You’re ready for a new website – that’s awesome!
If we’ll be working together, that’s even better. Here’s what happens after you say YES to us!
Purchase a hosting package
We don’t provide you with hosting or buy your domain name on your behalf.
That’s because we believe very, very strongly that a business should have 100% ownership over all their business assets. We’ve worked with too many clients whose original website developer disappeared – taking their website and domain name with them.
So the first thing you’ll need is a hosting package and a domain name from a reputable hosting company. Remember: good hosting is the foundation of a good website, so while you don’t need to break the bank, the idea isn’t to find the absolute cheapest. We’ll help you choose a package that’s right for your plans and dreams.
Once your hosting is set up, and you’ve purchased a domain name (possibly as part of your package), then we’re almost ready to go.
Stuff you’ll need to gather
Since we go straight to the website build rather than working with static images, we’d love it if you gave us a few Inspiration Sites. These are often sites in your general marketplace – or just sites you love – that have some features that really appeal to you.
You might like them for:
- the layout of the content
- the colours and fonts
- the general feel – bright and airy, simple and spacious, pretty and decorative, clean and business-like
- specific features that would work well for your clients
We’ll use this information as guidance for our first pass at a website design for you.
We’ll also need the following assets from you:
- a digital copy of your logo, if you have one
- your company colours, if you have set them with branding, or a general idea of the colours you like if not
- any images of your staff or office you’d like to use on the site
- Content, content, content!
More about that last one: we’ll build your site with default content based on what we know about your business, and a lot of our clients love our initial content so much they decide to keep it. So there’s no rush to provide us with content – you can wait and see what we’re able to provide, versus what we’ll need you to fill out once the framework is ready.
But you do know your business and your audience best – so think about what you want your site to say, and write up any content you know for sure you’ll have specific requirements for.
We’ll take it from there
That’s it for your checklist! We’ll take over from there.
We’ll handle all the tech stuff required to build a safe, protected, SEO friendly WordPress site.
We’ll put time and care into your design, match your branding and colours, and make it look awesome.
We’ll create the basic framework of pages and fill them with introductory text, which you’re free to keep or replace with your own wording.
We’ll find stock images where required to make your site interesting and engaging.
When your site is ready for a first pass – usually about a week after we begin work – then we’ll enter the collaboration part. You’ll have a chance to provide feedback on the design and content, and we’ll make changes. We’ll go back and forth two more times until it’s just the way you imagined.
And that’s it – once we’ve worked together to finalize the design, the site is ready for launch.
The handover
The last step is the handover. Since we don’t lock you into any contracts, and we want you to have full ownership and control of your own site, you have to know how to use it and maintain it.
You’ll get a full document outlining how to do it all on the back end of the website – enter new info, make changes to text, and keep software up to date.
We’ll make sure you’re ready to go forward with your new website on your own terms – with as much support from us as you need. We’re always here if you need us – but you get to choose. There aren’t any barriers or bouncers here keeping you away from your website!
Sound good? Contact us today to chat about your next website!
