Let's Do This!
I am excited to be working with you on your project. This page will have some information that will be helpful as we work together to get you a beautiful and effective website.
Getting started…
Before we can get started on your project, we will need the following:
A signed contract (check your inbox for an email from "zoho sign")
Your deposit invoice paid (check your inbox for an email from "quickbooks")
Your site content (site outline, images, text, logo)
We will need…
Domain Name
In order to get your website online we will need you to purchase and provide us account access to a domain name.
Previous clients have purchased their domains from GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Google Domains. Once you have purchased your domain Bridgetown Marketing will need your username and password or full guest account access to launch your site.
IMPORTANT: If your domain name is/has been used to set up a domain specific email address, we need to know that before launching your website to avoid email interruption!
Hosting
Your website is a collection of files and folders that come together to make something wonderful. All of those files and folders need to reside on a hosting account.
Bridgetown Marketing offers high quality hosting services at affordable prices. We prefer that you proceed with our hosting plans. If you choose to have your site hosted on a different platform there will be a fee of $150 at the time of launch.
Privacy Policy
Every website needs a privacy policy.
Bridgetown Marketing does not provide legal advice or counsel, and therefore we cannot help you to develop your privacy policy. Previous clients have used termageddon.com or their own legal representation to develop this content. We ask that the privacy policy be ready for us to use by the week of launch.
Branding
Your business branding should be ready to go by the time we begin the design and development of your site.
For our MicroSite clients, we offer logo and branding services at the beginning of your project for an additional $150. This includes one logo design with one round of changes and our recommendation on font and color use for your site.
What does the process look like?
There can be a lot of differences in timelines between projects, but the process general follows the same flow.
Project Discovery
After our initial conversation and after we have decided to work together, we will start in on some discovery. This includes you sharing with us sites that you like, or that have elements you would like to incorporate in your design. This will also be a time that we nail down the overall outline of the site.
Usually that looks something like this:
Home (includes A, includes B, includes C)
About (includes A, includes B, includes C)
Services (includes A, includes B, includes C)
Contact (includes A, includes B, includes C)
Content Collection / Initial Design
While we wait to receive the content from your team, we will be working up two designs to share with you. Those two designs will be based on the example sites that you have shared with us and the branding elements of your company.
We may have some email communication through this process to make sure that content needs are clearly communicated.
Design Decision
At this stage of the process the design is locked in. We have reviewed the design options and have updated one of the designs to reflect your feedback. We are beginning to connect your content with the design to make sure that the user experience is being built from the very beginning of the project.
Development of Functionality
As we finish up pulling your content into the site, we will start to focus in on the major elements of functionality you have requested for your site. Things like subscription forms, filterable portfolios, memberships, and donation systems are just a few. The functionality requests should have been discussed during the initial conversation about the website so that we are setting up the necessary software prior to this step.
At this point – all content should be received unless a separate conversation has happened.
Review Process
While we are finishing up the testing and integration of the functionality on the site, we will start the final review process.
This is where your feedback is crucial. Please take note of the faq’s at the bottom of this page to get a feel for how we appreciate receiving your specific feedback.
Most projects will go through two rounds of revision and customization.
Final Approval / Launch
We did it! You love the site. We love the site. And we are certain that your audience will love the site.
Our team now gets to work making sure that the site looks great on mobile, desktop and tablet displays.
We will set a date for the site to move from it’s development environment onto its new home (your preselected domain and hosting plan).
Once the site is launched we will test the site in it’s new home to make sure it is appearing and behaving as it should.
Tutorial / 30 Day Grace Period
The site is live. It is out there, in the world, doing great work for you and your business. Now it’s time to learn how to use it.
We create a customized video tutorial, where we walk you through the site, step by step to show you how to update your software (keeping the site nice and healthy), and how to change out content and images.
This customized tutorial is near and dear to our hearts. The reason I started developing was that I saw businesses held hostage by their developers. I want you to feel fully autonomous and capable of managing your website.
If you simply do not have the time to manage your site yourself, or if you feel you will have a large amount of changes on a monthly basis that you would rather we handle on our end, we have affordable management plans that we can discuss.
For the 30 days following the launch of your project you are welcome to notify us of any small issues you may come across. We don’t anticipate this, but we want you to know that we are here to help.
Vocabulary
While we work together, it will be in both our best interest to use the same project vocabulary. In the video here you can get a better understanding of the areas on a website and how we generally refer to them in our communication with you.
