Get organized and get online
Client input and approval are integral to our website design process. Projects are structured in stages, allowing you to preview and approve what has been done before beginning each new phase. Here are the main stages of our process:
Preliminaries – In our first meetings or conversations, we’ll discuss your needs, identifying any early actions items such as domain registrations or email addresses needed immediately. Then we’ll ask key questions such as, “Who is your audience?”, “What information do you want your site to deliver and/or collect?”, “How should your website look and feel?”, and so forth. A review of the sites in our portfolio often helps clients define site features and capabilities. We’ll register your domain for you at this time, and if you need domain email right away, we’ll setup your hosting account, too.
Planning/Estimate – A preliminary outline is based on the above-mentioned conversations regarding your site requirements. The outline is a summary representing the site’s pages, functionalities, and structure. The approved outline is the basis of your proposal and price estimate. Once our web design agreement is signed and first payment received, we are ready to begin! Your job will be to create or gather the content, (e.g. text and photos), needed for the site and to determine content delivery dates.
Design – Further conversations are usually held at this point to more clearly define the desired appearance and feeling of your website. Color schemes, graphical elements, navigation, and more are discussed. We create design mockups for custom sites or move onto previews in simpler projects. With feedback we’ll refine the design until the desired result is achieved.
Production/Online Preview – With the design approved by you, we are ready to build your site template and begin populating your site with live content. You’ll have a private preview of your site. During this stage the site is tested thoroughly and modified per your requests. Once complete, the final website may be reviewed in its entirety and approved.
Launch! – After successfully passing through all the previous stages of development, the website is ready for launch – We’ll give you enough notice to order champagne. Our pre-launch review ensures everything works properly. Post-launch, we’ll optimize the site, enhancing performance and alerting search engines your site is live
