with the hosting package. Don’t make the mistake of going and snapping up your domain name in a hurry only to find you could have saved yourself a few quid buy holding out and researching a web host, many of which will give you a domain name for free!

Website Hosting Tips

Here are just a few things to think about if you are choosing a web hosting package:

• Choose a provider that easily allows you to upgrade a package without downtime.
• Go for a basic option and upgrade if you need to later.
• Look for a good guarantee and cancellation policy.
• It is best to register your domains with your web hosting company, so look at the price of domain registration too.
• Don’t be impressed by features you don’t need, you will either pay for them or your service will suffer for them.
• Linux hosting is usually the better and cheaper option.
• It is not necessary but it is preferable for your hosting provider to be in the same country that you are trading in.
• Identify if you will need a dedicated server, for example if you are hosting a website which will use a lot of bandwidth and server resource, you will more than likely need dedicated hosting.

I never said it would be easy Thats why FABI Designs have done the research for you. FABI Designs have trawled the INTERNET and tried and tested many hosting services, read many reviews and chosen what we feel to be a GREAT web hosting package for all of our clients. Feel free to call or email us for more information on 0113 2797731. You can also look at our web hosting packages on www.fabi-hosting.co.uk.

We hope this guide helps you on your web hosting search.You may also like to read:

• Shared versus Dedicated Web Hosting
• Explore the Benefits of Virtual Private Server Technology
• Is there a problem with “Unlimited Web Hosting”?
• Local Web Hosting is Expensive – Move Away
• Web Host Research – How to choose the right Web Host

A Guide to Web Hosting is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website

With so many web design companies and freelance web designers out there its hard to decide on who to choose. Many companies do the hard sell, and before you know it you have signed up for a website that is entirely unsuitable for you, or has far more features than you need at a price you really did not need to pay!

As a small business / individual you may not know much about the internet, websites or even computers, but you may desperately need a website. How do you know who to trust and what questions to ask potential website designers and even if the answers are correct? It’s all very overwhelming to someone dabbling in the world of web for the first time, so that is why I have written this article to try and help you find a designer to suit you

First things first, before you even contact any designers ask yourself, why do I need a website? How will it save you and your company money or how will it generate income for you? Just because your competitors have a website does not mean that you have to get one. It has to benefit you and/or your business or it is entirely a waste of money.

Decide why you need a website

Before you contact anyone ask yourself these questions and contemplate them for a few days, not only will it get your needs clear in your head but that alone will help your designer understand your needs and provide you with the best solution:

• Why do I want a website?
• How will it help my business?
• Will I need to update the site myself or is it simply an online brochure?
• Will I sell products from the website? Do you want to be able to accept payments online?
• Will the website be static – a brochure for the company?
• What should my website have on it that my visitors would like? What you want the website to do, and what information you want your website to contain?
• Do you want ongoing support, or will your site be pretty much static once it has been built?
• Do you want a unique bespoke design?

Check their web site

The first step in making you shortlist of designers is to check out their website.One of the most important signs of a good web design firm is their web site. Take the time to study the site.

• Do they even have a web site? (Avoid them if they don’t)
• Do you like the design? If you don’t you may not have the same design taste, we don’t all like the same thigs and designers usually have a design style.
• Is the web site easy to use?
• Did the website load quickly, afterbrowsing a few pages does the website seem too slow?
• Is the navigation clear and simple?
• Does the site stay consistent (fonts, layout, etc.) as you browse through the pages?
• Is it easy to find the information you are looking for?
• Do they have a client list or a portfolio? (if there is no portfolio, best stay away)
• Is there a section about their company?
• Is their contact information listed clearly on the web site?
• Are there any broken links?
• Do you get a good feeling from the site? Do you think you will like person or persons behind it?

First impressions count!

The Portfolio

This is probably one of the most important factors in choosing a web design company. Look at their work and see if you like the style.  A designer always has a style, do you like their sites?

Do they know your business?

