Paxina: 002	< Web Site Design >
Web Site Design Process Planning is the most important step in the success of your website. Here is a summary of the steps I typically take with clients in order to launch a successful web site. Pricing guidelines and quote on request. Step 1:  Web Design Briefing Sheet The Briefing Sheet asks all the questions with regard to what your site is required to perform. There may be things that you have not thought of. The process starts by having you fill out our quote form. This Sheet gathers information about your company, services, audience, purpose, site goals and more. I use this information to help deliver an accurate quote. Designing your Web Site All my designs are custom. That means I design them from the ground up with your goals in mind using the plan that we develop for you based on your needs and target market. Remember your success is important to me, so my designs take that into consideration. View my pricing guidelines and or request a quote. A Note About Design. Design is not just the visual aspect of your web site. It is also about the design of the underlying architecture upon which the design functions. Step 2:  Initial Consultation A one hour initial consultation is a brainstorming session where we go through your completed worksheet and discuss your needs in depth. During this consultation I will help you to determine who your target market is so that we can determine the features of your site.  Step 3:  Proposal Once planning is in place for your site design, I will prepare an accurate proposal for its development. About Quotes, Proposals and Estimates Once your information is evaluated we will send you a soft proposal. This is a basic outline of the work we see that needs to be done with all associated costs. If you agree with the soft proposal I will then send you a formal proposal requiring a signature. I require also, that our terms and agreement form be signed and faxed back at this time. Proposals are formulated by considering all the work involved as well as the complexity of that work. The complexity of your project is directly related to the time it will take for me to formulate a quote, so please take into consideration that this may take me a day or three. Every project is different and different projects may take longer to analyze for a quote.   • Once an estimate is delivered, ALL “add on” services / work, re-design on any level and "after thoughts" are considered additional work and will be billed accordingly. • Quotes are valid for 30 days. About Payments Payments will occur in 3 parts Start Up Design Fee - to commence design and layout - See 6a - c Production Fee - to commence production - See 6d – g Final Fee - on going “Live” – see 8 Please see my Terms and Conditions of Service Step 4:  Contract If the price is acceptable and you are ready to start, I will prepare my standard design contract. The proposal, signed contract and the start-up fee will get us started on the initial design mockup for your site. These are ONLY images of the sites appearance. There is no interactive functionality. Step 5:  Site Content You will be required to provide us with all textual content and photographs, unless you have hired us for copy writing services. It is a good idea for you to get all your content ready while I am working on your mockup, as I will need it in order to complete the site once the template is created. Collecting Your Materials All copy in digital format only, electronic brochures, print brochures, digital images and photographs or scans… the more you can provide me with the better. Note: Keep in mind that all content is protected by copyright law and it is not legal for you to use "borrowed" text or pictures without first obtaining permission from their rightful owners.  Step 6: Initial Layout An initial concept for the design of your web pages is created based on information you gave me in your web design worksheet and initial consultation. You will be given the opportunity to make revisions to the initial layout before I commence the site. I endeavor to avoid mis-communication and false expectations. If you do not understand the smallest of points at this step, request clarification. In order for the design process to move forward in a productive manner, we need to have an absolutely clear, mutual understanding. At ANY time please contact me about any concerns, questions or comments you have about your project. a] Mockup Sites and Sample Layouts  I will produce some mock-up sites for you to critique and discuss. This is to determine exactly what you're looking for in terms of design, layout and functionality. Your feedback is essential in the design process. b] Site Architecture Navigation is one of the most important parts of your site. Site architecture is established at this point to insure your visitors don't get lost on your site. We use text links, graphic menus and buttons with rollovers to accomplish this. c] Establishing Project Design / Look & Feel Based on your feedback from the mockup site, the design parameters for your site will be finalized. d] Establishing Site Layout and Navigation Based on your feedback from the mockup site, and the volume and variety of the component content pages required for your site, the site layout will be established. This will be the stage where Navigation and Functionality are determined. e] Working with Materials Image re-sizing and optimization, color sampling, page weight & image use and similar tasks are all done during the design phase. f] Home Page The Web site is built, starting with your Home Page, the main page. Only on completion and signed-off approval, do I move on. Site optimization for the search engines is commenced at this time. g] Content Pages These pages, based upon the approved layout and design, are now worked on until completion. Forms and Flash animation, if required are now added to your site at this time. These portions of the project are out-sourced. Step 7:  Web Site Completion Once the site is complete, you will be given the opportunity to go through it and prepare a "punch out" list noting any errors or omissions that need to be corrected. This is not the time to make major changes to navigation or design, this is what step 6 is used for. Step 8:  Web Site Launch Once the site is complete and we have received your final approval, we will bill you for the balance due on the project. The final site will be launched and pages will be submitted to search engines. Please note that the web design contract does not include any fees associated with search engine submissions. Web Site Completion, Testing and Debugging To test the site, we publish it to the internet so that it is now “Live”. This is the only way to test your site for optimal performance. Also it is the only way to discover, anomalies, problems and glitches. At this time you will be invited to start browsing through it yourself. To evaluate and offer comment Although your site is live, the possibility of any one finding it is remote. So there is very little chance of your site being viewed while it is being cleaned-up. Once the clean-up is completed You can now start advertising your site, telling friends, business acquaintances and publish print material. You will be shown how to submit your site to search engines, a VERY easy process. But time consuming Or a consultant can do it for you - your call. Domain Registration I can have your site registerd with any of the major domain extensions including .com .net .org .biz .info .tv .ws .cc .us and .bz. Full Service Web Site Maintenance Some people want nothing to do with maintaining their own site. That's fine with me! Thats what your service provider is for - do it all for you. E-mail them with changes and updates and they can implement them. Website maintenance is billed in quarter hour increments. The pricing guidelines will be supplied to you, or you can request a quote. Associated Services - Costs BEYOND the Design Parameter. Web Hosting Monthly Back-ups Search Engine Submission (if this was ordered) Search Engine Optimization During the planning process of you web site goals, we work with you to determine a few important keyword phrases that people might use to search for your business. Then we assist you in developing content that is optimized for those keyword phrases. Every page will contain appropriate titles, meta tags and content for those phrases. We make sure that all of your images have alt tags and that your code is valid HTML. E-Commerce This has to be outsourced, and I will deal when it ever occurs Visit: Conceptual Graphics - Pre-Design Stage Product / Industrial Design Processes Corporate Identity Design Process Image Manipulation. Image Retouching. Digital Art Old Masters Translations Traditional Design Services Web Site Design Process Terms and Conditions of Service