Frequently-asked Questions
Why so cheap?
What if I want a Different Layout?
How Long Will it Take?
Help! I am not technical.
Can you help me with the best words to write?
Will you get me good Search Engine rankings?
How to Get Good Search Engine Rankings - Advanced.
Hot topic!
What is a Domain Name?
Selecting a Domain Name
Domain Ownership
Kinds of Domains
Why do I have to renew my Domain Name?
What is website hosting and why do I need it?
What is a browser?
Why can websites look so different in different browsers?
What is a URL?
What do you mean by Web-safe colours?
Can I buy my domain elsewhere?
Can I host the website myself?
If so, do I get a discount from My New Venture?
After my year of web hosting has expired with you, can
I host my website elsewhere?
Once I have a My New Venture website, what happens if I want to change things to it, like add new products or change my contact details, etc?
Our low-cost web design solutions here achieve rock bottom prices because we rely on utilising a dependable, attractive and versatile format that can easily adapt to provide an individual-looking solution.
What if I want a Different Layout?
Don't worry if you want to change the layout to better suit your needs. We can also provide very competitive estimates to do that for you.
We are about as fast as you can throw the work at us. Once you have supplied us with your preferences, sent photographs and know what words you want to use, it usually takes less than a week for your website to be ready for sign off and going live. We also operate a Super-fast Express service, if you really need your website quickly.
Don't worry. We take care of all that. You just need to tell us what colours and fonts you like, send us the photos you want to use and what words you want included. In other words, the fun bits!
We have provided a few different colourways under the Examples heading for you to get an idea what look and feel you might like. We then supply you with our Easy-Peasy Website Planning Questionnaire, complete with 150 web-safe colour chart.
Can you help me with the best words to write?
Yes, of course. We offer competitively-priced copywriting services. Just ask.
A domain name is the name of your website that you type in to your browser. For example, the domain name of this website is MyNewVenture.co.uk. You purchase a domain name for a period of time, usually one or two years. After that, if you still want the domain name, you must renew it for a fee.
Many good names have already been snapped up. When you select your name, try to keep it as memorable as possible. Many people mistakenly think that the domain name should contain keywords for better search engine ranking. This is not true. Select your domain with human beings in mind. That means easy to remember and easy to type.
Think carefully when choosing your name and stick with it. You lose all your search engine listings when you change domain names and it takes a long time to get listed again. Search engines 'like' to see age in a website. Generally, the longer you have been around with same type of content, the more credibility you gain.
When we purchase your domain for you, we register it in your name and at your address so that you are the owner of the domain. Many low-cost web development services register their client's domain in their own name which keeps you locked into their service. We never do this.
Domain names have what is called a suffix. This is the .com, .org, .co.uk, .eu and so on at the end of the name. The suffix often reflects the country the business is located in and, also, sometimes what type of business it is. For instance, .com tends to be American-based and of a commercial nature, while .org is meant for charities and non-profit organisations. .co.uk is commericial United Kingdom and .eu is European. There are many more suffixes.
Sometimes if someone cannot buy their preferred domain name with the preferred suffix (such as .com), they will opt for that name with a different suffix such as .net or .info. Personally, I think it is best to find a name in the top level domain of your country (.com in the US; co.uk in the UK and so on). Customers forget about whether you are .info, .net, etc, and simply go for the .com or .co.uk address first. In this case, you are simply handing your customers over to your potential competitor.
Why do I have to renew my Domain Name?
There are only a limited number of Domain Names, especially the good names. Some people buy up domain names for many reasons other than for their website. Some speculate that good names will increase in value, some start a business and then lose interest and others simply bought names on a whim. It would be a shame if good names were not accessible to people who would genuinely use them. Therefore, people who hold on to domain names must pay a fee every year or two years. That way, if people don't really want them, they are released back into the pool for purchase. You have first chance at renewal of your existing domain name, so that you can protect your business name.
What is website hosting and why do I need it?
First of all, think of a billboard. A printer will create the paper posters. But, for people to see the poster, they have to be pasted onto billboards in public areas. The person doing the advertising has to pay to use the billboard 'space'.
Websites are similar. Instead of a paper poster, a website is a collection of programming code and pictures sitting on the computer of the person who developed it. Just like the poster needs to buy space on a public billboard to be seen, your website needs to buy 'space' on a special type of computer that displays websites on the internet. This is called a web hosting server. And, just like with the billboard, you need to pay recurring fees to the web host for publishing your website so it can be found and seen on the internet.
My New Venture offers competitively-price web hosting services so you can be assured of a reliable presence on the web.
A browser is the software on your computer that helps you navigate to websites.
It is a little like a frame that serves up web pages to your screen for
you to view. The most well-known browser is Internet Explorer. Others include
Firefox and Safari.
What many people do not realise is that websites can look very different on different browsers. So if you develop a website and do all your testing with Internet Explorer, you may be very disappointed at the end if you wait until then to check it in a different browser. Layout can be radically different and look amateurish and messy if you are not careful. We always check all our websites in these browsers before releasing them.
Why can websites look so different in different browsers?
Most people think that a website is simply the picture of a screen as you view it. That is not true. Your website is a collection of programming code, colour references and pictures. When someone visits your website what happens is this. The visitor's browser makes a request to read the website code. That code is passed to the browser and the browser then assembles the layout, interprets the colours, adds the words and picture placement on your screen right before your eyes!
The words and pictures are stored on the web server. In the form they are stored, they do not make an awful lot of sense:
When you 'visit' the website, your browser reads coding to tell it how to present the words and pictures to your screen. So the above jumbled fruit names and their pictures might appear on your screen in a more orderly way like this:
Have you ever seen a webpage load with a delay in some of the pictures? That is an example of the browser assembling the page in front of you. Usually the quick items to load, such as text, come up fairly quickly and the bigger items, like pictures, need more time to be filled in. Each browser does this slightly differently and interprets the instructions in their own way. This can be a little awkward for the web developer!
