Since launching Silver Websites in 2014 we have worked with a number of different freelancers and agencies and we have come to learn that copywriting is a key part of every website project. Knowing what the client wants to say and how they want to say it is vital for the success of any website.
With this in mind, we have now launched a white label website offering specificially for copywriters. This means that you can now offer websites as part of your offerings to your clients.
How does it work?
Normally a client would engage your services for website wording and then go somewhere else for website hosting, somewhere else for the website build and even somewhere else ongoing website maintenance.
Instead, you can offer all of this directly to your clients. As your white label provider, our contract is with you and we invoice you directly. This means your clients just have one contact point and you can even package up websites along with your copywriting, e.g. a monthly retainer where they get a blog and allocated time to update their website all as part of one monthly fee.
What we do and how much it costs
1. Domain name registration
We can register and renew domain names (e.g. silverwebsites.co.uk) for your clients. The domain name registration would be looked after by us and renewed each year. We also take care of any DNS record configurations needed (e.g. pointing the domain to email hosting, linking in CMS systems etc.)
Current fees for this are £30/year for a .co.uk domain and £35/year for a .com domain.
If your client wants to register their own domain name, that's fine too. We can assist with directing to our hosting at no extra cost.
2. Hosting and tech support
For all the websites that we build for you, we would provide website hosting (with 5Gb disk space and 25Gb monthly traffic limit). This would be supplied from our UK-based (renewable energy powered) hosting provider.
This also includes an SSL certificate licence and the use of website caching software for faster loading websites. All the configuration and set up will be done by us.
We will also supply technical support for the running of the website including ensuring the software is kept updated and regular backups are taken. Approximately once a month we will log into the website to ensure the software it uses is updated to the latest version and to do a check to make sure the site is working correctly etc. We also regularly examine the software add-ons used and upgrade them when appropriate.
All this is done behind the scenes, meaning a seamless experience for your client.
Current fees for this are £360/year.
(for very busy or more demanding websites we can also provide boosted addons to increase resources and accelerate performance - to be quoted separately).
3. Website Updates and Retainer
We will be responsible for the technical running of the website. The website won't be a "self-edit” site, i.e. changes to the layout/design of the site will need to be requested and costing/timescales estimated accordingly.
However, we can provide full Editor access and a login to the website if needed (e.g. for the client to tweak wording, add blog posts etc.)
In addition to this we provide (optional but highly recommended) monthly retainer time where we help clients to grow their websites. This can be from as little as one hour a month (for £60) up to a few days each month. Our standard and most effective package for this is 3 hours a month for £150.
This time is used to work with the client to understand what they want to achieve from their website and focus our efforts accordingly, e.g. :
- Optimising for Search Engines (SEO) - to help clients to rank well for different search phrases
- Adding news articles/blogs - e.g. we could upload blogs that you produce for your clients as part of a package
- Adding new pages/content - making changes to the site to reflect changes within the business (adding new services etc.)
- Google Business Listing management
4. Website Design, Build and Setup
This is where we work with the wording created by you to design and build the website itself.
Our websites are designed in a test site which you will be given access to for the purpose of reviewing the site with your client. Once the overall style of the site has been decided upon, an example of this can be shared with your client for their approval. Once complete, a further two feedback sessions (email, telephone or Zoom) can be made available for the client to review and request minor changes etc. Once we're all good to go, the website will be moved "live".
The cost of a website build depends on a number of different factors and we will work through these with you and produce a project proposal / quotation for your client to review.
Approx. costs for a website design and build are £700 and then £200 per extra page, e.g. a 4 page site (home, about, contact and services) would be £1300.
Considerations which would affect the cost of the project are :
- what the client's allocated budget is
- whether they have a logo/branding guidelines available
- if they have custom requirements
- photography/images
(our website projects are payable 50% upfront and 50% on completion)
Questions to ask when doing a website quote
To be able to give a quote for a website project, it's good to get as much information as possible. Here is a list of questions to consider :
- Is it a brand new website or is it replacing an existing one?
- Have they chosen a domain name and do they want to register it themselves or get us to do it?
- What's the main reason for the website (online brochure, generating leads, looking more professional online etc.)?
- What does their organisation do and who are their main competitors?
- What pages are needed on the website (home, about, contact, services, testimonials, news, etc.)? Does it need specific features (e.g. shopping page, membership drecitory etc.)?
- We assume you will create the wording for the website for them - is this for all the pages or just some?
- Do they have a style in mind for the website ( (modern looking, traditional, minimalistic etc.)? Do they know of another website they want to take inspiration from? Is there an example from our portfolio they would like their design to be similar to?
- Would they be interested in our monthly retainer to help grow the website (starting at 1 hour a month)?
- Alongside the website hosting, do they need custom email addresses?
Other things to note
- Once built, you will own the copyright to the site, but the design and software used belong to Silver Websites and if the client wishes to transfer to another provider in the future, the design and software will not transfer.
- Our monthly retainer has a 3 month notice period to increase/decrease.
- Our hosting is charged annually in advance and needs a minimum of 3 months to cancel if no longer required.
- For the purposes of the proposal, contract and invoicing you are the customer. We can happily speak to your client as part of the design process etc. It is up to you as part of your offering whether you refer to Silver Websites as an entity.
- The above is a "white labelled" solution; we also work with freelancers on a commission based model instead. Let us know if you want to explore this further.
Anything we've missed? Please let us know.