digital development, design and training
We have a collection of articles to help you start using and to get the most out of Wordpress.
Did you know our training side SpringStep.co.uk are launching telephone support for their IT beginners classes?
This is in response to the current distancing necessary to defeat the spread of COVID19. We hope to be expanding the remote training soon.
We use PayPal to process our online payments. Paypal protect purchasers by separating you from us, we never see any of your financial details an the payment pages they provide are fully secure. PayPal are on of the largest banks in the world and are specialists in online payments. Continue reading “Making a payment”
Some new domains have to be registered for a minimum of 2 years.
Consequently when these domains are ordered, they are charged double the annual rate. But you get the second year ‘free’
The way these projects are managed has changed in the last 10 or so years. In days of yore a proposal would be based upon a client’s brief, developed, tested and signed off. Once the brief is agreed, that is what is quoted for. Big projects with a big price tag. Modification and testing costs may be included, or billed separately. A couple of small modifications are sometimes included, more often quoted as ‘extras’. As are client caused delays. Many would have support packages to extend the project as it grew and developed, eliminating the problem with change orders.
This puts a large burden on all involved, developers work under financial pressure whilst the client has to keep up with unfamiliar technology and takes a hard financial hit at the end.
Assuming all goes well. And the original brief was correct and complete
Staging development and payments can help, though not always the answer. Projects can fail for many reasons, expectations not being met, or clients running out of passion or money. Entire agencies have gone out of business before completion whilst the client chases funding. This works for no-one.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions etc. ..
Learn more about building a website
[article part of Supporting You > Building Your Site]
We still build websites from scratch and customise or modernise already established websites. New websites or changes that are unique to your needs. These are larger projects and the work is bespoke to you.
The way these projects are managed has changed in the last 10 or so years. In days of yore a proposal would be based upon a client’s brief, developed, tested and signed off. Once the brief is agreed, that is what is quoted for. Big projects with a big price tag. Modification and testing costs may be included, or billed separately. A couple of small modifications are sometimes included, more often quoted as ‘extras’. As are client caused delays. Many would have support packages to extend the project as it grew and developed, eliminating the problem with change orders.
This puts a large burden on all involved, developers work under financial pressure whilst the client has to keep up with unfamiliar technology and takes a hard financial hit at the end.
Assuming all goes well. And the original brief was correct and complete
Staging development and payments can help, though not always the answer. Projects can fail for many reasons, expectations not being met, or clients running out of passion or money. Entire agencies have gone out of business before completion whilst the client chases funding. This works for no-one. The road to hell is paved with good intentions etc. ..
One of the most common cause of project delays is, wait for it, the client not actually ready to start .. do you have everything the developers need? Now? Images, text, price lists – all final versions.
Remember, developers can only build based on what you tell them, and with the materials you provide. Assumptions fill gaps, but they are can be far from ideal
It is extremely rare for a client to arrive with a complete project brief, i’s dotted, etc. Every project invariably changes as it takes form and gains polish.
A common misconception is the client pays piecemeal for each part of the project. This may work for small projects, if the developer will go along with it. No larger project (think: building a house) works this way when you are employing workmen for a custom task. For a finished object (eg. a spoon), you take it or leave it – someone else can buy it. It is not made for you, you do not set the price.
Manual labour of all sorts, and particularly bespoke work, is based primarily on time, and then materials. Every modification takes more resources, even if only in time. Workers waiting for materials to arrive still expect to be paid (for their time). How often do such projects overrun their budgets?
Our service packs keep you in control of the project, step by step. Websites, as any business venture, need to be project managed, breaking tasks down into discrete activities, periods of time, often aligning with cash flow. Buying blocks of development and consultation time lets you mange the timescale in a way that suits you.
Only buy what you are ready for!
Buying a larger number of hours? Ask for a discount!
I hear this often from people just starting their new web/ blogging online career “I’ve got my site up, how do I add things?”
The first entry ‘Site Admin‘ is the one to use, log in with the credentials you were give by your web manager, or the user details you chose when you setup the WordPress install. Our clients normally set the installs up themselves, but we will do it for them on the full support packages.
You dont have to use the admin panel, many consider it a security weakness (there is some debate over this). Why not follow the Site Admin link and bookmark the login page you get to? It will be something like this: http://www.yourwebsite.co.uk/wp-admin/
Sometimes its not there, or you cant see it – no worries. Look at the link above, it ends ‘/wp-admin/‘ [the underline is just for stressing content]. Load up your website and try adding this (exactly as written) to the end of the website address to make it look like above. Viola.
Now you can log in and get writing!
So here’s your shiny new WordPress blog or site, now what?
WordPress enables you to focus writing your site content, and not having to worry too much about the technical side. Of course you can delve as deeply in as you want, or keep to the default choices out of the box.
When you first log in to your new WordPress site you arrive at the dashboard – here you see an overview of the backend engine that drives your site. Down the left page margin is a list of options for you to use. As the first user, you are most likely signed in as an administrator.
Lets look at some some concepts – but you could start posting right away (see Posts & Pages)
As soon as your WordPress site is created is is ready online with a standard website design. This design is called a theme. Think about it, every website you see has its own look, one you may or may not like! the current default theme (design) that ships with WordPress is called twentyfifteen. It is a simple, modern, mobile platform friendly design well suited to bloggers and the like.
The Appearance > Theme menu lets you change your site’s design. On opening this option you will see the currently available themes, ie. those that have already been installed, perhaps by the host or your website manager.
Add New button lets you search for more themes: click the one you like, press install – your site instantly changes how it looks to match your choice. You can change your theme as many times (or as often) as you like, but dont keep unused themes, delete them.
When changing themes your data (posts, pages, settings) are safe. but you might have to reconfigure an old theme if you return to it. You are only changing the look of your site.
A common cause of confusion:
In reality there is little difference between posts and pages, only what you want to use them for, and how you want them organised and displayed.
Creating a post or page (click on New) is just like using MS Word, libreOffice or even as simple as webmail (Gmail/ Yahoo/ Hotmail/ Outlook etc.) or Facebook. Remember to hit Publish
WordPress will automatically create the post and add it to your timeline – straight out of the box, this will be your homepage. That’s it!
Even for reasonably seasoned bloggers, moving, setting up sites and expanding can be a daunting task – we are here to help, whether it be with technical support or training. Most packages come with support, it does not matter how you wish to use it, it’s up to you:
Purchase Support
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Purchase Support
See All Pricing
All support packages last the same 12 months of the hosting period and may be used piecemeal at any time during this period. For example, this could mean on an S6, 3 hours set up and introduction and an hour here and there over the remainder of the year, making 6 hours in total. Similarly for S12. Support is consumed in 30 minute portions.
Focusing on business can leave little time for marketing and updating publicity – let us help and out-source the hassle to us. It could be less expensive than you think – how much is your time worth to you?
Extra support, perhaps regularly every week or month, is be tailored for your needs separately as special a package. This could be in the form of a monthly maintenance retainer (ie. regular hours at a better rate than S12), perhaps regular site updates and management where we run the site on your behalf.
NW3biz is actively working with our clients and continuing to build this website as a resource for them
Although we are not yet marketing this site, we welcome enquiries about our services
If you include a UK telephone number we will be happy to call you back (but do include your enquiry detail in your email so we know what it is about)