On this page you'll find all the juicy bits 'n' bobs about what to expect with your website project, hosting information, inclusions and exclusions and the technology that I'll use to build your new website.
If after reading through the support information you've still got a few burning questions, please email them through to leeha@meridiandigital.com.au
Seo Optimised
Your website is built with SEO best practice in mind from the ground up.
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From layout to calls to action, every decision is made with conversion and real-world usability in mind.
Tailored Packages
Each project is scoped to suit your goals, content needs, and budget — whether you’re launching something new or refining what you already have.
Website Project
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some of the most common questions clients ask before and during their website project. If something isn’t covered here, feel free to reach out — no question is ever too small.
1. Site Hosting
Once we’re ready to take your website live, you’ll need to have hosting in place.
Hosting is where your website lives online. It stores your site files and ensures your website is accessible, secure and running smoothly.
We don’t host websites directly. Instead, clients set up their own hosting account with a trusted provider, which ensures you retain full ownership and control of your website and hosting from day one.
For most small businesses, we recommend Managed WordPress Hosting, as it takes care of many of the technical requirements behind the scenes.
A quality managed hosting plan typically includes:
- Secure server environment
- Free SSL certificate
- Regular backups
- Performance monitoring
- Uptime reliability
- Access to technical support
We’re happy to recommend a reliable Australian-based hosting provider and assist with setup, connecting your domain, and launching your website.
A note on ongoing care
While hosting keeps your website online, it doesn’t maintain it.
Ongoing updates, security monitoring, backups and performance checks are handled separately through our Website Care & Maintenance services. These services are optional but strongly recommended to keep your website secure, functional and up to date over time.
2. Licenses and Plugin Costs
Ongoing costs for plugins
Websites aren’t a set-and-forget marketing tool. They’re a long-term business asset that needs occasional care to stay secure, functional and up to date.
Most websites rely on a combination of free and premium plugins to deliver key features such as page building, security, performance and forms. While many initial costs are covered during your website build, some premium tools require ongoing licences to remain active and supported.
These licences are typically billed annually by the software provider and are separate from your website build investment.
'Option 1 - Web Care Plan
Continue on one of our Website Care & Maintenance plans and enjoy ongoing peace of mind.
This option includes:
- Management of premium plugin and theme licences (where applicable)
- Regular WordPress and plugin updates
- Security monitoring and backups
- Performance checks and proactive issue resolution
Website care plans are designed to keep your site secure, functional and up to date as WordPress evolves — without you needing to manage the technical details.
This is the preferred option for business owners who want their website professionally maintained long term.
'Option 2 - Manage Your Own Licences
Option 2 — Manage your own licences
If you choose not to continue on a Website Care plan, you’re welcome to manage your own plugin licences instead.
In this case:
- Any premium plugins used on your website will need to be licensed directly in your name
- We’ll provide a list of required tools and links to purchase them
- You’ll be responsible for renewals, updates and compatibility going forward
This option suits clients who are comfortable managing website software and updates independently.
'Option 3 - No care plan and no licence renewals
This option is available, but not recommended.
Your website may continue to function initially; however:
Premium plugins will not receive updates without an active licence
Security vulnerabilities and performance issues may arise over time
Compatibility issues can occur as WordPress updates
Without ongoing updates or maintenance, the risk of website issues increases significantly. For this reason, we strongly recommend either Website Care or actively managing licences yourself.
We aim to use reputable, well-supported plugins and avoid unnecessary tools wherever possible. However, some functionality — such as page builders, forms, security or advanced features — requires premium software.
Any additional plugins requested for specific functionality (such as course platforms, advanced integrations or third-party tools) are purchased and renewed at the client’s expense unless otherwise agreed in writing.
We’ll always explain what’s required, why it’s needed, and what your options are — clearly and upfront.
3. Technology
WordPress framework
We will be building your website using WordPress. WordPress is open-source content management software (CMS) and currently powers over 30% of all websites on the Internet. The project is contributed to by tens of thousands of developers all over the world and is growing from strength to strength.
