FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

How It Works/Our Process

⇒ What is your web design process?

1. Contact us and fill out our initial project questionnaire

Throughout any interaction with you, we try to provide honest information in a polite, respectful manner so that you can make the decision that is best for you.

The questionnaire is a good starting point to figure out the scope of your project and your goals, and helps us know which further questions to ask.

2. Meeting to discuss your project

After we review your questionnaire, we will schedule a phone or video call to discuss your project further (or even through email or chat discussions, if you prefer). This is where we will fill in the blanks of information not covered in the questionnaire, like how many pages your website needs to have and what features your website will need.

3. Work proposal

We will take all the information gathered so far, and create a statement of work to be done, and then our initial estimate of the hours of work needed and our price. If it all looks good, then we can get started on your project, and will take receipt of part of the agreed total fee. If it’s not to your liking, that’s OK, you’re welcome to look elsewhere and no hard feelings – and you’re always welcome back if you change your mind.

4. Design proposal

We will submit one or a few design proposals to you to demonstrate how your website might look. If you already have content like text and pictures ready to go, we can mock it up with that exact content. Otherwise we can use filler text/images.

If you would like to make changes, we can keep making revisions until we get to a result that you agree to. The design proposal will generally show an example landing page and one example template content page.

5. Site build and revisions

Based on the design proposal that was approved, we will now build out your site on a staging section of your hosting service. When it is complete, we will send the link for your review (not open to the public yet). Once you give approval, we will launch the site to the public on your domain.

6. Site turnover

After we receive the complete payment agreed upon, we turn over full control of the site to you! That includes all of your usernames and passwords.

WordPress

⇒ Why do you use WordPress for the websites you build?

WordPress is a widely used, reliable open-source Content Management System (CMS). The fact that it’s open-source software allows us to keep costs lower than other website software, and it also means that a large and diverse community of technology enthusiasts are always working together to make WordPress better and more secure.

42% of websites on the internet use WordPress, an indicator of its reliability and usefulness. One of the best attributes of WordPress is its extendability – although WordPress is a powerful CMS out of the box, its real strength lies in the vast amount of plugins and extensions that fulfill almost any needed function or feature.

Hosting

⇒ What is hosting, and why do I need it for my website?

Hosting companies provide a home for your website, the place where your website files live. As you might guess, using a reliable, secure, and fast hosting service is essential to your website’s success. As WPBeginner.com explains it: if your website is a house, then the host is the property on which your house is located (and to take the scenario further, Procyon Creative would be the architect and construction company that builds your house, with your input).

⇒ Which hosting company should I use for my website?

Procyon Creative doesn’t offer hosting ourselves – we will recommend a solution that we feel is reliable and suitable for your needs. We don’t get referral fees or any financial incentive for your choice of hosting company. We promise to offer our recommendation based on what we think will work best for you. Your hosting needs depend on factors like the amount of traffic you expect to get, the type of website, etc. For businesses, you absolutely need a reliable hosting service that will stay online close to 100% of time, will handle large amounts of visitors, and will offer security and backup services.

For smaller, low-traffic websites we recommend options like Cloudways and WP Engine. These companies currently start their pricing around $20-30 a month, and can scale upwards as needed.

For larger websites that get a lot of traffic, we would recommend a company like Pantheon or AWS, they have experience working with larger clients and have excellent reliability along with the ability to handle many site visitors.

Domains

⇒ What is a domain? Why do I need one?

A domain is the website name that you type into the address bar of a browser when you want to visit a certain website. If a website didn’t have a domain name, you would have to enter a string of numbers to access it. So you can see that it’s more convenient for people who want to visit your site to have an easy to remember website name to type into their browser, instead of a bunch of numbers.

Your domain name is a key part of your website. You want it to be relevant to what your website represents, (especially if it’s a website for a business), easy to remember, and not too long. It should accurately describe what your website is all about – often this means the domain is your exact business/personal/organization name, or something closely related.

⇒ How much does a domain cost?

In general, a domain will cost around $12-20 yearly, and some companies offer a discount if you purchase multiple years at once. Some domains that are in higher demand will be more expensive. We can assist you with the purchase of a domain.

⇒ So where do I get a domain?

A domain can be obtained from companies called domain name registrars. You find the available domain name you want, purchase it and register it through the domain name registrar of your choice. If you hire Procyon Creative, we can assist you with this process. Some of the companies we use for domains include Dreamhost, GoDaddy, and Google.

⇒ Can I get any domain I want?

Some domain names are already owned by other people, but lots are still available. The domain registrar companies have forms where you can easily check to see what names are available. Besides the most well known .com prefix, there are many other options available like .org, .info, .biz, and more.