QUICK ACCESS
Before We Begin:
Working With Your Designer:
Once Your Site is Live:
BEFORE WE BEGIN
What does [x] mean?
To begin, let’s define a few things:
Domain: Your domain is your website’s address (e.g. www.spectora.com).
Hosting: Hosting is how we publish your website on the Internet. While you own the domain name, we host it -- in other words, the domain is your address, but hosting is what makes it visible to the rest of the Internet.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): SEO consists of a number of practices that make it easier for your website to rank in search engines. In most cases, SEO isn’t urgent or vital until your site has been live for 6 months.
What should I have ready?
Before we can start building your new website, we’re going to need a few things from you:
Domain Name: You need to own a domain name before we can host it. We recommend GoDaddy.
Company Logo: You will need to provide your logo (preferably in JPG and PNG formats). InterNACHI provides free logos to its members. If you’re not InterNACHI certified, Hatchful provides a simple logo maker, while Canva provides one for more advanced users. Both of these options are free!
Complete Questionnaire: We need a completely filled-out questionnaire to get you on the calendar for a start date with one of our designers. This is critical to think about each answer and fill out the best you can to minimize back and forth.
Images: While images aren’t mandatory, they can help better personalize your site. We recommend landscape mode (wider than tall) photos of you shaking hands with a client out front of a house, inspecting a furnace/water heater/electrical panel, or looking at a report with a client. Any modern phone or camera should be a high enough resolution.
Content: The pages on our demo sites have placeholder content that is meant for you to put your own spin on. It tends to make more of an impact when it's your personality coming through.
The start date can vary based on how many websites we have in the queue. Our web designers will let you know what this time frame is.
WORKING WITH YOUR DESIGNER
How long until my site is live?
Once you have submitted your questionnaire, your website designer will be in touch within 2 to 3 business days via email about your start date and any additional information. If you don't see the email, make sure to check your spam folder -- sometimes they like to go there! We can usually get started on your site 2 to 3 weeks after you submit your questionnaire. The entire process can be completed within 4 to 5 weeks if you're providing prompt responses during each draft!
How many feedback rounds do I get?
We do 3 feedback rounds and final approval. We try to get as much feedback and changes done during this phase. However, we are still here for you to make minor edits after launch.
How do I view the changes you're making to the site?
Your designer will send you a staging link that you can click around and give feedback on.
Can I keep sending you thoughts as they hit me?
We make high-quality websites for low prices because we are efficient. We kindly ask that you sit down and look through the site during each of the 3 feedback rounds and consolidate your feedback.
We know there will be one-offs and that's ok. With that in mind, we cannot efficiently make changes when you send multiple emails. Try to be concise and clear with what changes you'd like to see. Clear, succinct communication will ensure we can maximize the time we allot for your website revisions.
Can I make changes to my website after the launch?
Absolutely! You will get your own login credentials once your site is launched so you can make changes if you feel comfortable. With that said, website edits are free with managed hosting, so just send us your edits and we'll take care of them for you.
How do I get my sample report URL to my Spectora designer?
If you haven’t created a sample report already, start here.
If you have created it, it will be linked to your Spectora Profile. (You can get to your profile by clicking on the drop-down menu in your Spectora dashboard)
Can I have online scheduling on my site? How does this work?
Absolutely! This is part of the power of having us make your website. We need you to set up your services & fees and activate your online scheduler first. Then we can embed your online scheduler into your site!
Depending on the settings you choose in Settings > Online Scheduler, your clients will flow right into the agreement and payment once they book an inspection, or get an automated email once you confirm the inspection in your Spectora dashboard.
What happens if I have an unexpected delay or get busy?
We do our best to communicate clearly and promptly. We expect the same of you.
If a life change happens or you get too busy to prioritize this - let us know with clear timelines of when we can expect feedback. We build time in our schedule for each website. Non-responsiveness causes delays for others and less productivity.
After 3 months of unresponsiveness, there will be a $150 restart fee. This accounts for the business disruption not only to our designers but to other customers who have communicated. This will get you back in your designer’s queue, but not to the front of the line.
Factors that can delay launch dates:
Communication Issues: The process of building and launching your site requires prompt communication by both parties. In many cases, we may need your confirmation in order to move on to the next step in the process.
Email Delivery Issues: If you're expecting an email and don't see one come in, be sure to check your spam folder in case it ended up there.
Domain Propagation Delays or Issues: Your launch date isn’t necessarily the date your site goes live, but the date we point your domain to our servers. In most cases, that will happen the same day but ultimately depends on who you purchased your domain with. Please make sure you provide up-to-date information to access your domain, and we’ll take care of the rest as promptly as the Internet allows.
If your domain is not registered with a major provider such as GoDaddy or Google Domains, it's possible that it could take 24-48 hours for your domain registrar to propagate the necessary DNS records to point your domain to your new site.
If your domain is currently being pointed to another website, we will need to change your domain's nameservers. This process may also take 24 to 48 hours.Extensive Design Requests: We make high-quality websites for low prices because we are efficient. We know there will be specific requests, but please try to be concise and clear with what changes you'd like to see. If your requests involve time-intensive edits or you change your mind about the design in the midst of the website build, it may delay the completion of your site.
ONCE YOUR SITE IS LIVE
How do I set up my email?
We don't set up email addresses with your domain, but we have a guide here on how you can set it up for yourself!
Do you do SEO for me when you build the website?
SEO is not a one-time "task" that is done anymore. Google has evolved - they reward websites that are consistently adding content through your blog.
What we do is add the SEO basics when we build your site so you have a solid foundation. This includes adding your location in your title tag, adding your address and services areas to the site, and including enough on-page keywords to be relevant.
Can I hire a 3rd party SEO company for my Spectora hosted website?
You can! However it's worth noting that for security reasons we do not give FTP access to anyone and we vet and add plugins at the network level. Most of modern SEO is about having quality content on your site that attracts links, so any SEO company should be focused on that anyway.
We recommend working with our trusted SEO agency partner - learn more here.
Do I need a blog?
It's not mandatory but we recommend regular blogging to help your website's SEO & rankings. This is usually something most inspectors pay to outsource. Our SEO partner agency can do this.
I want people to be able to pay and sign agreements on my website. How do I do that?
Your clients get an auto-generated email when you book an inspection that allows them to sign the Inspection Agreement and pay. There is no need to direct clients to your site to have them pay. This makes it easier for clients and it's less for you to track.
Can you show me how to make edits to my site?
Sure! We have this article and video to help show you the ropes. If something is out of your scope, as long as you have managed hosting, we can always help out!
What happens if I cancel? Do I own the website?
Important - Your hosting subscription is needed to keep the site active and live. Hosting includes the storage and how the Internet can see your site, so you will need to keep this website online.
We highly recommend against migrating a site without a professional web developer that is well-versed in Wordpress setup and can recreate elements of the site. It is never apples-to-apples.
You do own the website content. We use a Wordpress Multisite Network, so you will need to work with your own web developer to handle the technical implementation, as each new host and setup can vary. We send you the XML file that contains all of the contents of your site (images, pages, posts, etc.) for importing into your new Wordpress instance and a folder with all of your images.
Any images you provide you retain ownership of, as well as all the content. We use a paid commercial Wordpress theme for all our sites, so if you wanted to use the same theme you'd have to buy an individual license for yourself. You would also need to re-add any plugins that you want to continue using on the new instance of your site.
DIDN'T FIND WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR?
Don't worry, we're here to help! You can send us an email at websites@spectora.com or request a website edit below.