FAQ's

Here are a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have which are not answered here.

Managing your web-site or on-line systems

How long will it take to develop our site?

Every project we undertake is different in terms of the resources involved and hence the time required for each project. Here is a quick guide, where all times stated assume customers provision of all site content in advance of project start date.

Small Business Web Site: 1-3 weeks
eCommerce shopping site, CMS or Database Driven Application: 4-8 weeks (ongoing for SMA customers)
Web Partnering Projects (ongoing)

DMC Web Services also undertake Rapid Application Development (RAD) Projects, where shorter development timescales are required. Please contact us for a brief consultation.

How can we keep it up to date?

Site maintenance can be carried out on an agreed basis under our Support & Maintenance Agreement . Alternatively, in-house training is provided for staff in the necessary tools for maintenance and content management.

What are the level of skills and time involved in maintaining the site ourselves?

Whilst the time required will depend on the volume and frequency of updates according to your business individual requirements, the update process itself is not complex.

As a rule of thumb, the update of a single page should take no longer than the time required to edit a word processed file or other simple electronic document, whilst requiring a similar level of computer literacy. Software installation and training cover practical site management activities.

How do we ensure control of the way the site looks?

We actively seek your involvement throughout the development process providing walkthrough design consultancy and ongoing change request support.

Costs

How much will our web site cost to develop?

Costs vary depending on the level of programming resources and time required to develop your site or web-application. Our prices start at £999 for a small business presence on-line. Web sites which require advanced programming, complex user interactivity, on-line purchasing, order processing or secure data functionality will cost more.

What are the on-going costs?

We provide a variable Support & Maintenance Agreement where fees are calculated on an agreed number of development hours per quarter.

Fees for Domain and Hosting only customers start from as little as £124.99.

Web Domain Questions

What web address could/should we have?

Assuming your required name is not already taken, you can choose any suitable name(s). Your domain name should contain only letters, numbers or dashes [-], no spaces, periods [.] or other punctuation.

If your require advice, why not let us help you choose...

Can you set up e-mail addresses to match the domain name?

Yes, we provide unlimited domain addresses.

Can I keep my current address and have my e-mail forwarded to me?

Yes, this is charged at a fee of £5.00.

Our domain or web-site is with another company. Can we transfer it to DMC?

Yes, this is charged at a fee of £15.00.

What other services do you support on our domain?

E-mail, webmail, databases and other web based systems for secure selling of goods or services, or otherwise transacting with your business customers and suppliers.

Can we use our domain for our company intranet?

Yes, this provides access for your staff to your host server for the purpose of sharing files, media, electronic resources and secure data and communications.

Marketing and Selling on the Internet

We need to sell our products on the web. Can you help?

Yes, we implement secure mechanisms for this. Development includes integration for third part payment processing via PayPal and World Pay as well as Internet Merchant Account holders and those businesses seeking to allow secure on-line order and off-line transactions.

Please call for an initial consultancy on 0845 108 0736.

In addition we provide Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click Marketing Campaigns, Link Building, and participation in selected Affiliate Marketing Programmes.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search Engine Optimisation relates to the management of website content so as to favour high page rankings for target keywords and search terms and in turn bring more customers to your site.

Will you place adverts or banners on our site?

No, we do not use our clients sites to endorse any products or services of related or partnering organisations unless they request this. We are happy to assist our clients to include content related to other organisations on the web as required.

Hosting

Do we need Linux or Windows?

We offer both Windows-based and Linux-based hosting platforms. Whilst both are very reliable and widely used platforms, the applications you intend to run on the server will dictate your choice. This has no bearing on what Operating System you use locally.

The differences are transparent to the user, as you can manage, and browse your website hosted on a Linux server form a local MSWindows computer.

If you do not require any Microsoft-specific applications then consider Linux Hosting. Linux servers host the majority of all websites on the Internet and form a highly reliable hosting solution.

If you are sure that your website requires Microsoft-specific applications, such as ASP, ASP.Net, MS SQL Server or MS Access - please view our Windows Hosting Plans.

How much disk space do we have?

Our hosting plans start at 1500MB. Should you require high volume data storage please contact us to advise us of your requirements.

What Bandwidth do you offer?

Bandwidth is scaleable depending on the requirements of your site, and it's associated applications/systems and traffic.

What Databases can we operate?

Primarily mySQL and MS SQL Server, although other databases are supported. Please contact us to advise us of any specific requirements you may have.

Information/Data Security

What level of security do your e-commerce systems provide?

256-Bit SSL Encryption and/or password authenticated access as required for your application.

General

How can I contact you?

You can reach us on 0845 108 0736 for enquiries at any time during normal working hours. If you are already a customer and have a design, content or other change request you can send us an e-mail. Remember to quote your Customer ID number and identify how you wish to be contacted.