• Design for Web

  website design and upgrades, web hosting, domain names, website maintenance

• Design for Print

  leaflets and flyers, ad layouts, business stationery, printing, copywriting

• Design for Bands

  posters, flyers, websites, album art, EPKs, photography, logos, myspace

• Clients and portfolio

  client portfolio and testimonials

• Other multimedia

  video production
  film cv
  photography

Web Hosting and Domain Names

Web Hosting | Maintenance | Domain Names

Website Hosting

What is Hosting and why do I need it?
Web Hosting basically means a fast, powerful and secure computer (a server) somewhere hooked up to the Internet 24/7 that has your site on it. You can either have your site hosted in the same place as your domain name or somewhere else, it usually makes little difference in terms of performance.

I can get cheap hosting for £XX with my domain name, why should I choose yours?
The basic reason is that I know this hosting will work with whatever functions and features I would be able or want to create for your site. I use it for hosting this site, so my business is in the same boat as yours! It makes it easier for me to construct and maintain your site.

Quite often with another host, adding something like an extra database will incur extra cost but I prefer to be more flexible in the solutions I provide. In addition I would add that the hosting you will get from Designlike is fast, secure and has had an average network uptime of 99.999% since April 2004. Here are a few of the features:

• Backups - FOUR times daily remote backups of all servers are maintained for 2 weeks off-site in a secure remote location in London. Disaster recovery is possible in minutes not the traditional hours or days.
• Quick Support - The servers have fully redundant back-up generators in a controlled environment to keep your site running whatever the situation. Experienced technicians remain onsite 24/7 monitoring the network and servers.
• Security - All areas of the facility are monitored 24/7 via CCTV as well as human security patrols. Physical access is limited to data centre personal without exception.
• AntiSpam - We have dedicated spam filtering servers, updated by human spam editors every 5 minutes to ensure spam and virus email never makes it to your inbox. You get an email digest once a day showing what has been removed, and in the rare event something legitimate has been blocked, it's a click away.
• Hosting from Designlike works out at less than £10 a month while packages including maintenance start from just �ll/month

I don't want a new site, can I still move my existing site to you?
I am quite happy to host websites if you want to build the site yourself, or just put up an old site you want to move away from your current host. All you would need was a back up of the data (including any databases and their structure), as well as confirmation that you hold the copyright or a licence to use any code, images and content that will be hosted with Designlike. Please note that more complex sites may incur a site migration charge, and you might want to check the Terms and Conditions to find out what sort of sites are not allowed.

I like your site designs but I already have hosting set up, will you still build my site?
I am quite happy to work with someone else's hosting too, but I would ask that you check it will be compatible with any plans for your site before I start work. As a rough guide you will probably need PHP compatible hosting with around 100Mb of space. Complex sites with product catalogues, blogs, mailing lists etc will probably require at least one MySQL database.

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Maintenance

Do I need a Maintenance contract?
This all depends on how your site is set up. If you have asked for a system to change things like text and pictures yourself (known as a Content Management System or CMS) then you may feel that is all you will need to keep the site ticking over throughout the year. However these can add to the initial cost of your site, so if you do not have this facility, then I can cover this for you for a low yearly fee that is paid along with your hosting. That way you can concentrate on your business. You may find after a year that you did not make enough changes to your site justify the fee, in which case any work in future would be billed on an hourly rate. Or you might find that you wanted to make lots of changes and would like to be able to do them yourself whenever you like, in which case that might be the time to consider a CMS for your site.

If I take Hosting and Maintenance together will you give me a discount?
Most of the time, yes! I quite often give an introductory price for hosting too if you are a new client. Please get in touch if you are interested and I would be happy to discuss the various options.

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Domain Names

Can you register a domain name for me?
Yes of course, it would be registered for a period of two years in your/your company's name using a reliable supplier, and I would manage it on your behalf and advise when the renewal became due. Two years is the minimum registration period for a .co.uk name, but you can register it for longer if you like.

What domain name should I buy?
For businesses based in the UK, I would recommend a .co.uk. Athough they can be registered anywhere, these are administered by Nominet here in the UK and easier to get help with if anything goes wrong (legally or otherwise). If you are not a business, there are other options open to you such as .com, .net or .org. Think about something with "keywords" in it, for example if you are a butchers, consider putting the word "butchers" in there somewhere: johnsmithbutchers.co.uk. You have to strike the right balance between something that describes your business, something that is useful for search engines like Google and something that is not too long or too generic. When in doubt, go for the name of your business and steer clear of hyphens if you can - if someone is trying to remember the name off the top of their head the hyphen may go missing!

Can I register a name myself?
Not a problem. You may wish to consider doing it yourself for the following reasons:

• peace of mind that you have access to make any changes, and you can be sure it is registered in your name
• you currently have in-house email/ admin solutions for your business that require elements of the name to point to different servers
• saving on administration and registration costs paid to Designlike!

I would be happy to recommend some suitable companies if you wish to go down this route, and the steps to point the name to my hosting if required.

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