Our Process
Here is a basic overview of how most projects evolve. Every project is different and requires its own unique plan, so consider this as more of a guideline.
- Initial meeting to define the project scope. We'll talk about your short and long-term goals, your target audience, overall look and feel, functionality requirements, budget needs, deadlines, and everything else that matters.
- Cost estimate. I'll supply you with a cost estimate broken-down by project tasks
- Coordinate purchase of domain name and web hosting services. Depending on your requirements, you may have to use a server that offers specific functionality, like PHP support, or a CGI library. We can skip this step if you already have a domain name or web hosting services, or if you prefer to manage this yourself.
- Develop site plan. This looks like an organization chart, and enables us to see the overall site structure and how web pages link to each other.
- Content gathering. Most clients prefer to supply all of the website text themselves, and some also work with copywriters. Other content that most clients supply include images, downloadable documents, and advertising.
- Design look and feel. We discuss your branding strategies before the design work begins, and review your existing communication products in order to ensure a unified design. The visual treatment of your website conveys whatever brand image you want, whether it be casual and friendly, to corporate and cutting-edge.
- Design testing. Before developing the site, it's a good idea to test the visual design to make sure that the end-users understand how to use the website. This can be done in many ways. For example, you could show your potential users a print-out of the website, and ask how they would use the website to find the company mailing address, or where they would find a certain document. Or, you could ask them to describe the company "personality", so see if the visual design conveys the intended brand image.
- Revisions. We want you to be proud of your new website, so basic revisions are also included in our services.
- Develop website on testing server. You will receive periodic updates throughout the website development phase, and can view your website-in-progress on a temporary location on the internet. That means that your current website remains unaffected until the new website is complete.
- Test web code with most common browsers. Because "not all web browsers are created equal", we'll test the web code on the most commonly used browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera, on both Mac and PC.
- Launch website. At your request, we will upload all the files to your web server. At this point, your website is ready-and-running! If you prefer, we can provide the files on a cd instead.
- Optional webmaster services. For those clients who lack either the time, or the technical means to revise and/or update their website, we also offer webmaster services at an hourly rate.
And, of course, we'll keep in close contact throughout the whole process with a combination of meetings, e-mails, and pdf documents.
Please contact me if you have any questions.