WordPress allows us to build flexible and customisable websites to modern standards and observes web development best practices. Also, the community of web developers that use WordPress reaches far and wide and allows us to tap into this collective intelligence and bring that wealth of experience to your project.
Drag and drop front-end builder
The biggest advantage of the way we build sites is that it’s easy for you to make changes to your site without a single line of code. The built-in drag-and-drop editor makes changing text, images and even page layouts a breeze.
The page builder includes pre-built modules that can be dragged onto your site and will inherit your site styling, meaning it will maintain the same look and feel. You will also be able to save modules, rows, columns and even entire pages so that you can drag them onto other pages to easily reuse them.
Responsive design (experience on tablet and mobile)
Your site will be designed to be completely responsive, meaning it will be easily navigated and read on both computers and handheld devices. In some cases, we will build a completely different row or page specifically to give a good experience on tablet and/or mobile. Some elements, particularly tables, will not be suited for mobile and therefore a different way of displaying that information might be suggested.
We optimise your website for the following browsers:
4. Search Engine Optimisation
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)
Onsite SEO is all about making sure your website is communicating clearly to search engines what it is about. This involves many factors from page titles and content, through to alt-text tags behind images.
Once live, we’ll ensure that your website is able to be ‘crawled’ or found by Google, and depending on your package, we'll also set up Google Search Console and Analytics.
If you’ve engaged us to provide professional copywriting (content for your site), your page titles, page descriptions and alt-text will be developed as part of your copywriting project (in conjunction with your optimised content) to maximise your SEO results.
If you engage your own SEO specialist, then the site will have all the industry-standard free versions of SEO plugins ready to use such as YOAST or Rank Math (our preference is Rank Math).
5. Google Workspace for Email
We recommend using Google Workspace for business email. Whilst this requires an additional subscription, it separates your hosting and email so that if the website goes down you can still send and receive emails.
In addition, there are extremely advanced filters within Gmail that make sure spamming is kept to a minimum and also your emails have a much higher deliverability rate.
6. Domain Registration
Domain registration can be carried out using any provider you choose.
Once purchased, we'll set up your site to appear at your new domain. All you need to do is provide us with your domain registrar login details and we'll handle the rest.
Alternatively, we're able to purchase a domain on your behalf should you require it.
7. Passwords and Other Sensitive Information
During this project, we'll most likely require passwords and other sensitive information. Passwords are put directly into a password manager like LastPass. Once your project is finished, we suggest you change your password.
8. Email Marketing Integration
Should you purchase a package that includes integration with your email marketing software (i.e. MailChimp or Mailerlite) you will need to create any emails/segments/groups etc. and provide those details to us so that we can undertake the integration. We suggest that you also create an automated email that is delivered to your new subscriber after they subscribe.
If you’d like our assistance to create any of the above, this will be quoted and charged at our professional services hourly rate of $90 per hour.
9. Images and Graphics
Unless images are provided by our clients, we will source free (royalty-free) stock images and graphics that require minimal editing.
NB: If the images we choose are not suitable, we'll request that you search for and provide replacement images.
If you require Graphic Design services we can quote for your requirements as a separate project.
10. Branding
We prefer that clients provide branding guidelines but if you're unable to - that's completely cool as well. We'll use the colours in your logo to provide inspiration for the colour scheme of your website. That way, your logo and website will be instantly recognisable as you.
Should you require new or updated branding we can quote for your requirements as a separate project.
11. Migration of Existing Blog Posts
In most cases, we will migrate any blog posts from your old website to your new website free of charge. This doesn't include editing or any SEO work. However, should the quantity be substantial we will provide you with an estimated cost based on our professional services hourly rate of $90 per hour.
12. Cookies
Cookies are small files that websites send to your device that the sites then use to monitor you and remember certain information about you. Using Google Analytics and other tools like the Facebook Pixel requires the use of cookies. A cookies notification bar may be placed on your website via a plugin. However, Meridian Digital is not responsible for your cookie strategy or compliance with any legal requirements.
