Website Design and Development

What is information architecture?

Information architecture is the relationship of how all the different pages of a website are related to each other. This is communicated visually through a sitemap.

Here is an example of a sitemap: https://sitemaps.thewpdevshop.com/proctormajor/

What is an interactive prototype?

An interactive prototype is a black and white version of your website that is designed to prove the functionality and features as they will work in the browser. No design elements are applied at this stage as the prototype is just built to allow all parties to make final decisions on the functionality.

Here is an example of a prototype: https://prototypes.thewpdevshop.com/proctormajor/

Why do you use WordPress?

WordPress is open source content management software and currently powers around 25% of all websites on the Internet. The project is contributed to by tens of thousands of developers all over the world and is growing from strength to strength. WordPress allows us to develop flexible and customisable websites to modern standards and observes web development best practices. Furthermore the community of web developers that use WordPress reaches far and wide and allows us to tap in to this collective intelligence and bring that wealth of experience to your project.

Where is the website hosted?

Your website needs to be hosted by a hosting company that specialises in WordPress hosting. There are many companies that do this. WP Engine, Siteground, Pagely and Pantheon are just a few who specialise in this area. We are more than happy to make a personal recommendation should you require one.

Who do I call if something goes wrong with the website or I can’t figure something out?

Provided you subscribe to one of our ongoing website care plans, we will be your first point of call should something go wrong with your website. We will determine whether it is something the hosting company needs to fix something that is covered by your website care plan. We will provide training and video tutorials to assist you in using your website once it is launched.

What happens after the website is launched?

Once your website is launched, we will provide 30 days of support to make sure any bugs have been ironed out and that you are confident using your new website. After this you will need to subscribe to one of our ongoing website care plans to make sure your website is looked after and maintained. These website care plans include updating your software, regular backups, security checks and making sure your website is online and open for business 24/7/365. More information on our website care plans is available upon request.

How long will it take to appear at the top of Google?

The time it takes for your website to appear on page 1 of Google depends on a number of factors. It depends on the search phrase people are using to find your website and the number of other websites that are also available for those search phrases. Nobody can truly say how long it will take for your website to appear at the top of search engine results pages (including people who actually work for Google), however there are a number of factors that can improve your chances. Building your website on WordPress is a good start as WordPress has some great Search Engine Optimisation fundamentals built-in. Creating unique and interesting content on a regular basis for your website is also critical to increase your visibility amongst search engines. Launching your website and then forgetting about it is a surefire way to get lost amongst the noise.

We are happy to talk to more about your search engine strategy if we haven’t already.

How will I know if anyone is visiting my website?

We will install Google analytics software on your new website and show you how to log into your Google analytics account where you can see a wide range of statistics about your website including number of visits, page views than the amount of time people are spending on your website.

Once you subscribe to one of our website care plans you will also receive more detailed analysis about your website performance and recommendations on how to improve.

What happens if I want to add some features to the website while you’re building it?

Whilst we like to be flexible and responsive to your needs, we also like to deliver what we promise within the time frames and budgets we have allowed. If you ask us to add new features to your website while we are building it, will most likely ask why? If we all agree that your new request will help us achieve our objectives then we will be more than happy to oblige. If your new feature is something you would like to add to your website but is not directly tied to your original objectives then we will suggest to schedule it for a second iteration of the website once it has been launched. This will require a new proposal.