FAQs

You and or your colleagues are very welcome to visit Web Directions but let us know when you are coming so we can dedicate time for you. A reminder we are open from 0700 to 1900 every day including Saturdays. We are closed on Sundays.

Please download map of how to find us here. We also are happy to communicate via virtual meetings using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp Video chat or Facetime. Please do not hesitate to ring us on 01256 863007.

Naturally, we would create your logo first (if you do not have one). This then gives us the colours and branding for everything else. If you have asked us to create your social media branding, business cards, digital letterheads, email signature strip or any other design elements, these would then be the next stage as this allows us to tie in and brand (colours and fonts) the website design with your other digital and printed items.

Once the design elements are signed off (approved) by yourself, (or you have supplied the branding elements to us) establishing your brand identity, your account handler will confirm the content of the website (text, photos, design elements) with you and ask our studio to carefully create your website. We are keen to ensure your branding and colours (including the shades and background colours) are all consistent, creating the best possible impression to your customers. Important: We will not start building your website until you have sent us ALL the content. We need absolutely everything, photos, text, logos before our web team start to build the website. We also must have the direct debit mandate in place, as this is your small commitment to us at this stage (you may have also been asked for deposit). If we are not registering the domain, we will also need the username and password for the domain control panel. This is to ensure we can promptly host your website once it is approved by yourself. These are our golden rules and cannot be broken by your account handler.

We will invoice you the balance remaining when work for your one-off services is complete. Your account handler may ask you for a Deposit and Stage payments. We may use the direct debit for the deposit and stage payments. Please be aware that your account handler may ask you for a small deposit before we undertake any website build and design work if you do not have any previous account history with us. These one-off services include the build of your website, a new logo if needed, business cards, social media branding, or the final Google Account product if you are having that also any printed matter ordered from us. The final payment is required after you have had your one-off goods ( often this includes your initial website build, logo and branding services ). If your payment for the one off invoice for the initial services ( such as Logo, Printing, Website Build etc.…) falls overdue we will use the direct debit to take payment promptly after the due date shown on your invoice.

If you have a monthly Direct Debit set up with us for other ongoing services, we can arrange to take a one off payment for any services mentioned above if you prefer. This one off payment will be taken from the bank account linked to your direct debit. Please discuss this alternative payment method with your account handler.

We reserve the right to collect any outstanding balance for your website (or any other one off service) directly from your direct debit account at any time. We will maintain services for five working days that are included in any unpaid invoices . If we fail to collect funds and are not able to communicate with you we will have no alternative but to suspend services . If your non-payment / ( failed direct debit ) involves hosting your website we will back up your website for future reinstatement of hosting services. Your one off fee for reinstating the website is £35.00 + vat . Your one off Admin fee for generating and issuing new Microsoft email codes is £10.00 per email account.

Your monthly Direct Debit payment to us will cater for the ongoing monthly services supplied to you, these will often include your domain, hosting, SSL certificate, email maintenance, email services, social media posting or any other regular services – digital goods (and predicted WordPress Plug In costs if applicable) we are providing to you. Your monthly payment amount is simply the yearly cost of these items spread over 12 months. You will receive an automatically generated invoice by email each month. To set up a Direct Debit with us please click here. It is often the case that pre-calculated monthly payments (and predicted WordPress Plugin costs, if any) are paid to us on the Direct Debit, before the website is live. These payments (excluding the domain and email costs) are off-set against part of your final invoice for the one off services.

We will not be able to start working for you until we have a commitment from you and you have set up the direct debit.

If we are not supplying you with any regular monthly services, there will be no need for you to set up a Direct Debit mandate with us.

We reserve the right to use your Direct Debit setup to collect any overdue funds that are outstanding for your one off services. Our standard payment terms are made clear on your invoice. Please note: we will not alter your Direct Debit unless you add or remove any services throughout the year. If you would prefer to pay annually in advance for your ongoing services, we can take the payment by direct debit each year.

We cannot register your domain or set up the hosting for your website without having a direct debit mandate in place.