At My New Venture, we design primarily for Internet Explorer. We then check that the website still looks right in the other browsers. However, there are times when the spacing will differ. We ensure that the more minor browsers still look good, but if a decision has to be taken about which is best, we give Internet Explorer priority because many more people use it.
What do you mean by Web-safe colours?
Just as web pages can look different with different browsers, colours can vary enormously not only between browsers, but also between computers and their monitors.
Web-safe colours have been developed to be more stable so you get a more predictable result. We provide our customers with a web-safe colour chart so you can be more assured that your potential customers will see pleasing colour schemes.
URL stands for Universal Resource Locator or Uniform Resource Locator. It is the address you type to find the website you want. It takes the format:
http://www.thewebsiteyouwant.com
http tells the internet that you are looking for a webpage (as opposed to file transfers, emails, etc, which are preceded by ftp:// and mailto: accordingly.)
www indicates that you are wishing to navigate the World-Wide Web.
thewebsiteyouwant.com is the domain name (see above)
You will also often see that after the domain name there is a forward slash (/) and more words and numbers, such as this webpage is http://www.mynewventure.co.uk/faqs.htm. The 'faqs.htm' part is the specific page of this website and the .htm indicates the programming language used to write the page.
Sometimes this part of the web address is very long with lots of numbers. That usually means the page is being generated automatically from a database. This is especially true when you are given, for example, the results of a Search you requested.
Secure web pages - On websites where you conduct financial transactions, online banking, etc, there should be an 's' added to the 'http':// so it is 'https://'
This indicates that the information that flows between your computer and the website is encrypted. That means it is sent in a special form of code that is extremely difficult for anybody else to interpret. It is to keep your personal details private while being transmitted over the internet. Always check for this on websites where you divulge personal and financial information.
Can I buy my domain elsewhere?
Yes, you can. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the domain can point to our hosting server and you will need to carry this out yourself. Our package prices are so low that we cannot spend the time figuring out how your domain registrant handles this. We can do this for you, but it will be at an additional cost on a time-spent basis. We do not recommend this if you wish to keep your start-up costs low.
I have a good or free deal on Web Hosting. Can I host the website myself?
Yes, you can. However, you will need to ensure that your web hosting service handles the technologies we utilise (Windows platform) and you will need to upload the website yourself to your server. We will deliver the website 'entity' to you via email.
Our web hosting is highly professional and delivers a fast and reliable service. Please note that many free or bargain web hosting 'deals' may have a hidden agenda and sting you elsewhere. Some force you to not have your own domain name; some have advertising attached to your site; advertising you may not wish to be associated with. Others perform so poorly that by the time your web pages load, your customers have left your site and gone elsewhere.
If I buy my domain elsewhere or host the website elsewhere, do I get a discount from My New Venture?
Sorry, no. Our all-inclusive packages are not negotiable in this way.
After my year of web hosting has expired with you, can I host my website elsewhere?
Yes, you can. You are free to ask us to transfer your domain name to a new registrant of your choice and to release the website for you to host elsewhere. Once you have provided us with all the details we need to release the domain and/or hosting, we will carry this out free of charge. However, you will have to handle the 'import' side of this function.
Once I have a My New Venture website, what happens if I want to change things to it, like add new products or change my contact details, etc?
That's fine. In fact, we are known for being super-quick in turning these
'round for our customers. Most people need to update their website at some
point. We include the first 15-minutes of text edits in your My New Venture
website for free. After that, we offer website maintenance at extremely
reasonable rates to edit your text, change or add pictures, add new pages.
Our current rates can be found under 'Content Editing' on our Pricing
Page. This preferential rate applies only to websites that
we built and host.
We do maintain sites hosted elsewhere. The pricing is individually assessed
and competitive. Please ask for details.
Keeping your website fresh and tidy!
Will you get me good Search Engine rankings?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a complex subject. All My New Venture websites are designed to be Search-engine friendly. This means that we understand how search engines scan websites and we will construct yours to be easy for search engines to not only read, but to understand which key phrases define your business.
What we can't guarantee is where your website will appear in the rankings. That depends upon many factors. These include:
- how long your website has been live
- how well it has been constructed
- relevant and non-spammy meta data
- interesting and original textual content that integrates your key phrases at a natural density and avoids 'keyword stuffing'
- genuine links into your site to show you have content that interests people (not link farms nor reciprocal links - those easily work against you)
- how carefully you have researched your key words
- how much competition there is for your chosen key words.
If you are the new kid on the block without a lot to say, your site will not rank above established competitors who have lots of good and interesting content. However, if you have a website with squeaky-clean coding, offers honest meta-data to the search engines and has something new to say, it shouldn't be long before your website starts to rank well.
Please bear in mind nobody can 'make' Google place a website higher. You can pay to be included in the 'sponsored links' and rank well that way, but Google and other search engines want to produce results that accurately reflect what people are looking for. Tricks to fool the engines are a bad idea as they may get you demoted or even dropped.
The best advice is:
- be clear about what you offer
- have interesting and original content
- make sure your website architecture is search-engine friendly
- be patient - it takes a little while for the engines to discover and trust you
- do not let your website become stale - refresh your content regularly.
So, in answer to the question, we will provide you with an excellent frame so you have the best possible start. The quality of content and building your reputation to get good incoming links is up to you.
Do you want to know more about Search Engine Optimisation?
A link to more in-depth information is here.