In short, we do. All our development packages include the initial content entry (to a certain degree). If you have a lot of content, for example, more than 20 pages, we will advise you of any potential additional fees to add in all the pages. In most cases we can get your site built and live with the content loaded into your website without you having to learn how to use the CMS before the website goes live .
In most cases we do. We try to put all your initial content in within the allowed time of the development and if you have a lot of content we will generally discuss this with you prior to beginning your project. You are welcome to work on content during the development phase, directly in the CMS if this suits you.
While it is not mandatory to have a photographer take photos you may need for your website you should consider the impact of professional photography. It is important that you present your products and services to your website visitors in the best possible light.
CMS = Content Management System. This is hosted software that you access using a web browser to update your website.
A CMS (Content Management System) allows you to update the majority of your website. If you need to add in news items, change outdated content or add some new photos in a CMS is where you would do this. Prior to having a CMS you would have needed to have knowledge of HTML code and how to use an editor to update your website.
The Flatout CMS is our own CMS built right here in New Zealand. So the people who build your website are the people that build and maintain the CMS as well. We decided to build our own in the early days of Content Management Systems when it was quite time consuming to make website customisations using other content management systems.
Yes. Each package has POP email accounts if you need them. We also have IMAP accounts available if you wish to store your email on our server and access it from multiple devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops etc.
We always recommend that you use a domain email address e.g. [email protected] so that you are not promoting other domain names such as gmail.com or xtra.co.nz by using a free email.
POP stands for Post Office Protocol and is a bit like having a post office box where you go to the post office (connect to the email server), use your key to open your box (username and password) and get your email. Once you have your email it is with you and no longer on the server (at the post office). With a POP email account your email is stored on the server until you collect (or download) it. You will have a certain allocation of storage space for your email in between the times you check and download your email to your computer.
IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol and is where your email is stored on the email server and you access it from one or more devices. If setup correctly when you send an email from one device the sent email will also appear in the Sent Items folder of your other devices. This is a great option if you use a mobile device such as an iPhone or Android smart phone.
With an IMAP account you will have allocated storage space like you do with POP email except your messages and any attachments will always be stored on the server. If your email device dies you can simply get another one, enter your details for your email account and your email will be available to you again.
Another thing to consider with an IMAP account is that you will need to make sure you purchase enough storage space for your email.
flatout.co.nz is our domain name. We use it for our website address, www.flatout.co.nz and our emails e.g. [email protected]. If you want a website you will need a domain name as it serves as your website's address on the internet.
Hosting is the service of storing your website files and data on a server and making your website visible 24/7/365 on the internet. Every website needs it and while there are many different prices you can pay for hosting you need to be careful you compare apples with apples as hosting services are not all created equal.
For instance, Flatout hosts its Flatout CMS websites on a premium server which is automatically synced between two data centers. The server is enterprise level and the data center are leaders in the industry.
Our email services are hosted on a secondary server in another location so there's not a chance of losing both services at the same time. In both cases we have Service Level Agreements in place with the respective data centers and our team has sound server knowledge.
Our mail server comes with spam filtering built in and is an "out of the box" solution. If you find yourself in the unlucky position were you are receiving large volumes of spam you may need to look at an enterprise solution for your email services.
We can tweak the spam filtering settings to be harder on qualifying emails as they come in but the last thing you want is it have legitimate emails lost.
There is theoretically no limit to the number of domains you can have pointing to your website or you may decide to have one domain for your website and a shorter one for your email addresses.
While we can point as many domains as you like at your website one of the domains must be picked as your primary domain.