Simply put, a domain name is your address on the internet, your website address.  This is how people find your website online. As an example, our domain name is startsmartwebsite.com. Think of it as your online postal address.  Once you have registered your domain name it will be yours for as long as you pay for it.

You register and purchase your domain name from a domain name registrar. Domain name registrars have been accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is a non-profit who has been delegated the responsibility to manage the Domain Name System.

There are many providers, and it is important to identify whether you are buying a local domain name (e.g. .co.uk or .com.hk or .com.au) or a global one (.com).

We use NameCheap , others are Domain.com, Hover.com, Names.co.uk, Domainregistration.com.au, and hkdnr.hk. When you buy / register for a domain name, you actually pay an annual fee to the domain name registrar (e.g. NameCheap) so that the domain name remains registered under your name.

Domain names are available with many different endings.  When you go to somewhere like NameCheap to find a domain name they will give you all the options of endings that are available e.g. those that haven’t been purchased by someone else. The most popular one is .com, so our website is www.startsmartwebsite.com.  There are lots of other options such as .org or .net.  There are also country specific domain names which end with a country extension like co.uk for the United Kingdom, or .hk for Hong Kong, or .com.au for Australia.

The top level domains are .com, .org, .net and your country specific extension e.g. .co.uk.

In essence, Web hosting is a service that allows your website to be viewed on the Internet. So if you remember your domain name is your postal address, your web hosting is your actual house.  Without hosting your website cannot go live on the internet.  It would be like having a postal address and no actual house.

There are many providers, and if you are offering a service locally only, it is always best to find a hosting provider locally.

We understand that managing your hosting when you first start can be a little daunting. We do offer ongoing web support, as well as hosting.

A theme is like a template. It is essentially a website that has been pre-designed so you can visually see where information on the site is to be entered, and where images can be added.

Our themes have been created with the service-based business owner in mind. We’ve created a range of styles and different colours to appeal to a broad range of likes, however, the beauty of these pre-designed themes, is that we can change the colours, fonts, images etc. to align with your brand.

Using a pre-design theme makes having a website more affordable. Our themes include home, about, services, testimonials, and contact pages, as well as a blog, newsletter sign up options, and more.

Each theme has a different feel so it is important you visit our Theme page and find the theme that resonates with you and your business and you feel would suit you.

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a must! It plays a vital role not just to secure your website but it also shows your users, customers, and potential clients, that your site can be trusted to input credit card and other viable details. It also allows Google to determine if your site should be trusted and to show in search results. Your website address will show that it is secure by going from http:// to https://www.startsmartwebsite.com

You may have noticed on your web browser, where you type a website address, that you will be warned; “this site is not secure”. This is a website that has not got a SSL certificate. A website that is secure is usually indicated by a padlock icon.  If you haven’t noticed this before, you probably will now.

Search Engine Optimisation, also known as SEO, is all about getting your website higher up in the search results on search engines such as Google. The higher up the results you are the more traffic (and customers) you’re likely to get. There are many aspects to achieving good SEO, one of these is the content that you will write on each page. 

A Content Management System is a tool that allows you to maintain the pages of your website yourself, without the need for any technical skills. A CMS allows you to edit and add pages, images, products or blog entries to your website. No additional software is required – all you need is a web browser and an internet connection.

Yes, we can help you get this set up and we can work with your existing provider. We also offer hosting packages.

No, but we can introduce you to people who specialize in e-commerce websites.

WordPress is incredibly user friendly for beginners.  We also use something called Divi Builder which adds to the simplicity for people who are new to websites.

1. It’s super popular! WordPress is, by far, the most popular open source Content Management System (CMS), used by approximately 75 million websites and over 50%-60% of these are WordPress.
2. WordPress is Search Engine Friendly and will help you rank higher in search engines (such as Google).
3. WordPress is really beginner and user friendly and great for both a website and blog.
4. WordPress has great security features and will provide you peace of mind

Why not read more our blog Why WordPress to find out more.

From a long term perspective, all our themes have been created to empower you to manage and update your own site.

For those that are on a tight budget or are a little more tech savvy, the Start Up package might be the right one for you because we’ll do all the technical bits like get your website site up on your own hosting, and customise the colours and font. Once we’re done, we hand the site over to you to add your own content.

Whereas, the Professional package is for those less technically inclined, or are time poor, and know they need assistance with adding the content, images and make sure it can be found online.

Each package includes:

• Full Technical Installation and Setup
• Pre-designed themes with pre-made pages ready for your content
• Integrated Blog
• Full Instructions on how to edit your website, with great tips and ideas
• Mobile optimised and fully responsive

The time it takes to produce a website depends on the size and complexity of your site and the quality of content that you have ready to go. A basic website typically takes around 4 weeks from beginning to end.

We are a Hong Kong based company, serving clients globally. If needed, we are happy to provide a quotation in USD, AUD, or GBP.

There are no hidden costs! We have made creating a website as simple and as cost effective as possible for you. You can spend a fortune on website design, however, you don’t need to, and our Professional or Start Up package is all you need to build a beautiful website.

If you want something a bit more custom, with additional features such as event listings, a membership site, payment gate etc. that is our Custom package, and after discussing your needs, will provide you with a quotation.

Yes, we always make sure that the websites we build are mobile responsive.

Throughout the process, we will be there every step of the way. Based on your package, we’ll provide you with guidance, as well as user cheat sheets and instructional videos. While it might be daunting, honestly, it isn’t as scary or difficult as you might think!

Once your website is launched, you do receive 30 days technical support, if anything was to go wrong. We also offer ongoing support packages for a small monthly fee.

As part of our offboarding process, we provide loom video instructions on how to update your site content.

No. However, we can refer you to a logo graphic designer to create your branded logo.

We don’t directly write your content. However, if you need help with copy, we can introduce you to someone who specializes in writing for the website. 

We only offer email marketing setup and management at this time. We can refer you to someone who does social media marketing.