Frequently Asked Questions...

We would love the opportunity to work with you, but we understand that you may have some additional questions.

This quick FAQ page covers a lot of them, already asked by others like you.
However, if you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Why choose Digital Octapus... what makes us a good match?

We’re a team of experienced web designers, developers and marketeers that enjoy turning ideas into websites, and websites into successful online businesses. Our digital agency is in Cyprus, but we work with clients from all over the world, across a wide variety of industries.

We don’t just create websites or just do some ads, we aim to create and evolve businesses through digital transformations that bring results. We are passionate about helping our clients present the best version of themselves. We set out to increase our clients ROI.

You can learn more about Digital Octapus Marketing Agency or you can get in touch with us to find out more about why we do what we do and how we do it.

Do you design and develop websites all across the world?

Yes. Our web design agency is located in Cyprus and all of our work is kept in house.

Why choose a website designer near me?

There are many good reasons to choose a local digital agency to work on your project. Local knowlegde and understanding of your business and marketplace, ease of communication, the option for face-to-face contact with a web designer nearby, working in the same time zone – all of these elements make for a stress-free process that lead to a sucessful outcome.

People often choose to work with a web developer nearby, so that they can have better oversight as the project evolves. And you need to be aware that when you look for a web agency near you, that there are many digital agencies that might have an office locally, that offshore all of their development work.

We’re not like that.

We are a local design and development agency, with web design and development talent in house, and we don’t outsource our work. We like our clients too much for that.

What does a custom website design company like Digital Octapus do?

A custom website design agency creates and develops websites that are personalised to the client’s specific needs in order to create a digital presence for brands with the purpose of increasing recognition, engaging visitors, and generating leads and sales.

As a digital agency, we’re known for being down-to-earth and straight-talking, and easy to work with. Once the website is deployed, clients can continue to have a direct connection with their web developer which streamlines the process of rolling out new features. We find clients really like this personal, direct approach.

What is your web development process?

Our tried and tested process typically starts with an onboarding meeting either face to face or via Zoom or a call, where we aim to learn about the website objectives for both the client and their customers, the competitive landscape, and to identify what a successful outcome looks like.

From there, our design team conducts their own website research and look to finalise the UI/UX, the site structure, web user flows and then proceed to the low-fidelity website design. Once finalised, we roll-out the website in high-fidelity and upon approval, move to web development phase.

Clients can expect regular communication with the team, and ultimately, we try to make ourselves as available as possible while still leaving room for us to make meaningful progress on our client’s projects.

You can learn more about our process by visiting our services.

How long does it take to build a website?

The time it takes to create a website can vary depending on the type of website (for example, is it an information/services site, or is it an ecommerce website?) its complexity and how fast you can provide us the material your website will need. We custom design and custom build websites as each client is unique with different requirements. These requirements are assesed to determine the budget and timeframe for delivery. But for an estimated timeframe you can have a look below:

WordPress website

On average, a smaller 5-10 page custom designed business site built on the WordPress CMS typically takes around 4-6 weeks. More complex WordPress websites with a broad range of business integrations can take longer.

E-Commerce website

A standard e-commerce website built on WooCommerce can be created in 4-6 weeks with good preparation. More customised sites with more complex integrations can take longer to build and deploy. Payment gateways, shipping methods, product descriptions, and product photos must all be planned out for the seamless launch of an e-commerce website.

How much does it cost to build a website?

Just like the question above, this can vary depending on sereval aspects of the project, such as how big the website is (number of pages) and the features and functionality that is included in the website. Contact us today for a free, no-risk, no-obligation quote based on your unique requirements.

Should I hire a web developer or do it myself?

Websites are a crucial component of every modern business, so it’s critical that you create a high-quality website, that is optimised to perform well, a website that creates a sense of trust around your brand.

We recommend hiring a professional website developer because this ensures that all necessary features are covered. This may not be possible if you do your own website design because each area requires a high level of skill and experience. If you work with the best web developers and designers, you are more likely to get a better performing website that will work hard for your business.

What platforms do you use to build a website?

At Digital Octapus, we use the WordPress platform, depending on the type of project, and the unique requirements of each client. WordPress allows us to create websites for a variety of budgets, it has a wide range of plugins that allow for site growth, it allows for great SEO optimization, and our team can provide outstanding ongoing support.

For e-commerce sites that sell 24/7, we use WooCommerce for the vast majority of sites and more complex shops.

What are the benefits of using WordPress as opposed to the do-it-yourself online site builders?

WordPress offers greater flexibility and functionality. It’s a sophisticated platform that enables for more customisation and is powerful enough to be extended to do more. Website builders and page builders do not allow you to easily move beyond their offered templates and can be functionally constrained. WordPress, on the other hand, when built by a good developer that has a good understanding of coding, will allow you to create a website that is customised to fit your unique requirements.

