Web Design Process
Our First Meeting
After we agree that we’re interested in working together, the first thing we do is have a meeting. Depending on your location, it will be either in person, over the phone or via Skype (with video if you have it). During this time, we will discuss your business, what you want a web site to do for your business, and how you want the site to look. I’ll ask you questions about your products, services, customers, the way your company works. The more I can learn from you, the better I can design and build a web site for you. This discussion usually takes about an hour and happens before any contract is signed so there is no obligation at this point.
After our meeting, I’ll do some more research on your industry, write up a proposal, build the site architecture for your web site and prepare a quote for your customized web site. All of this information will be sent to you in an email attachment within a week of our meeting. You will have time to look it over and providing it meets your approval, I will draw up a contract for you to sign and send back to me with your deposit.
The Contract is Signed and Work Begins: The Design
Once the contract is signed by both parties and I receive your 50% deposit, I get started on your design. Based on my notes from our meeting, I will create three completely unique designs for you. This first stage of the design phase usually takes about 10 business days. While I’m designing, you should be busy compiling content in electronic format for each page of your web site. Once I am finished with the initial designs, you will receive an email from me with your Client Login information. Once you login to the client area of my web site, you will be able to access your three custom web site designs. After viewing your designs, we will have a phone meeting to discuss which design you like best and any changes to it that you would like made if necessary. Changes take up to another week.
Building the Web Site: Coding and Development
Once your design is finalized, the process begins of building your actual web site and your second payment is now due. After this is received I build a main template page with your design layout and create a mock-up of the home page. Once again, I will send it to you for final approval. Once final approval has been received, the rest of the building process begins. At this time, I will need all of your content in order to build out all of the pages. Depending on the size of the web site and the amount of time it takes to receive all of the content this part of the process could take anywhere from three (3) to six (6) weeks or more.
At this stage, I will also perform extensive keyword research for your industry, target market and products or services and identify the best keywords for your web site.
Site Testing
After all of the pages have been built, I will test each one in various browsers to make sure they work properly in each one. If needed, changes to the code will be made to accommodate differences in how the pages are displayed in different browsers. This normally takes half-day to a day, depending on the size of your web site.
Final Stages
Once all of the pages of your custom web site design have been built out, I’ll send you a private link via email. This link will be to your web pages on my web site server. Here you will be able to view all of your pages and email me with any changes or additions you might have to content, etc. After all of your pages are approved, Diana will get to work on search engine optimization services that are included in your custom web design package. This normally takes about another three days.
Search Engine Optimization
One of the final stages of creating your custom web site is search engine optimization. The entire process normally takes about three days. At this point, I will perform extensive keyword research for your industry, target market and products or services. Then I do some research into your competition on the web. Armed with this information, I can identify the strongest keywords and keyword phrases for you. Keyword-rich description sentences will be written for each pages’ description meta-tag and I will also come up with keyword enhanced titles for the most important pages of your site. Then I will go over all of the copy on each of these target pages and tweak it to maximize keyword usage. I’ll also write headings for the copy on each page to include specific keywords and insert them into the meta-tags on each page. Titles and ALT text will be written and coded for every image on your site, and each hyperlink will have its own title tag. Once SEO is finished, your site is almost ready to launch!
The Web Site Launch
Once your site is ready to launch, the final payment will be due. This will include your final 25% payment plus any charges for services you may have added along the way.
When payment is received, your entire web site will be uploaded to your web server and I will then submit your site to search engines. We will also setup and test any web site email accounts to make sure they are working properly.
Lastly, I will burn a CD for you of your entire web site so that you have a hard copy back up. This will also include your web hosting and domain account login information.
Conclusion
As you can see, building a web site with is a collaborative process and takes great effort to be done professionally. But as many clients will tell you, I try my best to make our web site design journey enjoyable and even exciting, especially when you begin to see the results!