No.

One of the things that motivated us to create the “Get Online” package was the number of businesses promising a website for a low amount, and then hitting the customer with many “add-ons” for items which should be included in the website, greatly pushing up the final cost. This really gets our goat.

Our “Get Online” package includes everything a proper website for a business should have, including domain name (i.e. website address), website creation and hosting, and business email (i.e. an email using your website address).

If you are looking at other website developers ensure there are no hidden costs by reading the common issues listed in the “what should I ensure is included for a good business website package” section.

Domain name: A domain name (the ‘www’ address) is typically a separate cost to web hosting (where the files for your website will reside on the Internet). Domain name management is handled through a domain name administration interface.

Your business may already have a domain name, so you don’t have to get a new one. However, to link your website’s domain name to your website requires entering the domain name administration interface and creating new DNS records. Accessing and changing your DNS records should be free, however some businesses will charge you for this. Ensure that your domain name administrator doesn’t charge to make changes to your DNS records.

It should be relatively easy to transfer your domain name to a different administrator (typically done when you can get domain renewal at a cheaper price and/or the new administrator doesn’t charge for accessing and altering your DNS records). Moving the administration of your domain name to a different provider requires a specific access code for your domain name, which enables you to automatically transfer it. Usually, the provider you are transferring to will honour the remaining paid-up time on your domain name, and some even extend it for free (as an incentive to transfer to them). However, some businesses will effectively charge you (or make it very difficult) to get that specific access code in order to transfer. Ensure your domain name administrator allows you to freely transfer your domain name and freely access, change, and create DNS records.

Business Email: We define a business email as one that is tied to your website address (domain name). So, for example if your business website address is www.your-website.co.nz then the email would be you@your-website.co.nz. An easy method to get a business email is if your domain name administrator provides the ability to forward email using your domain name, to any email address of your choosing. For example, if your domain name is your-website.co.nz then ensure you have the ability to go into your domain name administration interface and setup a forwarding rule such as you@your-website.co.nz forwarding to your-personal-email@gmail.com. That is, you can have any email address using your domain name, such as info@your-website.co.nz, pointing to your Gmail, Outlook, or Hotmail email address.

Some domain name administrators charge extra for this forwarded email function, e.g. US$5 per email address per month, and some limit the forward function to a single email address. Ensure that your domain name administrator allows you to set up email with your domain name, forwarded to your personal email address.

Web Hosting: Your website files need a place to reside on the Internet (i.e. hosting) so that they are available for anyone, anytime to view your website. A wide variety of hosting options exist, from free to hundreds of dollars per year, depending on the resources needed. For many businesses a lot of resources aren’t needed. Web hosting is usually paid monthly (or given a discount if paid a year in advance). Some web hosting providers give you a free month, or free six months, in order to tie you into business with them.

Ensure that hosting is included and you know the hosting cost for the first year and second year (as often they ramp up the second year to claw back the free hosting offered in the first year). A business may justify their expensive hosting by saying that cheaper options are slow or low quality (even though this may not be correct).

WTF-Websites provide high-quality free hosting with our “Get Online” package.

An SSL certificate encrypts data between your browser and the website it is visiting, keeping what you do private. It is indicated by a padlock symbol next to the website address in your browser. Even if there is nothing you consider confidential on your website, we still advise that you have an SSL Certificate. This is because if your website doesn’t have it then when someone tries to visit your website they will first get a warning message pop-up saying “your connection to this site is not secure” and asking if you want to proceed. Of course, this scares people away, including potential customers! So yes, we recommend you have an SSL Certificate.

SSL Certificates come in a variety of forms, both paid and free. The people trying to sell you the paid SSL Certificate (for $100++ per year) will likely say that the free one is not suitable for a business. This is simply not true. If you need advice on what SSL Certificates are free, please call us or send an email. We are happy to discuss this with you for free.

Hosting in our “Get Online” package includes the SSL Certificate.

The short answer is we will discount the package price by $30 (the amount it costs us to get your domain name).

However, we must have the ability to access, change, and create new DNS records, as well as the ability to setup forwarding emails using your domain name. If your domain name administrator charges for this functionality then you must meet all these costs. If your domain name administrator refuses, or cannot, provide this functionality then you are responsible for meeting all costs (if any) to transfer your domain to our preferred domain name administrator who does provide all of this functionality. Of course we assist you in this process, including discovering any fees your current administrator may charge and letting you know in advance.

Yes. You will have need to pay the ongoing fee for your domain name (web address). If you get your domain name through us then that should be less than NZ$30 per year. That is the only ongoing cost you will have!

We are aware that other website providers charge more to get a website up and running and tie you into yearly contracts in which you have to pay hundreds of dollars each month to them. You don’t get that with us.

We answer each and every question you have regarding our “Get Online” package. We also will ask you a few questions about what kind of business you have / what kind of website you want, as we do not offer this package for some complex types of functionality E.g. an online store (where customers choose products into a shopping cart, and check-out and pay).

When you go ahead with the package we will send you our standard contract which will list the details of exactly what we do, time-frames etc.

Once the contract is signed we provide you with a questionnaire which will help guide you through preparing the initial content required for successful websites. Once we have that we can prepare and upload your initial draft!

Congratulations! Give us a call or send us an email letting us know you want the Get Online package, and when your best time is for us to call (if you emailed). We’ll walk you through the process making sure that you are comfortable with each step and that it meets all your needs. We’re excited about creating an amazing website for you without breaking your bank!