Definitely not! While we are happy to meet you face to face we have clients all over the world. We can work remotely, have video conferencing with screen sharing plus send and receive all the resources needed.
There is no single answer to this question. It really depends on the needs of your project. Every website is unique and requires different functionalities; we design and develop custom websites specifically for you or your business. We will ask a lot of questions to assess your needs and quote based on that assessment. Most of our sites cost between $3,000 and $5,000, but can be more or less depending on needs.
It usually depends on the client more than us. We are often waiting for the client to provide us with certain requirements. On average, we aim for a five to eight week turnaround. How much input you can provide during the initial stages, your responsiveness with feedback, how soon the content is delivered – all this affects the speed of completion. The functionality needs can also be a factor – the more complex the site the more time to develop.
We are a full service creative agency. That means in addition to Web Design and Development we also do graphic design, printing, brand identity, logo design, promotional items, copywriting and more. See our services page for more info.
Did you know that building a website is a lot like building a house?
- You need an address for people to find you. Your address on the web (URL) is usually a domain name. You can purchase one domain name (~$20 per domain name per year, renewed annually) or several and just reserve them until you’re ready to develop a site. Domain names can end in many extensions depending on the purpose of the site: .com (commercial), .org (organisation), .gov (government), .ca (Canada), etc…
- You need the property or land on which to build it. On the internet this is called web hosting because you rent space on a server that hosts your web site. Your domain name(s) are then pointed towards your hosting space.
- You need a general contractor to construct your dream home. Web by Craig (WbC), in addition to being able to provide you with your domain and hosting, specializes in designing and building you your dream home…page! With a team of skilled specialists we can build your entire web site brick by brick making sure every component is up to your standards and ours.
Studies have shown that having a decent website gives credibility to your brand, services and products. GE Capital Retail Finance’s Annual Major Purchase Shopper Study revealed that 81% of shoppers do online research before making a purchase, with 61% going directly to the retailer’s website to check out various product details; such as warranty, pricing, availability, and shipping information. Having a Facebook page is also important but it doesn’t give a good impression of what your company is about, or make it easy to find information that one might be searching for before purchasing a product or service. Not to mention the obvious but some people aren’t on Facebook and you don’t want to miss out on potential customers either.
When someone searches on Google, Bing or any search engine a list of results appears. SEO makes it more likely for your site to be at the top of that list for the key phrases you want to target. For example, if you have a dental clinic in Brooklyn we would target people searching for “Brooklyn Dentist” or “Dental Clinic in Brooklyn” to have your website appear at the top of the results. Furthermore, we want the Title and Description to be well written to entice potential customers to click on it and go to your site. Search Engine Optimization is a long term investment because it can take time to get results usually it takes 4-6 months of work before you see the real returns. SEO is usually ongoing work since there is always competition and even if we manage to get you to the top of Google, if we don’t maintain your ranking may slip over time. However, it is a vital digital marketing tool and worthwhile investment. It gives you increased visibility, authority, more web traffic and a better user experience for your customers. Contact us for an SEO package for your website.
Depends on if you got a Monthly Website Package or went À La Carte.
If you have a Monthly Package then we will update the site for you, ensuring it’s properly done and remains looking professional and functioning optimally. Exceptionally if you have the blog add-on then you will be able to add, edit and delete blog posts on your own and if you have the ecommerce add-on then you will be responsible for adding, editing, deleting products and managing the orders.
If you chose the À La Carte route then you will be in charge of updating the site on your own. We will give you a half hour training session to help get you on your way.
If you subscribe to one of our Monthly Web Design Packages you can cancel any time after the initial 12 months. At which point, you have two options:
- Cancel outright and your website will disappear and you will have nothing to pay.
- Purchase your website and take over the responsibility for it (updates, maintenance, errors) and costs associated with it (hosting, domain name, licenses, etc.). The cost to purchase the site decreases over time. After one year the cost is equivalent to 18 months of the package. So if you package costs $100 per month it will cost $1800 to purchase the site after one year. After two years it costs 12 months of the package and after three years or longer it costs the equivalent of 6 months of your package. If you would like to use our services after purchasing the site you still can just it will be at our standard hourly rate. Not the discounted rate monthly package subscribers get.
If you subscribe to any of our other monthly packages like, Social Media Management or Search Engine Optimization you can cancel at any time unless you signed up for 3 months or 6 months respectively to save the setup costs. Then you can cancel after that with no penalties.
We would love to! Check out our Monthly Website Packages for a full service solution that includes updates and maintenance. Or contact us for a free estimate of what a service agreement would look like for your existing site.
Having a mobile-friendly website is more important than ever which is why all our sites are built to be responsive. That means they respond to fit the screen size that they are being viewed on. We work hard to make sure your site looks good on a variety of devices.
Usually that is you. You are the expert on your business. Generally speaking it’s best if it comes from you. However, if you need help, we can recommend copywriters who can help clean up, or write, original content for you at an additional cost. We also have translators and photographers should you need.
Web hosting is extremely important! When it comes to hosting, you get what you pay for. We offer several different levels of web hosting depending on what your needs are. If you’re not sure what is write for you we’ll be happy to help you figure out which option is best for you and explain why. If you have a Monthly Package no need to worry the hosting is included and we have already matched the monthly package with the appropriate hosting.
