If you’re thinking about building a new website for your business, you’ll obviously have a lot of questions. How does the process work? What should you focus on? How do you make it meets your business goals? How long will it take? How much will it cost?
At Terra Ferma Media, we’ve built and hosted over 150 websites, so we know how it works. So, here’s our list of 10 important questions to ask yourself before getting started.
P.S. There are many more important questions than these of course, but they are a good place to start.
How much will it cost?
Sorry to be predictable but that all depends on what you need and how long is the piece of string that you’re after? Many small to medium sized businesses invest between £3,000 to £10,000 on their wesbite development.
Naturally, a basic information (‘brochure-style’) website with a few pages will cost significantly less than a fully fledged site with more advanced features such as an online shop, booking systems, or membership areas. Normally, websites we design and build typically start from £3,500 for an effective, well-built site and go up depending on complexity, functionality, and content requirements. But every project has its own set of circumstances.
All our proposals are bespoke to your specific requirements, as we make sure that you get the very best value for your budget, no hidden costs, no surprises. If you need a more detailed quote, please get in touch for an informal chat.
How long will it take?
Ah! This old chestnut. This depends on the size and complexity of your website project, the developer capacity (good ones are often booked up in advance of course), as well as how quickly your developer can get the content and feedback from you. A simple brochure site can typically be designed and built within 4-6 weeks (assuming all content is all signed off, ready to go), but a more complex site with custom features and integrations could take 8-12 weeks plus (again, assuming everything else is in place).
When we take on a project, we always outline a clear timeline from the start and keep you updated along the way. if you need it faster, this can also be discussed. We can often find ways to speed things up without compromising the quality of the final result.
What content do I have ready?
Your website should strike a chord with your audience using clear, compelling content (the words, images, video, etc). What story will your site be telling about your business and how will you be telling it? Great photography, design, visuals and well-written copy will obviously help you communicate this best. But most often, what delays the building of a new website is the lack of readily available content. So – get your ducks in a row as regards your copy and images as early as possible.
Make sure you know in advance what you’re going to use and get agreement from others in your team in advance to approve all copy.
Should I use AI to generate all my website content?
It may sound like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude etc can write website copy for you at the drop of a hat making it quick, easy and cheap to create content. Whilst that’s partly true (probably about 20% true), relying entirely on AI to write your website copy is a big mistake. AI won’t be able to authentically reflect the character of your business closely enough and will most likely be pumped full of over-used, generic words that do little to make you stand out. They don’t call AI generated copy word-soup for nothing. Plus, things like GPTZero can spot fake AI stuff a mile off – and more people are using it to spot the real from the fake.
AI is great for helping you plan and structure content, but do spend some time and yes, a little money, to get a good copywriter to write your copy for you – your visitors will really notice the difference.
What platform should I use?
Choosing the right platform is really important. A platform is the foundation architecture of your website and there are many out-of-the-box options available to you. Things like Wix (ugh, PLEASE avoid), Squarespace, Shopify or WordPress are popular. WordPress remains our top recommendation because it’s powerful, adaptable, and easier to for non-techies to work with. WordPress can be used for everything from simple information (“brochure”) websites to more complex online shops, content delivery or membership sites.
We’ve built a fair few websites (150+) using WordPress since 2011 and we swear by it. See why >
How do I host my website?
Hosting is buying space on a powerful computer server that is connected to the internet. Three key things need to be hosted when you build a new website. The domain name (the www bit), your email and the website itself. You can do all these with one provider or you can host each separately – often a better choice.
Where you host your website is really important because it needs to be fast, secure and easy to manage. Your website domain name will also need an SSL certificate, the site will need strong passwords, regular updates, and protection against malware attacks and spam. We don’t manage email for clients (although we can advise) but we host many domains and websites on secure servers blessed with the latest technology. Find out more >
How will I maintain my website?
Building a website isn’t a one-time thing. even if you don’t update the content regularly (which you should) it still requires ongoing maintenance, updates, compliance and security checks to keep it running smoothly and performing as expected.
A neglected website with outdated plugins can become vulnerable to security and performance issues very quickly. Luckily we can keep your site in perfect health and performing to the max. See how >
Should I DIY?
These days, building a website yourself might seem cost-effective, but it still takes time and can get overwhelmingly technical for most people. Plus – it’s not your job is it? Who’s going to be doing that whilst you or your team learn how to add a widget to the footer?
Working with a professional digital agency like Terra Ferma Media will deliver a much better end product and a high-quality, less stressful experience. We take care of everything from initial planning, design, development and population right through to hosting. So you can get on with running your business.
How will my website rank on Google?
This really all starts with making your website as search engine friendly as possible. This is called ‘on-site SEO’ (SEO meaning Search Engine Optimisation). If your website isn’t optimised for search engines like Google, it won’t generate much traffic. Implementing SEO best practices – including keyword research, strong meta descriptions, mobile friendliness and fast page loading speed – will help your site pass vital tests in Google’s eyes.
However, the way your site pages are structured and the way your content is written and published have a huge say in your site’s SEO performance. Start with finding out what are the most popular keywords for your products and services and create a strategy to include the correct amount of these into your site content. We’ve got tools to help you check success in this area, just ask us.
