Custom Websites
If you want a unique web presence and want to be able to add and edit your content yourself, I build custom sites using the robust and flexible WordPress content management system. These sites are fully custom-built for you, not using off-the-shelf themes.
All website designs take into consideration issues such as:
- What is the purpose of your website?
- Who is your target audience?
- Does your target audience have any special needs or requirements?
- What do you want them to do on their website?
- Who are your competitors and what differentiates you from them?
- What sort of look and feel do you want?
- What sort of impression are you trying to convey?
- What information are you wanting to convey and how should it be structured?
- What are some of the search terms you are hoping people might find your site by?
- Do you need to update the site yourself?
Check out my portfolio to see some of the custom sites I’ve built, read more about WordPress, or hop on over to the website process page to see how to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Custom Sites
As every website is different, I don't have fixed price packages. Most custom sites I build fall in the range of about $1,200-$3,000, but it is not possible to give a fixed quote without knowing your requirements in detail. If you fill out my Client Questionnaire (MS Word 332kb) and send it back to me, I'll work out an estimate based on the needs of your particular project.
Sites are currently tested in Internet Explorer 7, 8, and 9, and in the current version of Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera browsers. Sites are designed to be usable in Internet Explorer 6, but may not look the best in this browser. Due to the considerable extra work involved in getting this outdated browser to display correctly, an extra charge would be involved if optimum display is required in Internet Explorer 6.
Most sites are designed with a flexible width, so they can adapt easily to whatever size screen the site is accessed on.
I generally avoid using Flash in any part of a website, as Flash components cannot be seen at all by users accessing the web via an iPhone or iPad. I especially ensure never to use Flash for any essential items of a website, such as the text and the navigation. Occasionally some add-on features may use Flash, but this would not be implemented without discussing the pros and cons with you.
The above points mean that most aspects of Megan's Web sites should work just fine on iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. If targetting users on mobile devices is particularly important to you, include that information when you fill out the questionnaire, so that I know to pay extra attention to that area.
All sites are built with the correct foundations in place to help Google and other search engines find and index your site. This includes:
- Semantic markup so search engines can easily read and understand the structure of the information on your pages
- Ensuring pages all have appropriate titles and descriptions in their meta tags
- Basic keyword research
- Reviewing your text and advising changes in light of the results of this research.
- Planning your site structure so that it is logical and easy to navigate.
- For website redesigns, maintaining your current rankings by ensuring redirects are in place for any pages from your old site that no longer exist on the new site.
Search engine optimisation is, however a very complex business, and the parameters are constantly shifting. I am not a specialist in this area, but I ensure the foundations are laid correctly for further SEO work, should you decide that you need it.
Once the foundations are laid, the other crucial aspect of search engine optimisation is building quality backlinks. This takes time and there is no easy way to do it, but the good news is that a lot of this kind of work you can do yourself through your own networking. Ensure your site is listed in relevant business directories, get reputable organisations in your field to link to your website. The important thing to remember is to make sure those links are relevant, and don't ever pay for links or participate in any mass link swapping arrangements.
Check out my blog post on Search Engine Optimisation for more information on how you can help your search engine rankings.
I generally recommend that clients register their own domain name, and to register it with a different company than where their website is hosted. This way you know that whatever happens to the hosting company, me, or your business relationship with either, you will always have control of this important business asset.
I mostly use NetRegistry for my domain names, but there are a number of accredited domain registrars that are just as good. Read my blog post on domain names for more information on protecting your domain name.
I have a reseller hosting account, and will happily host your website for you through this. You will still have full control panel access just as if you were hosted directly with the hosting company, but I do all the liaising with the host and translating the 'techspeak' for you.
If you prefer to sign up directly with a hosting company yourself, please contact me and I can recommend some preferred companies. Most reputable hosting companies should be able to host a Wordpress site, although hosts that use Linux/Unix servers are strongly recommended over Windows servers, which sometimes don't play nicely with it (unlike the desktop world, in the web server world, Linux servers are more common, so this is not a difficult requirement to meet.) That said though, all hosts have slightly different setups, and occasionally conflicts can occur in certain server environments that can take some troubleshooting to clear up. For this reason, I strongly prefer to have sites that I am managing hosted through either my own reseller account, or a company that I have worked with before, as I know that their setup is working with the configuration I am using.