Here you will find the most commonly-asked questions we receive regarding website design, development, and hosting.
We have extensive experience in successfully using the WordPress CMS (Content Management System) for website design and development. Our clients love its ease of use; they appreciate that they’re not beholden to a proprietary CMS provider to work with or customize it; the WordPress online community is huge and diverse; and as there are no ongoing license fees, the cost of implementation and ongoing support is relatively low.
Absolutely! We will conduct a survey with you and your stakeholders to assess which areas of the current site are successful, and which areas need to be improved. If your site isn't currently on WordPress, we will convert it for you. This will enable you to have greater control over the site when the redesign is complete.
Definitely. You would need to provide us with the domain registration account details so that we can point the domain at your new site when the time comes.
With inexpensive website builders like Wix or Squarespace, you make the site yourself using one of their templates. However, customization options to make your new website fit your unique brand are limited, and your website goes away if you stop paying the monthly subscription fee.
When deciding between DIY (Do It Yourself) and DFY (Done For You) approaches to a new website, budget may well be the determining factor.
Professional website creation requires a financial investment, sometimes significant. But a well-planned website scope and budget that focuses on your goals will get you the most for your money. Plus it can quickly pay for itself in increased business and a better, more professional online presence.
Read more about our thoughts on this subject on our blog post DIY Website Builder vs. A WordPress Pro.
Yes. There was a time when you only needed to upgrade to HTTPS if you were taking payments or accepting forms with sensitive information. However, now it has become the expected standard for all sites—and an important ranking factor for Google.
Even if you are not accepting payments or forms, browsers display warnings to visitors to your site. In terms of SEO, Google and other search engines will downgrade sites without HTTPS.
We will build the new WordPress websites using a “mobile-first” responsive design based on a flexible, highly customizable framework. This will allow site elements to stack and reorder responsively based on the viewport size and screen orientation, while providing the full-screen site experience to users on regular monitors.
For smaller sites, 50% of the cost is due upon proposal acceptance, with the balance due upon successful launch.
For more complex website projects, payment is broken into four or five steps. Payment is due as soon as the relevant milestones have been reached.
A successful website will create a strong and professional first impression. It will also build trust with your users, create a consistent brand message, and ultimately drive conversions—whether that's subscribers, sales, or another desired action.
If the site has been built with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind—as all AndiSites websites are—this will help your site to rank higher on search engines like Google.
Suggested further reading: 5 Ways to Build Trust with Your Website
We do not purchase and apply prebuilt templates from theme providers for our website designs. However, we do use a "bare bones" theme framework to underly our projects, then use Elementor Pro to create custom templates and content-specific layouts based on your site's needs and your goals (e.g. news archives and individual items, department/program pages, office pages, directory pages). The application of templates to individual pages is as easy as choosing from a dropdown when the page is created/edited, and access to page template revision can be controlled via user permissions and custom access levels.
We strive to reduce the number of templates as much as possible, instead recommending on UX-optimized page layouts and plugins’ known-successful outputs for display.
Here at AndiSites we focus not only on the design and technology but also on the story that you have to tell—what will speak most to your audience. We can enhance digital assets to support the story told by your website, showing your unique traits in ways that stir your users’ emotions.
Our editors and writers know how to speak to your audience and can offer suggestions for content creation and revision.
We use a project management system called Basecamp throughout your website design project. You'll have individual user access for everyone on your team, and you'll be able to write and respond to messages to our team, as well as view timelines, upload files, etc.
At the start of the project, we will add team members from your company who are centrally involved and understand the project goals to Basecamp.
As the website design process progresses, we will ask for your suggestions, feedback, and decisions. This typically includes style options, home page design, inside page design, analysis of which existing posts and pages should be kept of removed, and much more.
You might like to read our blog post How to Give Helpful Feedback to Your Web Designer.
Your entire site will be built with search-engine-friendly methods that make it easy for search engines such as Google to find and index your site content. We’ll also make sure that SEO features are available within the website for future optimization.
In addition, we also offer SEO auditing, monitoring, and remediation services.
Yes! We have a graphic designer on our team who would be only too happy to help. They will ensure that the new logo coordinates seamlessly with your new website design.
Also yes! Just let us know your requirements and we can either incorporate it into the whole project, or we can produce designs for you at a time that is convenient.
Core and plugin updates, backups, support time, security scans, performance updates, and priority attention. For more details please see our WordPress Support & Maintenance page.
One of the many reasons that we love building websites on WordPress is that it is exceedingly user-friendly, even for beginners. That being said, we'll also provide you with training to ensure that you can make as many updates as you need to.
There is no short-cut to ranking number one on search engines. We will have optimized your site as much as we can but the creation of quality content, keyphrase use, readability and a whole lot more need to be kept up to date. We recommend a user-friendly tool like Yoast to help improve your site.
Check out all our Search Engine Optimization tips!
There are so many ways to promote your website after you've unveiled it to the rest of your team and shown it off to friends and family. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Do you have any other questions about AndiSites? Please feel free to contact us any time if you need further assistance.
This website is accessible to people of different abilities as part of AndiSites’ effort to make the web a more welcoming and inclusive place.
