By Charlie Cummins – bbmm.ie
Top 5 Questions on Building Websites:
As a digital media and marketing agency, BBMM builds and redesigns a lot of websites on behalf of its clients. Here are the 5 questions we get asked most frequently by clients in relation to website development:
1. Is the website name I want available and how do I register it?
With a bit of searching and perhaps a slight tweaking with the name, we can generally find a way to get an appropriate name registered. There are a number of hosting companies out there who offer this service. At BBMM we have found BlackNight.com and Register365.com (both Irish based companies) very effective.
2. How much does it cost to develop a website?
This is the “how long is a piece of string” question. There are some standard charges which will come into play such as name registration and hosting fees, website “theme” costs and so on. But after that, costs will vary depending on the size and complexity of the website required to deliver the client’s needs. Clients should agree all costs upfront with their web be developer and get a detailed overview of what is covered within those costs – a practice we at BBMM adhere to.
3. How many pages does a website need?
Again, another difficult question to give a precise answer to. We generally meet with a client to discuss their business needs in detail and come up with an optimal website size and design based on that. A useful tactic is to get clients to look at existing websites they like (and not necessarily those within in the same business sector) and see what elements of these sites might be appropriate for inclusion.
4. How long will it take to create my website?
Looking at a very basic style website of say 6-8 pages, without complicated graphics or animation, it is possible to have this registered, hosted and live on the web in less than a week (assuming all elements have already been agreed). A crucial element of all website is testing before it goes live: is it properly SEO’d, are all the images uploaded correctly, is the website responsive for mobile & tablet devices, do all social media links work properly, it is correctly tracked in analytics ? So it is important to allow a little extra time for this.
5. Who will write the website content?
Some clients like to write their own content based on their in-depth knowledge of their own business. However, content writing for the web can be tricky at times. The content must be structured so that the search engines can find it easily and present the relevant results based on search queries. At BBMM, we have a pool of talent who can write/edit website content and manipulate images, graphics and video for optimised display.
