Website Setup Guide
Most people know they want a website but are unsure what they have to go through to get one.
Depending of how much you know, at Bellee Design we can help in any part of the website setup process. The following are the basic steps covering what you will need to set up a website.
1. Domain Name
Also known as a URL, this is the address that people will use to get to your website. Our URL is www.bellee.co.nz which is how you got here. On a very basic level you will be choosing whatever goes between the www and the .co.nz (e.g. www.insert-your-name-here.co.nz), however you do have a few options here if you need to (like swapping the .co.nz with .com).
Your domain name must be unique, so you have to pick something that no one else has used before. We can search for any name that you have in mind to see if it is available and we can register the domain name for you.
You don't need to have a website to register a domain name and you can register as many domain names as you wish. Once registered, no-one else can use that name for as long as you are willing to hold it for.
Domain names cost about $30 a year for registration.
2. Web Hosting
Your website needs a physical location to be stored that can be accessed by other computers over the internet, this is known as web hosting. There are many web hosting companies around the world that specialise in hosting websites, they provide space for storage and other services like email and databases.
We can set up web hosting for you through our preferred New Zealand hosting provider and we will not charge you for doing so, we will only pass on the cost we are charged by the hoster. This means that the cost to you would be the same as signing up to the hosting service yourself.
Most of the websites we set up only require typical hosting services which are an ongoing cost of around $10 a month. This typical package provides you with 100 email address to match your domain name (e.g. email@your-domain-name.co.nz) and support for database functionality if you require it (see next section - 3. Functionality & Design).
A typical hosting package costs about $10 a month.
3. Functionality & Design
We will work with you to first decide exactly what you want the website to do. All websites are unique and we will work with you to fully understand what your requirements are.
Once we know what you want the website to do, we then design what it will look like. You can give us any direction as to a style that you have in mind or you can let us come up with a design for you. Either way we will provide you with initial concept images showing what your website will look like, we will then work with you until you are happy with the look (this leads into the next section - 4. Building).
We have created websites that cover a range of needs, check out our portfolio for real life examples of our work.
4. Website Build
Now that we know what the website will look like and what it needs to do, we go about physically building the web pages for it. This is the technical stage where we code up the web pages and setup any database or special functionality that you require.
During the building stage we will provide you with your own preview site so you can keep an eye on how your website is progressing. You can interact with this site and give us feedback or alterations.
5. Maintenance
Once your website is up and running, it may need some updated content every now and again or perhaps you would like it do do something new or different. We will always be on hand for any changes you require.