Designing your Website.
The most important factor in transforming your initial idea into a website that delivers is how well we communicate. The paragraphs below give an indication of a process which we believe works well.
Initial Meeting
Ideally our first meeting will be face to face in a relaxed location. It will normally take at least an hour and cover a large number of topics including:
- What is the purpose of your site?
- How would you describe your service?
- What is your target market?
- Who are your competitors?
- Are you aware of other sites on the web you would wish to link to?
- How to reflect your business look and feel.
- How often are you intending to update the site, who will do it?.
- Costs.
- Timescales.
- What will be considered "a success".
Formal Specification
A short while after the first meeting we normally produce a more detailed specification and costing for you to review, amend and agree. If necessary the website name (its domain name) is organised, and a holding page is set up with your basic details.
Design Options
Your website will be the worlds opportunity to get a feel for your business so time spent at this stage is well spent. We rough out different options for you to review: at least 2 cycles of, Design -Review - Adjust, are pretty much the norm as seeing one design rough generally triggers the creative in most of us. When an acceptable looking site has been agreed we normally invoice approximately 30% of the final total.
Build and Upload the site to the Web
The new site is then produced as web pages and tested and optimised for search engines. We then go "semi-live" placing the website in a password protected area on the web; allowing you to make the site available to selected friends or colleagues whose feedback you feel is important. After we receive this feedback any practical changes are made. At this point we normally raise your final invoice - on receipt of payment the site is made live to the general public at your domain name.
Review
Once your website is available on the web we can assist you in reviewing how the site is viewed and used ie How well does it perform its task? Improvements or possible changes will be discussed. Simple changes (spelling changes, small corrections or additions) will normally be actioned free for up to 21 days after the site has gone live. Further work on the site would be at a frequency and cost agreeable to both parties.