What’s the difference between a section and page?
What is a “header”?
Are they “tabs” or is it a “main menu”?
FAQs
How do I get you my content?
There are a few different ways to send us your content, depending on what the content is.
Photos
If you are providing us with a gallery or collection of photos, we prefer that you drop those into a google drive or dropbox folder and send us the link.
If you are sending over a handful of photos, please feel free to attach those individually to an email and send that to us. We prefer that the files be in jpg or png format.
Text
When sending us the text for your site, please provide either a word document or a google document. You are welcome to send more than one google or word document, but please be clear in labeling what content is included in each document.
How do I get you my feedback on the site?
There are a few things that will make the feedback and design process of your site go smoothly:
- If you are working with a group of people, please select one person as the primary contact for the feedback process.
- Be as specific as you can with your feedback. Example: If you don’t love a color, please provide us with a color to replace it with.
- If you are looking for our professional opinion on a design element, please let us know. If you need more time to decide what you would like in a design element please let us know. “I’m not sure if I like…” is hard for us to interperet. A more constructive piece of feedback would be “We would like you to decide based on your experience what would be best here” or “We need some time to decide what we prefer here”.
- Please keep email responses to a minimum. If there is a long email of updates from us or feedback from you, we would prefer a fresh email for each round of reply.
Does my site include SEO?
Our sites do not include active SEO. That is an ongoing service that is maintained with reporting on an ongoing basis.
That said, our sites are built to be SEO friendly. We use correct header coding, page naming and image naming prior to upload which makes for a website that google is easily able to crawl and identify. Once your site is launched we will let Google know that there is a new website on the block!
If you are interested in active SEO we have a partnership with a local company that we LOVE working with and we would be happy to arrange an introduction.
What happens after the site is launched?
Once we have approval on the design, we will launch your site on your domain name and hosting platform. We give each project a 30 day grace period. During this time you are welcome to send us email communication with small changes or issues that you run into.
Small changes are things like, “hey, on the mobile version of the site, the image on this page is a little too small, can you make it larger?”. An example of something that would be outside of the scope of work would be “Hey, we forgot that we have this section of content that we need to include on this page”.
You will receive a customized tutorial video that will walk you through how to make updates to your site as well as how to update the software that was used to build your site. If you have questions not covered during that tutorial you are welcome to email us any time.
What if I need more time?
We understand that we live in a crazy time. If something emergent comes up that conflicts with the agreed upon schedule for your project, we can put your project into the “pause clause”.
This means that your project will be put on indefinite hold until you are able to return to it, and we are able to fit it into our schedule. Please note that the contracted launch date of the project stands as the date the final payment is due, whether or not the project has been placed on hold. You may end up needing to pay in full prior to your project completion if you enter into the “pause clause”.
Do I have to hire a photographer?
Do you HAVE to? Nope.
We LOVE propriatary photography and we know a few really great photographers that we can connect you with.
That said, we understand that a website can be a large financial burden for businesses and so we can point you to some recommendations for royalty free stock photography.
We like to pull from Unsplash.com (please read their fine print to understand the risks you take using their photography).
Have a question not answered here? I bet you aren’t the only one. Please email me at malia@bridgetown-marketing.com. I will try my best to answer your question and will likely add it to this list for the next project!
Communication
I love every part of this business and this job, but wearing so many hats can require me to keep pretty strict boundaries around communication. In order to provide my full focus on the project I am building, I have a few specific ways that I prefer clients to get in touch.
Option 1: Email!
I LOVE email. If you email me – you have made it onto my to do list. This is by far the best way to stay in contact.
Option 2: Schedule a Call
I have designated time in my schedule for conversations that really require a phone call or a zoom meeting. To get on my calendar for either, please use this link.
Option 3: Phone call or text
If you need to get in touch with me directly, you can call or text 503-893-5468. Please leave a detailed message and I will find the next available time in my schedule to return your call or text. I may respond to your phone call via email if that is a more efficient and effective way to communicate.
One last thing! While working on your project, I will likely be utilizing the support of my amazing assistant Darius. You might (will probably) hear from him at some point during the development process. You are in WONDERFUL hands with Darius and he and I are in regular communication to make sure that you and your project are being taken care of.
Malia Tippets keeps an educated eye on shifts and trends in the world of website design. She focuses on creating an online home for your business that directly connects your business with your ideal clients.
