Publishing your site
Your site will be developed using Squarespace, a website building and hosting platform that has launched millions of sites around the world since it began is 2003. In order to publish your new website, you will now need to pay your web hosting fees to Squarespace. There are a few simple online steps we need to complete together to set up a free Squarespace account for you.
When your account is set up, you can attach a credit card to your site. We can walk you through the secure process without ever seeing your card details. Your domain registration and web hosting fees will be charged to this card and we can then publish your site on the world wide web. Read more about this on our FAQs page.
Note that when your Squarespace account is first set up, you will receive a few onboarding emails from Squarespace; after that, the number of emails will be minimal.
Final payment for the construction of your site is due once the site goes live. Ownership will then be transferred to you via Squarespace.
Unpaid sites will be removed from the internet once payment is significantly overdue.
After your site goes live . . . and beyond!
Transfer of site ownership to you
After we have received your final payment for the development of the site, we will transfer ownership of the site from us to you (but we are still connected to the site for as long as you wish). We will walk you through this very simple process which is done via your Squarespace account.
After site launch
During the first three months of operation, if you need any minor changes to your site, we will do these free of charge. After that, a fee will apply for any work needed but our aim is to get your site the way you want it from the very beginning to avoid unnecessary costs down the track. Ideally we would like your site to be maintenance free for years to come.
After your site goes live, we will perform some Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) functions to make your site as “findable” as possible to search engines like Google. This process is not instant and it can take some days for new sites to become “visible” to search engines. There is no impact on your site while this process occurs - it continues to function as normal and can always be accessed by entering the domain name.
Future work on the site
After the first three months of operation, if you require any further changes to your site, we will be happy to do the work and an hourly fee will be charged. However, as owner, you can transfer the permission to work on your site from us to someone else at anytime via your Squarespace account. People with Squarespace skills can be found through the Squarespace ‘Help Centre’ , through services such as Airtasker and the like, or through internet searches using applicable search terms (eg. by entering “small business websites squarespace” into Google). We can help you perform the transfer or you can be guided by whoever you have chosen to undertake more work on your site.
Making payments to Squarespace
Web hosting and domain registration fees are the only ongoing costs associated with running your website. See our FAQs page for cost details. The payment of these costs is very easily managed via your Squarespace account by entering your credit card details. We can help you with this process if necessary. Once your card details are entered, no one can see them (other than the last 4 digits of the card number) so your information is perfectly secure. Note that although you can pay for your web hosting fees on a monthly basis, annual payment is cheaper. When your fees are due, Squarespace simply charges the credit card connected to your site.
Cancelling your site
If there comes a time when you no longer need your website, it can be deleted by cancelling your Squarespace subscription. This can be very easily done in a few minutes via your Squarespace account.