Your website will take a period of time to prepare for the studio, build and subsequently go live. Timescales depend on the size of your website and our workload, but typically a proof will be with you within 15 working days after the site has been released to our studio. If we have gone over the quoted lead time and you have already paid some monthly payments for hosting, domain, SSL certificate etc before the website is live then those payments will be credited back to you when you receive your one off invoice for the build of your website. If there are delays from your end, for example we have not received the complete content (text, photos, imagery etc) and we have been hosting a holding page since you instructed us to go ahead, we cannot issue a refund as costs are incurred for hosting the holding page.

If, in the unusual scenario, we have repeatedly requested final sign off from you after completion of our work, or we have not been able to finish the work due to incomplete content then we reserve the right to invoice you for the work we have done and if needed, take payment via the Direct Debit Mandate.

If you have given your consent for us to go ahead with the initial set up procedure for hosting and building a website, (domain registration, server setup, hosting set up etc) and then change your mind, you will incur a charge of £25.00 +VAT. We do not tie you in to a contract, however there will be a cancellation charge of £25.00 +VAT to cover our admin set up time. If your account remains in arrears without any contact from you, your website files will be removed and replaced with the following holding page until payment is received. You will be charged £35.00 + vat to reconnect your website if we decide we want to deal with you again.

If we have created your website and have been displaying our web development work for you to check it on a hosting proofing link and for any reason that is not our fault we will cannot refund the cost of the hosting as we would have incurred this cost .

Please ensure you have read and agree to our Terms & Conditions and Frequently Asked Questions before proceeding with any services from Web Directions.

Please note our monthly or annual repeating invoice costs will rise each year with inflation on the 29th of August.

If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to contact us on 01256 863050.

Our accounts team must have the direct debit mandate in place, as this is your small commitment to us at this stage. A reminder, your first payment will be taken around the middle of the month (if your monthly payment is taken before the website is live this first months hosting fee is refunded to you, taken off your one off invoice for the website build by you account handler). If you have been asked for a deposit, this is also required before we start the project. If we are not registering the domain, we will also need the username and password for the domain control panel. This is to ensure we can promptly host your website once it is approved by yourself. We have made too may websites in the past that cannot be completed because of unusable control panel information.

On receipt of ALL the website content from you, your account handler will prepare this ready for our web design team. Only when we have the complete content from you will your website be released to our web studio. Content includes your text, imagery, logos, social media links and contact info etc. All content from you MUST be supplied as Word documents (email attachments) or in an email with clear instructions on text and imagery placement for each page. Please email imagery as attachments in JPEG or PDF format. If your files are too large to send in a Zip folder you also have the option to send to us via www.wetransfer.com.

We do not accept your photos and content via shared access Google Docs, WhatsApp or WeChat or any other form of social media. A reminder Web Directions will NOT start any work on creating your new website site until we have received ALL your complete content. Incomplete content causes unnecessary delays. Of course, timescales depend on the size of your website and our workload, but typically a proof will be with you within 21 working days after the site has been released to our studio (after you have sent in the content). You will need to approve your initial desktop proof which we will email to you. At this stage you will need to check the proof carefully on a PC/Laptop, not a tablet or phone. Once you have approved the desktop version, the site will be refined to view perfectly on tablets and smartphones before going live.

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We build the initial website proof with the supplied text and images as per the agreed specification. Therefore time spent on changes/reworks to the supplied content that go beyond the initial quote/budget may be charged in addition, and will be based on an hourly rate of £55+VAT per hour. This is the same principal for artwork jobs such as business cards, brochures and email signatures etc.

Nobody knows your goods or services better than you do, but we are not all creative writers. You may have a family member or friend who can help you with the wording. A great tip is to look at what other people supplying the same goods and services have said, and use this as inspiration when writing your text. Please read our page regarding SEO and our content creation guide before considering the text of your website. We can write the text for you, after a meeting or phone conversation, but we would quote for this separately. If deemed necessary the professional services of a copywriter may be needed.

Yes of course, if you are supplying images to us then they must be Minimum 72DPI but preferably 144DPI. You are welcome to use Adobe standard License Stock photos, royalty-free images, graphics, vectors & videos | Adobe Stock these images are only £2.50 each + VAT, this is a one off cost. Please choose your images viewing the selection from a PC as it is a lot easier on a PC than a smartphone or tablet.

