FAQS
Through working with our clients, we managed to put together this list of FAQs
General
Look no further! We’re here to make the process, planning and developing your new website simple. If you feel that you are ready to take the step to get yourself a new website, contact us and we will start discussing about your new project! Through the information gathering discussions, we will be able fully understand your project requirements and develop an accurate quote for you.
It varies. Depending on what you need, much like when you purchase anything. The best way to get a firm price is to contact us to start the process. We will get more information from you and you will get a customised quote that includes all that you need for your new website. Our websites start from $3,000.
We’re based in Melbourne and Singapore and our best open channel for the team is email. Please fill in the general enquiry form and we will get back to you asap.
Unfortunately, meeting up is a difficult task for us as we are either in Melbourne or Singapore, and working on clients’ projects from around the globe. It is best for you to submit a contact us form with your requirements as it is what we use for open communication within our team, which means it will not be dropped and will be attended to asap. That said, we are experts at coordinating projects digitally and can discuss your project over the email effectively. We are always happy to arrange a Skype video call if you would like to chat further.
Please check out Our Process for a better understanding of the steps involved. Once we get your brief, confirm the design, we are off and racing to get your website developed as quickly as possible. We usually suggest to our clients that from the brief stage it should take around 12 weeks from end to end to have a finished website. This is the ideal timeframe to allow enough time for you to provide feedback over a few sessions and for us to attend to each and every feedback that you may have. Rest assured once we begin your project, we will keep you up to date every step of the way.
This is a question we get asked often! Simply put, web design refers to how websites look when displayed on the internet. A web developer or programmer is someone who takes that web design and turns it into a website. They work hand in hand.
We have a talented team that has both web design specialists and WordPress website development covered. This means you don’t have to go anywhere else for design or development as we can do it all! Your website will be designed and developed by our experienced team who live and breathe amazing web design. You are in safe hands.
Your input and feedback are vital to the entire process. We’ll start with a mountain full of questions about your needs, your wants, your likes, your dislikes, etc. With the information we gathered, we will be able to work closely with you to develop the ideal look and functionality for your new website.
It’s all yours once the project is fully paid for. We outline all you need to know about copyright and ownership in our original quote/proposal. In brief, all intellectual property of the website remains with Host Geek Design and once the project is completed and paid the ownership and all intellectual property is handed over to our clients.
Usually that is you. You are the expert on your business, so it is best if it comes from you. If you need help, we have a copywriter on our team who can help clean up or write original content for you at an additional cost. Let us know in the quotation stage and we can add that into our quotation to you.
Email us! We’re here to help you as much or as little as you need, and we won’t disappear once the site is launched. Our clients would naturally move across to one of our Web Care plans to take their mind off maintaining their website. We help them to ensure that their website is working at its best. Each plan includes a certain number of 30-minute tasks cover some small work. We’ve been looking after our global clients’ website needs for 15 years, so we know what we’re doing.
Websites and Hosting
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that requires no offline software, making it a fantastic option for your business website. WordPress sites are installed on your host server and is easily accessible via the internet. Wherever you are in the world you can edit and update your website just like how you would when sitting in the comfort of your home or office.
A content management system (CMS) enables you to maintain and update the content on your website without any additional software. You don’t even need to have technical skills to do so. When using a CMS, you can be in full control of your website – you can do things like add new pages, upload or change images, and change your menu structure. As your website is online, the CMS will also be online, which means to access it, all you need is a web browser and an internet connection. The CMS that we prefer for your clients is WordPress as it is the most reliable and well-used by the majority of websites around the world.
You will need hosting and a domain name. At Host Geek Design, we provide domain name registrations and web hosting for your website. We are not resellers of other company’s hosting services and have our own web hosting infrastructure in place and located around the world including Australia and Singapore.
Hosting is extremely important! When it comes to hosting, you get what you pay for. At Host Geek Design, our hosting has been tailored to service the needs of majority of websites. Understandably, there will be websites that require specific customisations, and we are always there to assist with that. We offer ideal plans for all our clients and never get you to sign up for what you do not need.
Definitely! All of our websites are mobile-friendly and mobile-responsive. This means the websites that we develop are optimised so you can view them on all browser sizes across all smart devices, which includes phones.
Yes, we can create e-commerce sites and online stores for your business. Yes, we can develop an online shop on your existing WordPress website. If you are not ready for an online shop yet, we can always develop a website that will be able to integrate an online shop to it easily when you are ready. We call it future-proofing.
Sure, we provide all the steps for updating your WordPress site so you can easily update content and images or add blogs as required. The content management system (CMS) is designed for ease of use, so once your website is ready to launch, we provide log in details, so you have full access to the back end of your website. Alternatively, if this isn’t for you, we can manage the content and maintenance of your site through one of our Web Care plans.
Website Care
Yes, we provide full training videos and support ahead of launching your website, so you are fully trained to update your website yourself when required. We’re here to help every step of the way. We add on 30 days of support to after the website is launched to assist you on understanding and working on your website. There are some updates that we recommend you seek professional assistance, such as updating plugin versions, WordPress versions, and theme versions. Not updating your website will increase security risks and can be costly to rectify. We can assist in getting these updated and your website maintained by going onto one of our Web Care plans.
Sure, we can! We provide on-going support for many of our clients. Check out our WordPress Web Care Packages.
Payment
We accept bank transfer and all major credit cards. We request 50% payment ahead of commencing the project, then 30% instalment once functionality and design has been agreed upon, and lastly the remaining 20% once the application has been tested and everyone agrees it is ready to go live. Full payment of the project is required ahead of launching your website to the world.
Please note that credit card payments will attract a 3% surcharge, so we recommend bank transfer to our clients.
Yes, we require 50% project deposits for all of our projects prior to commencement. As soon as we have your deposit, we will add your project to our work schedule and provide you with a timeline for project completion, which includes the various milestones/phases. By taking a deposit we’re about to dedicate our valuable resources to each client and ensure the process proceeds without a hitch.
We can do both. It really depends on your requirements and the size of the project. Most of our clients’ projects fit nicely into a per project charge; however, there may be some exceptions where the project requirements fit better as a per-hour charge.
We can always customise a solution to achieve your goals. We don’t believe there are solutions that are one-size-fits-all, so we tend to be adaptable and work towards a solution that can give you what you are after.
