How does this work?

The idea behind no frills websites, is to bring together some free or low cost services available on the Internet along with my ability to create websites and publish them.

This all started when I needed to create a website for my wife’s dog walking business, I wanted it to be as cheap as possible to create and maintain. The usual way people get a website these days is to pay a hosting company for a build-it-yourself website. This has 2 drawbacks:

• they tend to charge a significant amount per month
• you have to learn how to make a website using their tools

I wanted to go a different path; hosting a basic website doesn’t have to cost a great deal if you know how to make them yourself and how to host them online. Which I do.

After creating my wife’s website and another one for a friend, I realised that there may be a demand for basic websites with minimal fuss and cost for small businesses and individuals. I decided to offer this exact service.

How to begin

Before starting, you’re going to want to know how much this will cost. For me to give you an estimate, I’ll need to know how much content you want on your website.

In order to do this, I’ll need you to send me:

• a description of what your website will be about
• any thoughts you may have about what different pages you want on the site. As an absolute minimum you’d want a home page and a contact me/us. The rest really depends on what your website is for. If it’s a business site, you probably want a few pages describing your products and services, a prices page, terms and conditions, etc. For a site about your hobbby, perhaps an ‘about me’ and then as many pages as you need to separate things out so its not just one very long page.
• the text you want on your website. This can be typed in Microsoft Word, email or even via What’s App.
• any images you would like on the website (images must be your copyright). If you don’t know exactly what images you want, tell me the approximate number and/or give me some examples.
• what your domain name will be if you’ve decided yet. Let me know if you’d like some advice.
• what theme you would like - or I can pick what I think would work well if you prefer.

Once you’ve sent me this, I will review it all and may come back to you for clarification, more details or suggestions.

Once I feel I have enough information, I can give you an estimate for the cost, taking into account how long I think it will take to create the website for you and the cost of the domain name (if required).

If you’re ready to go ahead, I’ll invoice you for 50% of the estimated cost. Once payment is received, I’ll start work on the website.

During construction

I’ll send you a link to where you can see the work in progress. I tend to make the website in stages so that you get to see how it is forming and you can let me know if there’s anything you’d like changing.

If I find that I’m running out of time and the work will exceed the amount of time I estimated, I’ll be in touch to discuss options. This might be to agree with you that you’re happy to pay for additional time, or perhaps to skip some lesser important content.

Once the website is finished, I’ll ask you for the remainder of the cost¹. If my estimate was in excess of what was actually needed, I will of course reduce the final bill as appropriate.