How often should my website be updated?

An outdated site can deminish trust in your messaging, and leave your business lagging behind your competitors. When digital trends change, this is a strong indicator that it’s time to upgrade.

Websites should be updated in line with the expansion of an organization. The website should grow and change in conjunction with your business. It is critical to compare your website to those of your competitors to ensure that it is compatible and up to date with industry standards.

3-5 years would be an expected lifespan of a website, however it is possible to extend this by refreshing the design, imagery and content, all without undertaking a major redesign (depending how well the existing site has been built).

Will my website work on mobile devices?

Definitely, all of our websites are responsive in design meaning they are mobile-friendly and work on all devices including desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones. We build websites the right way, and aim to deliver websites that power your business, long into the future.

Do i need a website nowadays?

While the future of websites will be interesting, for now websites are more relevant than ever. Nothing beats a well-design website that is packed full of unique rich content that is focused on conversions. While social media is a great source of traffic, there is nothing as powerful as driving traffic to your own website to capture leads and sales, and then retaining the customer when they return to your website.

If designed and built correctly, your website has the power to drive a lot of search engine traffic. A good website will be a powerful lead generation machine. It validates your brand, and positions you as the leader in your market. When setup correctly, a great website has the power to elevate your business.

The best website designers should be able to create a website that is a marketing machine for any business, and your website should be a valued investment, no matter how big or small is your business.

Do you provide website hosting?

Yes, we provide Cloud Hosting for all of our clients. Along with website development services and digital marketing, we provide site-speed optimisation and managed web hosting services for our clients. Our managed hosting service allows us to ensure that your website is operating at peak performance – continuing to provide a great user-experience for your customers, long after your site has gone live.

You can have a look in our Digital Octapus Cloud Hosting.

Will you teach me how to update my website?

Yes, we will teach you how to manage your website. Part of the project delivery is to get you comfortable with your new website quickly and make sure you’re able to update content on your brand new website, by the time the site goes live.

Do you provide ongoing website maintenance?

Absolutely, your website’s security and health are critical to its overall performance, so we’re here to provide on-going support services after the website is deployed – with no nasty lock-in contracts. We can also help with reactive website improvements such as creating new landing pages or introducing new features.

If you need our help, simply contact us and we can step in and help you with your website to ensure it is running at optimal performance. It’s all just part of the excellent web design and development service.

Do you use bought themes from any theme-selling website?

No, we don’t use bought themes from any website. We choose to custom design WordPress websites to meet the unique goals of your business. All aspects of the site from the look and feel, to the usability, to speed performance, are designed specifically to improve the user experience for you and your visitors.

WordPress themes are designed to do everything for everyone – which in theory sounds great. But all that extra functionality can make a site hard to use. And the site can be slow to load from all that extra bloat. A custom WordPress website avoids these problems.

Can Digital Octapus work with my existing marketing team?

Absolutely. Our web development team frequently collaborates with internal or external digital marketing teams. Throughout the course of a project, we frequently assist these teams in creating a better structural foundation for SEO, establishing smarter segmentation, and improving goal- and event-tracking.

Following the launch, we can work with your marketing team to create new landing pages, add new website sections, and roll out new custom website functionality.

What size and type of companies do you work with?

Digital Octapus is focusing in providing small and medium-sized businesses the digital tools to attract more clients and sales.

We have extensive experience delivering incredible results for companies of this size across many industries. To get a better sense of our wide range of web design projects, please see our portfolio of previous work.

On what social media platforms should i advertise my business?

Although there are many social media platforms nowaways and all of them have millions of daily users, not every platform is focusing on acquiring the same userbase. In essence, there are people with different traits and characteristics on different platforms, so you need to target the ones that host your target audience.

We specialize in Facebook, Instagram and Google Ads.

Can Digital Octapus work with my existing marketing team?

Following the launch, we can work with your marketing team to create new landing pages, add new website sections, and roll out new custom website functionality.

Is WordPress SEO friendly?

WordPress is extremely SEO-friendly from the outset. If you’re thinking about building a website (or redesigning an existing site), one thing you definitely want to do is get all those new pages appearing at the top of Google’s search results. Using WordPress as your site’s content management system (CMS) is one of the best ways to do that.

Why use an SEO Consultant?

If your site does not appear on the first page of results for important search terms, you are missing out on a big slice of the pie. Sometimes only a few drastic changes need to be made to the structure and/or code of your site to quickly increase the amount of search engine traffic visiting your site. However it can be more complex than that as there are off-site optimisation opportunities to consider, and some websites can require a lot more work.

Can I do my own SEO?

