How it Works
A little bit about our process and what we will need from you
Web Design – 3 Simple Stages
Discover
We kick things off by getting you to fill out the
Quote Form in as much detail as you can.
That gives us some basic information we’ll need to get an idea about what you need. We’ll then follow up with an email or call to arrange a Discovery session where we get to know you and your business better and discuss what you want in more detail.
Once we have the information we need, we’ll send you a proper detailed Quote with a full breakdown of the estimated costs, based on our experience. If you accept, we’ll sort out a contract and once signed, we require an initial deposit of 25% paid upfront before we start the work.
Build
How we handle the next stage depends on the scope and complexity of the work you need.
For smaller projects, we often build the initial prototype site immediately so you have something real to look at and play with. We find this makes it easier for customers to visualise the concept and give feedback. The initial site may take up to 2-3 weeks before it’s ready for an initial review.
For larger projects, we may need to create design wireframes and/or low-fidelity mock-ups first, to ensure the design concepts are understood and agreed, before we start building anything. Again, these mock-ups may take up to 2-3 weeks for an initial review.
Once you’ve provided your initial feedback, we typically spend the next 4-6 weeks building the site and working closely with you to revise the design until you’re ready to sign it off.
Launch!
Before your site is ready to go live, there are a number of standard housekeeping tasks we carry out.
We’ll apply standard SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to you pages, content and images to make sure it performs well.
We also check the entire site to ensure it looks good on all devices, tidy everything up, boost performance and apply security, so it’s clean, lean, mean and secure.
There’s one final review to make sure you are happy, then we require the remaining invoice to be paid before we make your new website live.
What to Expect
Simple websites: If we have all the information we need up-front we typically aim to deliver your finished site in 4-8 weeks, provided we can get your timely help and support with any queries along the way.
Complex websites: More complex sites such as e-commerce stores or membership/forum sites will take significantly longer to deliver, potentially up to 12 weeks depending on the level of complexity.
Unique or unusual requirements: If you need something a little unusual, there may also be a few extra costs for purchasing premium plugins or creating custom code to meet your needs. We always make sure to find the best and cheapest way to achieve what you need, whether that’s an off-the-shelf solution or something we design and build ourselves.
Honest, Up-front information: As soon as we’ve talked and have a clear understanding of what you need, we’ll work out more accurate timescales and give you a detailed estimate of the work we think is involved, so everything is 100% clear up-front. If at that point you decide not to go ahead, we totally understand and there’s no hard feelings!
Please note that once we start work on your site, we are unable to refund your deposit. Please be absolutely sure you are happy to proceed before signing the contract and paying your deposit.
Amber Somers
Website Designer & Business Consultant
Ed Solman
Website Development & Technical
What We’ll Need from You
A few things we need from you before we start
Your Logo
If you have one!
Ideally in PDF, EPS or AI formats, or as large as you have in any image format.
Otherwise, we’ll select one for you from our Templates.
Images & Photos
Any images or photos you want including.
We can source these for you if you prefer.
Content
Any written content you want.
You know your Business better than us, so ideally you should write the content.
We’re happy to write content for you, but will need some help and guidance.
Styling
A copy of your brand style guide if you have one.
If not then let us know any ideas you have for colours, fonts & overall styling.
Hosting Details
If you’ve already purchased Web Hosting, we’ll need a login for that.
If you’ve taken out hosting with us then it’s all sorted 🙂
Wordpress Admin
If you have an existing website that runs on WordPress, we’ll need an admin login for that too, so we can take a look around and prepare your existing site for the eventual switch over.
The Tools We Use
Communication
Once you’re signed up, you’ll have our direct email and phone numbers to keep in touch.
We’ll also give you our Whatsapp and Zoom details for instant messaging and video calls as and when we need them.
If you have any other preferred ways of being contacted, just let us know and we’ll be more than happy to oblige.
Collaboration
At the start of the project, we’ll set up a shared space on Google Drive just for you.
We will both use this to share images, files and documents with each other throughout the project.
Helpdesk & IT Support
Once you are live and if we have agreed to provide an IT Support Helpdesk for you and/or your Customers, we use Front to manage all emails and tickets.
