How it works

What else you need to know…

There are two different ways I can create websites for you.

Both website methods are flexible, and let you update the content yourself once the sites are online. (And both look good on mobile devices, as well as desktop computers.) You don’t need to choose which one right now – we can discuss that when we meet. All you need to know for now is that one is cheaper and simpler (Weebly), and the other is more flexible and future-proof (WordPress).

First page: $695 + GST if I’m working on Weebly (or $895 + GST for WordPress)

This price includes:

1. Briefing and consultancy meeting. Allow at least 1.5 to 2 hours for the briefing meeting, as there’s a lot to cover:

• Website design: We’ll work together to identify your preferences with regard to the colour scheme, layout, fonts, etc. It would be handy if you could provide a list of websites that you do and don’t like, together with a note about what it is you like and don’t like.
• Website structure: the pages you want on the site. I’ll be able to provide consultancy on this, so that the website meets your objectives in terms of generating enquiries. There are customer usability factors to consider, as well as search engine ranking factors – but at the same time I’m aware that you have a set budget for the website. (Hint: you don’t have to do all the pages at once, it can work quite well to identify Stage One pages and Stage Two pages.) It’s important that we identify the pages you want for your site at this stage, so that I can get a copywriting brief from you on all the pages.
• Website software: There are two ways I can make your site: Weebly is cheaper; WordPress is better. So we’ll have a discussion to identify what the best solution is for you. There’s a comparison of both systems later on in this document, but you don’t need to decide this upfront by yourself, let’s talk it through. 🙂
• Written content: I’ll ask you questions about your business so that I can write the website content for you. The questions will reflect the website pages you’d like me to work on.
• Photographs: If we meet face to face, I’ll take some photos for your site, too. Please be ready for this! Note that the photos will be quick snaps rather than a full-on photo shoot. If you’d like a proper photo shoot, you’d need a commercial photographer to do that for you.

Note that the price applies to businesses in the Northland and Auckland area; I’m happy to work with clients further afield, but an extra charge for travel time will apply.

2. Website design: choosing a template based on your brief, and personalising it with your logo, colour scheme, etc. Includes up to two rounds of revisions, if needed.

3. Purchase of one stock photo from http://www.bigstockphoto.com/ to use on your website, if needed.

4. Writing the content, with some basic keyword research to identify a focus keyword for the page (this helps with search engine rankings, so customers can find your site on Google). The price includes up to 500 words with up to two rounds of revisions, if needed.

Subsequent pages: $195 + GST each

Any extra pages for your website are charged at a flat rate per page.

The price includes:

• Writing the content, with basic keyword research for each page, and inserting the content into the website template you’ve chosen. To get this price for subsequent pages, we would need to discuss it at the original briefing meeting. So if you haven’t already briefed me on this content, please allow $35 per page for a phone and/or email briefing. The price is for up to 500 words per page – if you’d like longer web pages, this would be at additional cost.
• Creating the web page, and laying it out in a visually-attractive manner.
• Purchase of one stock photo from http://www.bigstockphoto.com/ to use on your website, if needed.
• Adding a photograph to the page. Additional photographs on the same page are charged at $10 each, to allow for the extra time needed for editing/resizing, uploading, and incorporating into the design.

The types of pages you might wish to add to your website are:

• Products/Services: I’d suggest having a separate page for each product or service, as this will help with your visibility on Google.
• Why choose us?
• About us
• Testimonials
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Contact Us
• Blog section with articles: I can help you with article writing; each article would be considered one page.

