You have ordered a new website!
What happens next?
Once the order has been confirmed and it has gone through the contracting process it will be handed over to our 'Web Support' team.
Shortly after you will receive a Welcome email at this point confirming that the order has been received with some initial information to browse. If you do not receive this email, please check your spam folder or assume that the order is still processing.
The project will then begin the following steps;
1. Retrieve and Setup Data Feed
The very first step is to setup the new data feed from your property supplier to our website 'bridge' platform (the 'bridge' is the technology which receives the data from the supplier, then pushes it into the new website).
If you are using a Zoopla software product alongside your new website, then usually our Web Support team can setup the new website feed fairly quickly and easily. If there is a delay beyond a reasonable timeframe, they will let you know.
You will not hear from Design until this step is complete. Because the data feed needs to be setup in order to sync to the new website.
When the new feed is setup the project will be passed to the Design team which is where the creative magic happens!
Please note;
If you do hear from the the Web Support team directly (very unlikely!) they will not be able to assist with questions relating to the creation of the website itself. Please save up any questions relating to the design or build of the website, ready for when the project opens with Design.
Project moves to Design, what next?
When the project moves to the Design team you will receive an email from a Designer asking you to confirm your preferred website theme. You may have already confirmed this with the Sales representative, but we will ask again just in case you have since changed your mind.
Please make sure you monitor your Inbox and sub folders (and spam folders) so not to miss our communication. Email is the primary method we use to communicate throughout the project, allowing us to log all information correctly, maintain an admin trail, and share files and documents easily.
There is lots you can do in the meantime while you await contact from the Design team. Please work through the following steps to gather the required information and content:
Please note;
Due to the prior steps that require completion above, it can be around 1 week before the project opens with Design and you receive initial contact.
2. Choose and confirm your preferred design
We have a collection of 9 pre-design website designs available for you to choose from. These will be styled to match your branding, content, and chosen pages.
Please choose one of the following as your preferred layout:
If you would like to see some of our live customer examples please visit our portfolio here
Please note the following;
* The website will follow the above chosen ‘Baxters’ demo installation and its defined ‘colour-way’. This is the default ‘out of the box’ design that your website will be based upon. More information is detailed on this here.
Some customers may have paid for extras on their own website and therefore will no longer reflect the default setup.
** Once the website has been setup it is not possible to change to a different theme without incurring a charge and reschedule. Therefore please give plenty of thought towards your preferred design.
*** All designs have the same property functionality so think about which website design is best for your business and its property data. The property layout will remain the same as per your chosen theme. We cannot mix and match.
**** Web pages are capped at 9 based on the standard package, unless otherwise agreed.
Further FAQs can be found here.
Confirm domain name
You will need to register a domain name before it can be used with the new website. There are many online companies offering these services for a relatively low upfront cost.
You will need to inform us of the domain name when contacted by our Design team. This is what will be associated to the new website.
If you have multiple domain names in use we can assist and advise on this too.
3. Supply content
Ok, so you have picked your preferred website layout and registered the domain name. What happens now?
Before we start building the website you will need to provide us with ALL required content and imagery. Please ensure you have met all requirements on this page and within the provided guides.
The following guides will run through all text content and imagery needed to start work on the website. Click your chosen theme below and it will download the relevant content guide in 'Word', to your device.
Our standard 9 menu pages are:
- Home
- Latest Properties (contains default property powering)
- Properties For Sale (contains default Agent property powering)
- Properties To Let (contains default Agent property powering)
- Our Services
- About Us
- Request a Valuation (contains default Agent property powering)
- Register With Us (contains default Agent property powering)
- Contact Us
If you would like to adjust the standard pages to suit your business, for example instead of ‘Properties To Let’ you might prefer ‘Commercial Properties’ instead, please provide details alongside your content. Any substitute pages must be like-for-like or an additional charge will apply.
Any additional pages over 9 are charged at an hourly rate of £80+vat, with a minimum of an hours charge. A quote will be provided for any extra pages once we have received all written content, or unless otherwise agreed. An additional blog feature can also be provided at a one-off setup fee of £80+vat.