It is important that they have some knowledge of your industry. Have they completed a design for your industry before? Do they create sites that suit your industry, its no good if they produce flashy sites for bands or events when you want a classic eccomerce site for a gardening tools company.

Contact information

Make sure there is an actual address and phone number listed on their web site. You want to know where they are located. An e-mail address alone is not enough. You want to make sure you can call them and talk to them any time you need to. Beware of companies who are reluctant to share contact details or location.

Testimonails

• Do they show testimonails on their website, better still are the testimonails controlled through a third party rather than cherry picked by the website owner? How the company treated their previous clients is a good indication of how they will treat you.
• Don’t just rely on the references they provide. Go one step further, visit some of the sites they list in their portfolio, find the contact information and contact their clients. It’s definitely worth taking a little time to find out.

Response time

One of the best tests of a web design company’s support system is how quick they reply to your initial inquiry. How long did it take them to call you back or reply to your e-mail? Was the response in a time scale you are happy with?

The home work

When the design company first called you back did they seem that they did some homework before they called you? Good design firms always go the extra step and do some research on your company and/or your current web site. Give them extra points if you didn’t give them your web site URL and they did some snooping around and searching to find it and study it or to study that of your competition or industry.

Interview your web designer

Once you have identified companies you like the look of, give them a call, ask them the following questions, after all its an interview for a job really:

1. Who owns the finished design? You should should own the final design!
2. How many pages are included in the price? If you choose a static site how many pages do you get? If you choose a site you can update are there any limitations?
3. What is the time scale to finish the site?They should give at least an approximate finish time and explain the reasons for that time scale at least briefly.
4. Is the logo design included in the price? Most companies add logo design as a separate service, this is something you can negotiate into your package perhaps.
5. Will the web pages be optimised for google search engine or other search engines (Search Engine Optimisation)? Remember that no web designer can guarantee top placement on search engines they can only do their best to optimise your site, ask them how they do this (read my SEO articles or research SEO so you understand the answers?
6. What keywords are they being optimised for and why? Your web designer should consult you on what words you think your clients would use to search for you on search engines.
7. Will the website be submitted to the search engines as part of the service? If so which search engines?
8. How much will it cost for additional pages?
9. Do you provide training so you can add pages yourself? All CMS (updatable websites) websites should come with some element of training whether it be a training manual, support for free for a month or a training session, it’s up to what training you will accept as part of you package!
10. Do you offer any guarantees? Is there a web hosting guarantee, a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied, or a no money to pay till you are happy guarantee?
11. Who will be hosting the website and how much does it cost, what are your on going costs? Domain names are renewable every X years depending on if .co.uk / .co, etc. Ask what renewal fees are. Also web hosting will be an ongoing cost, if your site only costs £100 to build but web hosting will be £300 a year then you need to look elsewhere. Read my articles on web hosting!
12. Will the domain name be registered in your name? Any web hosting company worth its salt will register a domain name in your name, it should be, you need to own it!!
13. If you choose to move web hosting or your domain name at a later date, will it cost you and how much? Some companies register your domain name for £6 but then charge £100 to transfer it, some companies charge £20 a year for hosting then wont give you a back up of your website to move even if their service is terrible. A reputable company wouldn’t do any of this! There may be a small fee but thats what it would be…SMALL!
14. Do you offer any support and how much does it cost?
15. How much do web design changes cost and how long do they take?

Finally, you need to be able to work with your designer. Even after all the questions have been asked you should still go on gut instinct too. If you contact a designer who answers your questions brilliantly that’s all well and good, but you need to have a good working relationship with that designer too. You should choose someone who you can communicate with easily, who shows willingness, and eagerness to help you and your company. Someone who is motivated to help you and your business. Freelance designers often show these qualities, big companies don’t! Building a good working relationship with your designer is paramount to you getting a GREAT website!!!You may also like to read:

• A Guide to Web Hosting
• Web Host Research – How to choose the right Web Host
• Local Web Hosting is Expensive – Move Away
• Choosing a Domain Name
• Local Web Hosting is Expensive – Part II

How to Choose a Web Designer is a post from: Build Me A Fab Website