So once you’ve decided its time for a website for your new business or an existing website is in need of an overhaul – what next? Hopefully you’ve got in touch with me and then I can talk you through the process I go through to design & develop a new website.
- Planning – every client has the option of a free face to face consultation at the start. I’ll ask you lots of questions about whether you have an existing website, who your market is, if the website needs any specific functions or features and what visual styles you like or don’t like. All of this can impact on the cost as the more the website needs to ‘do’ then the more behind the scenes work is required. And we will also talk about logos, domains, hosting & SEO too to find out what your requirements are. We can also do this over the phone or by email if preferred.
- Quote – this follows soon after the initial info gathering stage. I try to make my quotes as accurate as I can from the start to ensure we have everything covered. Sometimes things change along the way but the more detail we establish at this stage, then the more surprises we avoid further down the line. This is a full written quote with details about itemised costs and optional elements you can choose to include or not as required. This will include a total and two options for payment – in three stages or via direct debit over 12 months is also available.
- Paperwork – not so exciting but always required! This is where I send you a contract, terms and conditions and first invoice. Once these are returned to me, you are secured a space in my schedule. I also send you dates of when I need you to provide information to me – for example – login details for domains, images and content for the website.
- Design & development – once you’re booked in, I let you know when you can expect to see the first draft of the website. I build and design in one go to help keep costs to a minimum and then release the website to you for your feedback. It is very flexible at this stage and we can move things around and tweak as required. However, usually if I’ve had a good understanding of the market, requirements and features that the website needs, I’m often not too far off the mark.
- Testing & Going Live – once you are happy, we go through a period of testing to make sure that links to social media accounts work, contact forms send to email addresses successfully, Google Analytics tracking is in place to name but a few. We may need to repoint the domain to a new website if is not a new business and then check again after that all works as expected.
- Training & Support – and then an instruction manual is provided so you can edit the website yourself and an optional training session is also available. If you have opted for SEO, I also provide guidelines about improving on this. And I am always available by phone for any queries and if you’re too busy, I can update the website for you as well.
And at the end of this – you should find yourself the proud owner of a new website that is suitable for the needs of your business, fully editable and generating new business!