You’re not the first person to ask, “Can I learn SEO on my own?”, and you absolutely can.

If you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the Local SEO work yourself. It’s quite a learning curve, but if you have the time, it can be done. There are plenty of free resources online and “do it yourself SEO tools” that can help you with learning how to manage your own SEO.

And if you are a small business or a start-up (and you’re not in a rush to see results), it’s perhaps even a good idea to try to do it yourself before you hire an SEO company, as it will give you a basic understanding and appreciation of how complex search engine optimisation can be.

Apart from the obvious time cost (the time to learn how to do your own SEO, and the opportunity cost while learning) you may also end up spending money paying for various SEO tools – tools that SEO consultants and agencies use day to day.

These tools help you to better understand the SEO opportunities, research keywords, and monitor your results along with your competitors, however their monthly costs can add up, quite quickly. For an SEO agency, the cost of these tools are spread across all of the clients and are just part of doing the job efficiently.

What you get with an SEO consultant is years of training and experience at a digital agency, learning from their peers, understanding the do’s and don’ts with search engines, access to the tools and reporting, along with having developed tried and tested strategies that can save you a lot of time (and potentially save you from making serious mistakes).

Remember that it will take time for you to see results: typically, from 3 – 12 months from the time you begin making changes until you start to see serious benefits. If you think that you still need extra help on Search Engine Optimization from a professional, please get in touch.

How long does it take for SEO to work?

It is hard to say exactly how long it will take as each SEO strategy is unique, and is effected by various factors like the amount of competition, the quality of the website, etc.

Generally, we notice a movement in positions within 1- 3 months from the start of the SEO campaign, followed by an increase in ranking in 4-6 months to really move the needle. That can feel like a long time, but you’ll celebrate the milestones along the way, and reap the benefits long into the future.

If you are in a highly competitive environment then be prepared to wait a little longer to see significant improvement. Planning for a 12 month SEO strategy allows for continual monitoring and ongoing growth (SEO strategies are generally cumulative, building over time).

What is an SEO Agency?

The primary purpose of an SEO agency is to help businesses increase the amount of website traffic they receive organically (free traffic) from search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Yandex. When done well, sites will rank higher, and convert more traffic.

What is the difference between SEO and SEM?

Both SEO and Google Ads are marketing strategies that involve search engines and keyword usage that you can engage in to attract web visitors, increase leads, and boost your sales. However, there are several differences between the two, and your choice of which technique to use will depend on your overall marketing goals.

1. Cost: Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an organic way to rank your website on top of search engine results page. With some website modifications, content optimisation, and technical tweaks, you can dominate Google without spending a lot of your marketing budget. Meanwhile, Google Ads require budget spend because you will have to bid on keywords, buy placements, and pay on every click you get on your ads. It definitely costs more than engaging with SEO.

2. Results: When done properly and maintained regularly, your SEO campaign can drive long-term results. This means, all the time and effort that you’re exerting today in optimising your website will not be wasted and will bring in traffic even after years to come. On the other hand, the increase in traffic, visits, and conversions brought by Google Ads are just short term. As long as you’re funding your AdWords campaigns, you will be getting good results. But, as soon as you turn them off, all metrics will go down again.

3. Traffic: When your website ranks organically on top of Google search results from an effective SEO campaign, you can expect a huge volume of traffic to come in, with a daily increase as long as it maintains its good position. Additionally, the more web pages you rank, the bigger the volume of traffic you’ll be getting. With Google Ads, they will only generate traffic for the duration of the campaign.

While Google AdWords provides faster results and instant placement of your website on top of Google search results (under Sponsored links), it can be really costly and the results are not lasting. With search engine optimization, you can guarantee excellent results that can last for years!

How can SEO marketing help grow my business?

Search engine optimization is a cost-effective marketing technique that provides many benefits, helping website owners grow and scale their business. When done properly and strategically, SEO can help you dominate search engines where in your website will show up on top of search results; thereby, attracting web users to click on your website, learn more about your brand, and avail of your products or services. Here are some of the ways SEO can help you grow your business:

SEO increases website traffic.
The higher your website is positioned on search results, the more clicks it will get from web users using the search engine. And more clicks mean increased traffic on your website. This traffic can be translated to leads, paying customers, and even loyal followers who will keep coming back to your website or refer your business to their friends.

SEO helps generate leads.
Do you want more walk-in traffic? Are you trying to grow your email list? Are you trying to sell your products or services online? If you are struggling with acquiring leads, SEO can definitely help. Stop wasting your marketing budget paying for leads that are not within your niche or do not have any interest about your company or brand at all.

If your website is optimised for search engine, you can be sure that people typing your target keyword on Google already have the interest and intent to transact with your business. This is how search engine optimisation helps bring in leads straight to your website.