Please supply us with the ref numbers of the images. For example if you are after a sunset photo then maybe you would select this one FILE #: 313560286 after typing in sunset in the search bar. If you are an Electrician you may choose this one FILE #: 327681318 after typing in Electrician in to the search bar. These images are royalty free so you have complete peace of mind. We cannot choose the images for you we are bound to choose wrong ones, no one knows your business, your vision and message you want to portray to your clients via your website more than you yourself. We cannot choose the images for you.

Yes, please click on this link to view and download our ‘Content Creation Guide’ or alternatively ask your account handler to email this useful document to you as a PDF.

In short, we recommend a minimum of 300 words per page to allow Google and other search engines a good amount of content to read and analyse. The Homepage should include 1 or 2 paragraphs describing an overview of your business, your services, and your service area/locations. The text should be well written and include some of your priority search terms, e.g. ‘ABC Company offer call out plumbing services to Basingstoke, Hampshire’. Please also refer to the ‘What you should include when writing your website text’ section on our SEO web page here.

Yes, your website will be totally responsive and easily read by your customers on all devices. Your website is checked in all mainstream web browsers to ensure compatibility.

It can take 4-8 weeks for Google to update its listings and recognise a new website. This is the same for recognising any changes made to a website. That said, once your website is live if someone types your website address directly into the url bar at the top of their web browser, it will display your website straight away.

Web Directions do not offer SEO services. Your website is set up with entry level SEO taken from the written content you have supplied to us. This is on any relevant page to allow Google to pick it up. We don’t offer an SEO service, what is in place is implemented as part of the initial website set up only.

Achieving a creditable Google ranking is something that takes time and continuing effort so you may need to work with a dedicated SEO company. Once live, you are welcome to login to your website to manage Yoast, (the SEO tool on your website) yourself. Please ask your account handler for your WordPress log in details. Web Directions cannot be held responsible for the ranking of your website once live.

All of our FAQ’s are important and need to be read and understood, but please pay very close attention to the question below before preparing your website content. If you need specialist advice about SEO for your website, please liaise directly with an SEO company.

Yes – but where your site ranks depends on a number of factors. The amount of unique visitors your site gets, whether you have any reciprocated links to other websites and how well you’ve written your website text all play a part. Unless you are paying a company for a dedicated SEO service, you are certain to have a lot of competition against you on the worldwide web. If you are expecting your website to appear on the first page of Google and numerous enquiries to start flooding your inbox from day one, it is not going to happen. It takes approximately 4-8 weeks for Google to pick up your website once live.

We do not offer ongoing SEO services. We strongly recommend you think carefully about the content of your website and include in your written text, the keywords and phrases your potential customers may type in to Google to find the service you are offering/supplying. This information, preferably included in the home page text, will give you the best possible start for your own organic SEO input and Google should, in time (not guaranteed), pick up these keywords and phrases. Please can we draw your attention to this Google Account – Knowledge Panel Product that we / or you can effect yourself after your website has gone live (instructions are on our website).

Having a readily available and easily found business postal address on your website is strongly recommended. It improves user experience and can consequently boost rankings. In essence, it aligns with Google’s core principle of prioritising user needs, making the address in the footer a potential asset. It enhances the trust factor, contributing positively to your site’s ranking. In addition, not having a postal address will make the verification process of your Google Business Profile problematic when we/you set up your Google account.

Achieving a creditable Google ranking is something that takes time and continuing effort so you may need to work with a dedicated SEO company. Web Directions cannot be held responsible for the ranking of your website once live.

You may have a change of circumstances; a lottery win, a golden job offer or you simply feel, in hindsight, you cannot cope with the basics (setting up your email address with the details provided or the editing of your website). Whatever stage you are at with us, you can cancel your services at any time but we will require payment for the work we have done. We will automatically take payment from your Direct Debit initially, then cancel your mandate. If you have paid a deposit, any remaining balance after our costs have been covered, will be returned to you. For example, if you cancel the domain ( your web address ) , something we pay for up front for a year at a time, the charge of £35.00 + vat will be made. This covers our Admin costs and the annual cost of the domain .

If we have created your website and have been displaying our web development work work for you to check it on a hosting proofing link and for any reason that is not our fault we will cannot refund the cost of the hosting as we would have incurred this cost .

If we have produced any printed materials for you, but you have not had the website built, the print work will be charged but the website will not.

