Website Services
Collective Discovery provides a variety of web-related services, including:
- new websites – you’re looking for a custom design, starting from scratch.
- website upgrades – you want a re-design of your existing site, re-using some of the original design and/or content
- website conversions – there’s never been a better time to move to WordPress, the best content management system around!
- ongoing maintenance – once the website has been created, it’s a constant task of care and nurturing, and you need someone to keep it all on track.
- complete website audits – you already have a site and just need an objective analysis to product a punch list of items you can address/fix on your own. I have developed a comprehensive process that results in a many-page list of details assessed, and opportunities for improvement.
- hourly consulting – you’re managing the site on your own but have run into a sticky technical issue, and need an expert for targeted consultation and problem-solving.
- application integration – you need a blog, newsletter, e-commerce or other related application, and the integration needs to be seamless and easy to manage.
What is the overall process to design a website?
1. We discuss your needs. Before any project begins, I want to meet with the client (in person or by phone). I need to understand the goals for both your business and the project. I want to know what you hope to accomplish with this work. I want to understand how you anticipate that the project’s output will impact your business and marketing approach.
2. I write a proposal and send it to you for review. The proposal will include a list of pages (or deliverables), a time estimate, a cost estimate, and some administrative details regarding payment policies, and so on.
3. Once you approve the proposal, you have some initial homework assignments: reviewing sites of competitors, looking through my portfolio to let me know what styles you prefer, and so on. I’ll give you a complete list at that time. We discuss your likes, dislikes and preferences. Even your gut-feel reaction to other sites is helpful input for me.
4. If you do not yet have a domain name, I will help you select and purchase the name, as well as hosting for the site. If you have a domain name and hosting, I’ll need to get the login info from you. Once you have hosting, I can set up a password-protected “sandbox” area to post ideas, that you can see wherever you are. No one else will see this — just the people working on the site will have the password (you, me, whoever else you want to include).
5. If we will be designing a logo and/or branding, we do that first, as it dictates everything else in the design process. If you have a logo, we start with that. I’ll need graphics files from the logo designer, or may be able to start with files you have (or even work with files from your current website, if you have one).
6. Starting with your logo and branding (plus having reviewed competition), I will come up with 3-5 design concepts and create mock-ups.
7. We review the mock-ups together. Hopefully we can meet to do this, and have an interactive “working” session where I can make some changes to things as we are looking at them. This can also be done by phone, as long as both of us are in front of the computer and you have internet access — but in person is more fun!
8. We iterate until we finalize the design. It’s best to spend the time finishing the design first, before creating the entire site — otherwise one small change could require a lot of time to retrofit it into many pages.
9. I then build out the various pages of the site, while you work on content (writing text, selecting or taking photos, researching other items).
10. Once the framework is built, we can drop the content into the appropriate pages as it becomes available. So don’t worry — you don’t need to have all of it written before I can start working with what you have.
11. When we have everything ready, I publish the site so that it’s publicly viewable.
12. For the first few weeks after the site is published, you may want to get feedback from peers, family members, or friends — they will tell you if anything is missing, hard to find, doesn’t make sense, and so on. At that point, we will fine-tune the site as necessary to address any issues. It’s often true that after your site is up for a few weeks, you’ll have ideas for changes.
13. From here, we move to “maintenance” mode. If you need any changes — whether corrections, or just new information — you can send me e-mail and I’ll update the site. Most updates can be made on the same (or next) day. I will always let you know as soon as a request is completed.