Features of your new website can include:

• Your website will be mobile-optimised as standard: it will look good on cell phones and tablets, as well as desktop computers.
• Social media links. Please provide any accounts/pages/feeds you’d like me to link to. Setting up these links is included in the pricing above.
• Enquiry and contact forms. Setting these up is included in the pricing above.
• Photo galleries and slideshows. Pricing would depend on what you need, i.e. written work on the same page as well as photos, or just the photos.
• Video embedding (YouTube links): included in the pricing above.
• Google Analytics (I will need your Google username and password to set this up for you. If you don’t have this, you can set up a Google account for free.)
• Email newsletter forms (e.g. MailChimp): this is at an additional price.
• Blog functionality: I can set this up for you, but if you’d like me to write articles for you, that would be at an extra price per article.
• XML sitemaps: Every time you add a new page to your website, the major search engines will automatically be notified.

Things I can’t do at this stage: e-commerce websites; membership/subscription sites; forums; content that is password protected on WordPress (it’s easy on Weebly); fancy animations or scrolling effects; pop ups; calculators and other interactive tools. If you think that you might want some of these features in the future, I recommend that you use a website company that can do this for you.

We’ll discuss exactly what you need at your briefing meeting. 🙂

There are other costs involved to get your website online. These are as follows:

Domain name: I’d suggest using http://www.freeparking.co.nz/ for domain name registrations, if you don’t already have a domain name. These are NZ-based business, and their customer service is helpful. Price: around NZ$39 per year (you’ll need to renew annually).

Website hosting: from US$3.29 a month for Weebly sites (based on a 2-year contract – the shortest contract term is 6 months @ US$4.83 a month, at the time of writing this page). You need to sign up to Weebly yourself with your credit card. (I’ll let you know when that needs doing… we can get started without this.) For WordPress sites, I work with Quokka Creative. I personally use and recommend their Happy Kiwi hosting plan. The NZ$60 monthly fee includes backups and software updates, as well as one support ticket a month – this saves you from having to pay separately for such work.

Note: You will need to set up your own accounts with the website hosting providers so you can pay them directly. (Don’t worry, I’ll be there to help you!)

Photography: stock photos often come in handy, if you don’t already have a good quality photo library to work with. The quality and nature of photographs really affects the design of a site – a grainy photograph makes your service look unprofessional, whereas a slick image makes your business look, well. slick. The prices above include one stock photo per page, but if you need more photos (or a professional photo shoot with a commercial photographer), then you’ll need to have a bit of a budget for that.

Logo: if you don’t have a logo (and need one) you will need to arrange for a graphic designer to create one for you.

Advanced SEO copywriting services: my standard copywriting service includes some search engine optimisation work. If good organic Google rankings are important to you, you might wish to consider investing in my premium SEO copywriting service.

301 redirects: If you’re redeveloping and migrating an existing website, 301 redirects preserve your old URLs by redirecting them to your new ones. Your search engine rank for that page is preserved and you don’t lose traffic. These 301 redirects are added manually, so the cost would depend on how many web pages need redirecting.

Additional meetings and briefings: If you’d like me to work on a page that you didn’t brief me about at our initial meeting, the extra briefing time will be additional. The most cost-effective way is for the briefing to be via phone and/or email; we can meet face-to-face, but a charge for travel time applies.
If you’d like me to come and take more photos, that too would be at additional cost.

Earlier on I mentioned that I can make your website in either Weebly (cheap and simple) or WordPress (more flexible) software.

We’ll discuss the best option for your business at your briefing meeting, but if you’d like a bit more info on this now, here’s where you’ll find it.

A $450 + GST deposit secures your briefing meeting, and contributes towards the time I’ll spend designing and writing your website.

You’ll receive another invoice when the First Page is completed. And if your website consists of numerous additional pages, you may receive progress invoices. Payment terms are strictly 7 days.

The final balance will be invoiced upon completion of the work, and your website will go live once I’ve received your cleared funds in full.

At this point, I’ll also submit your website to Google and Bing search engines for indexing.

Once you’ve paid in full, you’ll also receive the log-in details to access the back-end of your website, so you can update it as you wish. I’ll email you links to some training videos to help you. If you’d like one-on-one training, that can be arranged (at an additional cost).

Please note that all work is carried out subject to the terms of FX Marketing Limited (that’s my official company name) – full details are here.