Usually because you have asked us to purchase a domain. We purchase this in advance from Nominet, and subsequently pay them annually for your domain. Nominet is the UK’s domain name registry.

A reminder that if you have paid some monthly hosting payments before the website is live, those payments less the cost of the domain and email services (that Web Directions have paid for in advance), will automatically be deducted from your one off invoice for the build of your website. This invoice will be sent to you when you have approved the website and it is live.

Please note, depending on each individual scenario, that we reserve the right to retain hosting charges if the website has been held up in the development stage for an extended period of time as a result of a delay your end. If you have been sent a proof link to your website then we have been hosting the development version of your website.

We don’t sign you up to a contract. We hope that the level of support and service you receive from us will be enough to make you want to stay but we understand that sometimes clients decide to stop using our services. You are free to leave at anytime.

Domain : If you wish to move your domain away from us there will be a one off cost of £35.00 +VAT . This is an Admin charge to accept the domain transfer request and this also covers us for the cost of your domain that we pay annually in advance.

Hosting : If you wish to move you hosting away from us there is a £35.00 + vat one off charge to copy the files ( sent as a zip file ) and we will send you the database as a .sql file . Alternatively, if you have the correct skill set yourself

You can log in to the server with the correct username and password and copy the files and date base yourself .

You are welcome to view our terms and conditions here

You may have noticed that online security is on the rise and we recommend that you get an SSL certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) for your website, particularly if you have a contact form or online ordering. A lot of web browsers now are flagging up any website without an SSL certificate as unsafe so whilst it doesn’t stop people from potentially getting onto your site, it may put a lot of people off. An SSL certificate will display a little padlock in the browser to show that data collected through the website is secure. It gives users more confidence in you, and it may also help with your google search ranking, more information can be found here. The cost is £60 per year +VAT, paid monthly to us via the same direct debit arrangement as your domain(s), hosting, emails and social media payments.

Following GDPR, all websites should have a privacy policy. If you do not supply your own privacy policy, then we will use our generic one. It is all standard stuff these days, but you will need to read through this privacy policy to make sure you understand what you are agreeing to. We are not an authority on GDPR and cannot guarantee that this privacy policy will make you fully compliant. As the website owner, you are responsible for ensuring that your website and the data you handle meet EU requirements.

Yes, all our website are built using WordPress and can be edited and updated by you, the client. We will supply you with the username and password to enable you to change photos and text. However, we do ask our clients to leave the bespoke graphics, and any structural changes to us to amend for you. After your website has gone live, we can offer you a 1 hour training session where we will show you how to edit your wesbite. We also have a number of helpful user guides on our downloads page.

That is fine, we are used to dealing with all levels of technical expertise so for our ‘novice’ clients, we always try to keep our one charges low for future edits on your website after it has been put live. You simply supply your changes to your account handler who will let you know how much they will cost before we go ahead. This work is charged by the rate of £55 +VAT per hour. Minimum charge is £20 +VAT. We do charge for website training at £55.00 per hour. This website editing “ WordPress“ basic training can be done any time after the website is finished. Once the website is live, if you request it, we will be giving you a unique username and password so you can log in to your new website and make edits yourself. Please download the PDF guide (normally the BASIC one is best) from Downloads – Web Directions – Based in Hampshire, UK . If you can edit a word document or post on social Media yourself, you will be capable of basic changes on your website. Often it is best you make the small ongoing edits yourself (it is best to get the website as perfect as possible at the proofing stage) then ask our studio to make more complicated tasks such as adding new features and pages in the future if needed. If in doubt please ask, we are always here to help.

All non-ecommerce websites we build after June 2021 will have automatic updates enabled for both WordPress and WordPress plugins. The majority of the time this works great, but there are occasions when a conflict occurs that needs to be fixed manually, or rolled back to a previous backup. Websites on our hosting are backed up daily, but only on a 2 week cycle. It is therefore important that you (the client) check your website regularly and report any issues as soon as possible. We (Web Directions) cannot be held responsible for any issues that occur as a result of a WordPress or plugin update. If you would prefer a more personal update service, please contact your account handler for details.

If we built your website before June 2021, or if you have an e-commerce website, you can manually update WordPress and plugins yourself in the WordPress admin area. If we have been asked to make a content edit to your website, then we may perform the updates for you at the same time.

