FAQ’s

Do you do all of your work?

Yes of course. I do not sub-contract out projects, you will be working directly with me at all times so there is no agency or middle man. I do not use cheap, stock or designed templates. Each design I create has been carefully hand crafted by me from start to finish with your target audience in mind.

How long will the project take?

For branding or website projects, I would allow around 2 weeks to complete.

How does the design process work?

Once I have booked you in I will send you a short questionnaire to gain a better understanding of your design requirements and business goals. I will then do research into your market type, industry and competitors then get to the drawing board. Once I have some designs ready I will send these to you for your feedback. I will revise the design and we may go back and forth a few times until we are both happy with it. Once the design has been finalised and your remaining invoice has been paid, you will then receive the final design print files. I will be on hand should you ever need any tweaks done in the future.

Do I own my logo after it’s completed

As soon as the project has been completed and you have paid your final invoice for the design work, you will then own the design. Prior to this I have copyright over it and you do not have permission to use it in anyway or copy it.

What are your payment terms?

For new customers I require a 50% non-refundable deposit for bookings and prior to starting the project. (Unless otherwise arranged with me). The remaining balance is to be paid within 5 working days of completion of the project. I accept bank wire or cheque.

How do I find a print shop?

I don’t do any printing myself however I am happy to work with your local printer and follow their design guidelines and sizing when designing. If you are based in Tauranga, then Kale print on Cameron road are very good. You can get a free online quote on their printing costs here. If you are on a tight budget then vistaprint are cheap and print a range of products. Sign up to their emails and get their weekly coupon codes (get around 50% off with some of them).

What is a responsive website, and do you build them?

A responsive website automatically adapts and changes to fit the device you’re reading it on. This means that the website should be viewable from any device, whether you are viewing it on a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

All of the websites I build are mobile friendly and responsive. No matter who you choose to be your website designer, ensure that they build you a responsive website, so your customers are able to access your site no matter what device they view it on. Other reasons why you need a responsive website is because:-

Mobile usage in on the rise (over 50% of web traffic is now from mobile devices)
They provide a better user experience
It improves seo (search engine ranking). Google now gives responsive websites priority on their search engines over non-responsive sites.

What will I need for my new website?

Apart from the actual design of the website which I do, you will also need

A registered domain name
A hosting account

These are yearly fees paid to an external service provider.

What is a domain name?

This is the name of your website and it is where your website will be located. For instance the domain name of my website is www.samidesigns.co.nz. These normally cost around $20-$30 per year. If you don’t yet have a domain name sorted then checkout CrazyDomains they have .com’s from $12 per year and .co.nz’s from $18. They also offer hosting plans (the space where the website is stored) and this ranges from $6 – $10 per month depending how long you take it out for.

Check out my tutorial on how to set this up with crazy domains.

Hosting…What is it and who do you recommend?

Hosting is the server space on the internet and where your website data is stored.
If you are buying your domain through CrazyDomains, then why not get the hosting with CrazyDomains too. Their Premium package is plenty enough for your new site and costs around $150.00 per year if you take out a 12 month plan. The longer you take it out for, the cheaper it is.

Check out my tutorial on how to set this up with crazy domains.

What’s CMS and WordPress?

CMS stands for Content Management System. CMS websites allow clients to add and edit their own website pages through a personal login area. I design and code all of my websites in wordpress which is a well known CMS, and this gives my clients the flexibility to update and change the content of the pages when needed.

Check out my tutorial on how to edit a wordpress website page.

Why do you use wordpress?

WordPress has so many advantages over normal static HTML websites. Here is just a short list of some of them:-

WordPress is favoured by google and it is search engine (SEO) friendly, making your pages easier to find in google
WordPress has thousands of plugins that can be added to your website to extend the functionality of it
WordPress is very easy to learn and use, even for beginners
Updating content is very easy for anyone, even with very little or no knowledge of code and you can do this from anywhere in the world by logging into your account
The wordpress software is updated frequently, so therefore keeping you up to date with bugs etc
Worpress is safe and offers online security to your website through the use of plug-ins that make it safer
You can easily integrate it with Social Media such as facebook
WordPress adheres to all the Web Standards and keeps your website Internet compliant

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

SEO stands for “search engine optimisation” and it is the process of getting search engines such as google to find your website and rank it accordingly. The higher you are ranked in google, potentially the more traffic and customers you should get. There are ways in which you can optimise your wordpress website so that it’s more attractive to search engines and I when I build your website, I will search engine optimise it as best as I can so that google index’s it correctly and search engines pick it up.

Check out my basic tutorial on “Tips for SEO”