Custom websites can be a big investment and not all small businesses, non-profits, or individuals have that kind of moolah right off the bat. We have created Monthly Packages that start at only $85/month with no set-up costs. We also offer a discount for non-profit organizations and sometimes arrange a check exchange. We have also helped find and apply for grants so that your website will still be within your budget. Just let us know what your budget limit is at the start and we’ll find a creative solution to ensure you get most, if not all, of your needs satisfied within your limitations.
For the Monthly Website Packages the first month is taken as a deposit to start work. Then you pay each month after that (unless you prefer to pay annually which can be arranged and usually comes with a discount 🙂
Usually if you chose to go À La Carte then fifty per cent of the project cost is due up front as a deposit to start work and the remainder before the site goes live. For more details check out The Web Design Process. For very large projects we sometimes break it up into four payments and therefore a twenty five percent deposit is required to start.
Yes! Our social media experts will evaluate your existing accounts, or create them if you don’t have yet. We will then suggest a posting schedule and strategy to jump start your social media presence. We can create posts and respond to people for your business.
We accept:
- Credit Cards (MasterCard, Visa, American Express)
- Pre-Authorized Debit
- Interac E-Transfers
- PayPal
- Cheques
- Bank Transfers
- Cash
Please send e-transfers to info@wbcdesigns.com
Make cheques payable to Web by Craig
If you need help accessing your client portal or adding a certain payment method please contact us. We will be happy to help.
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and, in short, it’s the standard technology for keeping an internet connection secure and safeguarding any sensitive data that is being sent between two systems, preventing criminals from reading and modifying any information transferred, including potential personal details.
HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) appears in the URL when a website is secured by an SSL certificate.
Most web hosting companies charge extra for basic SSL. Web by Craig includes it for free with all our hosting packages because we don’t believe in charging you for something that should be standard.
So if you get an email saying “yourdomain.com: AutoSSL certificate installed” not only is it nothing to worry about it’s something to be happy about knowing your site and emails are secure at no extra cost!
If your security needs are greater please contact us about higher security options for your website and emails.
Glossary
The number of users who interacted with your site for the first time.
The session is all the interactions that happen for one user in a given time frame. For example a single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and ecommerce transactions.
A single user can open multiple sessions. Those sessions can occur on the same day, or over several days, weeks, or months. As soon as one session ends, there is then an opportunity to start a new session.
The number of sessions that lasted 10 seconds or longer, or had 1 or more conversion events or 2 or more page or screen views.
The ratio, represented as a percentage, of your engaged sessions to your total sessions. For example, if you had 100 engaged sessions, and 1,000 total, your engagement rate would be 10%.
The percentage of sessions that were not engaged sessions. In other words. the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
In the context of how users find your website, Direct means they typed your address in their browser or using a bookmark on their browser.
In the context of how users find your website, Organic Search is the visitors who found your website through a search engine, like Google or Bing. Organic search, also known as natural search, refers to unpaid search results. If this number is high or trending upwards your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is probably working. If it is low or decreasing you should consider investing in one of our Search Engine Optimization Packages.
In the context of how users find your website, referral means the number of visitors who come to your website from another website by clicking on a link.
In the context of how users find your website, Social means the number of visitors who come to your website from from a social network like Facebook or Instagram. If this number is low you should consider signing up for one of our Social Media Packages.
In the context of how users find your website, Paid Search refers to visitors who come to your website from an AdWords or other paid search ad.
Web hosting is the process of renting or buying space to house a website on the World Wide Web. We offer web hosting packages to house your website.
This is the message that users receive when they land on a webpage that has been removed or has changed locations. Old URLs sometimes remain in search engines, thus users have a chance at landing on pages that you have already removed from your website.
You are able to create a custom 404 error message stating that “this page no longer exists,” and list other helpful resources the user can select instead.
Broken or 404 Error pages can be harmful to your website as they cause bad user experience. It is best to redirect all 404 pages to a page that closely matches what was previously there. Let us know if you need help creating a custom 404 page or setting up redirects.
Caching enables faster page load times by storing information more efficiently. If you are trying to see the latest changes to your site but they are not appearing this is often because you are seeing a cached version. To get around this you can either load the URL in an incognito or private browser window or clear your cache and reload the page. It is important to have caching enabled on your site to speed up your site’s loading time which also helps with SEO.
This could be in the form of a text link, button, image, or another type of weblink that entices a visitor of your site to be directed further into the site to help them learn more, buy a product, or become a lead.
Cookies are text files with small pieces of data — like a username and password — that are used to identify your computer as you use a computer network. Specific cookies known as HTTP cookies are used to identify specific users and improve your web browsing experience. To some this seems invasive of their privacy and they disallow them. However, they are there in order to provide the owners of that website data on how any/all users interact with their website. That data can later on become invaluable in allowing them to develop targeted campaigns to buyer personas.
It can also be beneficial to the user as cookies also store/save passwords to make signing in faster, remember form data you entered, and deliver targeted promotional campaigns.