There are a lot of different ‘smart’ devices on the market which you can use for setting up and accessing your email on and because of this we can’t provide instructions or assistance for every device but it is very straight forward to set up. We have user friendly guides for iPhone and Outlook on the download section of our website or you can use this very handy guide from Vodafone for setting up your account on most other devices. Simply find your device and navigate to the IMAP mail set up guide. If you have any issues setting things up and require our assistance, there is a one off £10.00 charge per mailbox. This is added to your one off costs, your invoice form us when your website is live. Often it is easier to take your device to a local computer/phone shop/IT support specialist. You will just need to take the details we email to you with you.

You do not have to have an email address associated with the domain as a mailbox, however it does make you look so much more professional. You have the option to have info@, hello@ or enquiries@your-domain-here.co.uk displaying on your website (and business cards) set as a forward to your existing email account (Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo etc.). Please speak to your account handler if you need any further clarification.

Normally we will display this page or you can ask us to create something bespoke for you. This would normally be your logo with basic message and/or your phone number. This would incur a one off £25 +VAT charge. Alternatively, FOC, you could ask us to forward your domain to your company Facebook page, if you have one, until your new website is approved.

Yes we can take control from your current supplier, but we cannot transfer your domain for 60 days from the date of your original registration/purchase. Although Web Directions will hold and manage your domain, it will still be owned by you. Any associated monthly costs such as hosting, email accounts, SSL certificates and domain charges will be combined in to one ongoing monthly Direct Debit payment.

You do, not us. You will have paid for your website to be created so it is yours. Your domain is registered by us and kept on our master account, but it belongs to you.

We provide you with the email addresses you require but please be aware it is your responsibility to download and back-up your emails on a regular basis. We are not accountable for any loss of data due to a hardware failure. Once your emails have been downloaded into your inbox, they are yours not ours. If you lose them for any reason, we will of course try to recover them if we can, but it is not our responsibility. We are simply providing you with the facilities to use an email address and are ensuring the emails arrive in your PC, Smartphone and or Tablet. Read more about our email services here.

Unless pre-agreed or you have an IT support contract with us, it is your responsibility. We provide an email service which can be accessed via webmail, it is your choice if you decide to access your account via a third party provider/software. There are many different email clients you could be using (Outlook, Mac Mail, Thunderbird etc.) all with varying degrees of complexity. Each one has a slightly different procedure for email set up but we will show you where you can get instructions via the internet or you can take the settings we provide you with to an IT support company. We also have a number of helpful user guides for setting up your email on our downloads page.

Yes we do, we print in-house on the ground floor. Please take a look at our other website www.printdirections.co.uk. Please note, if you are having business cards with your website these are printed on 400 gsm silk, Matt Laminated and 55mm x 85mm.

No, we do not set up or log in to your social media accounts. We cannot synchronise your accounts/posts. We can create branding for your social media accounts, including cover photo and profile image for you to upload. We can work with existing corporate identity, or can help create branding from scratch if needed. Please see examples here. We don’t get involved in the account creation stage. If you are looking for assistance there are a lot of helpful guides online.

All leading platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

We will need your company logo and any suitable imagery to create the branding for your social media accounts. We will get these to you before you start posting so everything is aesthetically pleasing and matches your brand, that will ensure you are giving the best possible impression when people view your social media pages. If we are creating the post imagery, we will need you to supply us with imagery of your products or services. If you don’t have suitable images, we have access to Adobe Stock a royalty free stock image library. This is a vast online catalogue of photos and illustrations ideal for social media posts.

When we have decided which service is right for you, we will need to set you up with an ongoing monthly direct debit using our preferred payment gateway Go Cardless. Your account handler will send you a link to register with Go Cardless and set up your direct debit. We will take payment a month in advance. It may be the case that, as we are perhaps hosting a website for you or providing other regular services, you have already set up a direct debit arrangement with us. If that is the case your payments for our regular posting services will been added to that existing direct debit arrangement. If it is branding only, this will be a one-off payment.

We can brand a social media account from £75.00 + vat, more details can be found by clicking here. For more information on our creative post imagery please visit this page.

We recommend around twice a week, but this can be more frequent if you have enough content. Really it is up to you.