We recommend no more than 15 pages in total to keep the website and build time sensible.
*Individual property records are not applicable to the above and will feed in as per your data feed..
I already have one of your websites, do I need to write the text again?
No. If you already have a website from us and wish to use the same text content then we can simply reuse what you already have like-for-like.
However, it could be missing other required information, so its best to use the opportunity to go through everything and give it a fresh update.
If you have a 3rd party website that is not built on this platform then any pages over the standard 9 will incur a charge to setup.
Artwork
In addition to what is requested in the above content guides, please provide us with any other imagery or graphics related to your branding, such as flyers, brochures etc. The more you supply upfront, the more we can match the website to your existing branding to achieve a consistent style throughout.
Search Engine Optimization
We will populate the website with meta tags, title tags, image alt tags, and also add schema data, compression and make sure Google can see all that it needs to as part of the build process.
However there are things which you can do to further improve search engine optimisation, such as when preparing the text content. Our SEO Guide will provide a good insight on the mysterious world of search engine optimisation, and if followed correctly will help you achieve a good position in Google without the need of expensive seo consultants!
If you already have an seo consultant who would like to provide guidance and assistance in line with your marketing campaign, then we are happy to work with them where possible to achieve a result you are happy with.
I have gathered all my content, what next?
If you have not yet been contacted by Design, please save your gathered content until you are contacted prior to when the project officially ‘opens’.
Contact with the team is restricted prior to this point because they are busy working through other projects in the pipeline. The more we distract them, the fewer websites they can build! :-)
At the point they open communication with you they will ask you to confirm your preferred website theme and domain name. Please have this information ready.
We will then ask you to provide all website content and will then be available to answer any questions you might have. The website will be queued to start and we will provide an estimate on when to expect a link to proof your new website.
4. Build
Once all content is in hand the website will be queued for build and we will inform you via email once the project is allocated to a designer and who will be working on your website. From this point you can expect a link to proof the fully functional website in 1-2 working days.
How long will it take to build the website?
Once we have started building your new website we aim to provide a link to proof in 1 > 2 working days (we are super quick!).
However if you have requested extra pages or features then the build time may increase slightly. So please consider this ahead of requesting any additional items.
When you have received the link to proof the website it will then reside with you to communicate any further requirements or adjustments. We will work with you as quickly as possible to move the website towards completion and sign off.
If you have a preferred deadline or launch date please communicate this to us at the start of the project.
Why can’t you provide an exact start or completion date?
There can be many different unknown variables which could influence the start of a project. For example if a prior project were to take longer than expected or we were to encounter an unforeseen problem then it could slow down the progress of subsequent projects. But equally, it can also go the other way and things can progress more quickly.
For this reason we can only provide an estimated start date, which will be communicated to you once content is received and again when the project is allocated to a designer.
We advise against planning any solid go-live dates or launches until you have received first proof of the website (allowing you to determine what remaining work needs to be completed) and only once you have held a conversation with the Designer to see what is feasible.
5. Proof
The website build is now complete and is ready for you to proof!
You will be emailed a link to proof the new website online.
The designer will inform you of any missing content or notes for your attention. Please review the information and supply anything required to move the project towards completion.
The proofing stage will continue until you are happy no further changes are required and ready for the website to go live. When you reach this point please let your designer know that it is complete and you would like to provide sign off. Otherwise we will await further changes or information from you.
6. Sign-off and go-live
When you are happy no further changes are required to the website we will provide you with a sign-off form to submit back. This will mark the end of the project and trigger instructions from us explaining how to put the new website live against the domain name.
This stage of the project will not be triggered unless you inform us you are happy to sign-off and ‘go live’ – which is when the new website will be attached to your domain name and publicly available on the internet.
Websites can be scheduled to go live between Mon - Thurs.
How long will it take to put the website live?
Once a quick change has been made to the domain name IP address it can put the new website live almost instantly.
*Changes to the domain do not sit under our control and will either need to be applied by you (via the domain control panel) or by your domain registrar (being the easiest option).
Website FAQ’s
If you have another question that isn’t answered above, its possible the answer can be found on our website faq’s page here