How We Work
How your website is made – jargon-free
The stages involved in producing a live website, my role as designer, and your role as client are outlined in the sections below.
Any questions? Just ask.
Step 1: Design Brief
The first step is to fill in our Design Brief. This is a chance for you to say what you want on your website, how many pages you need, and any ideas you have about how you would like it to look.
Have a look at our Design Brief here.
I will send you a quote, based on your Design Brief. This will tell you what I will produce, how much it will cost, and how long it will take to complete.
It is important at this stage that you are happy with what I am offering to provide – please always ask me about anything you are not clear about.
Step 2: Content
Content is your most important contribution to your website.
You know your product or brand best, so it’s great if you can write your own content. We offer copy writing or editing services if you need any help – good copy sells your services and helps your SEO.
Images are critical for conveying your message. Again, we can help source images if required.
I can also design a Logo for you – check out our Logo Design Brief here.
Step 3: Designing YOUR site!
I will design the overall look of the website, choose colours and fonts, and the layout for the home page and one or more other pages, depending on the scale of the site.
If you can’t provide all your content by the time the website is completed, I can use dummy content to show you how the whole website will feel and function.
This process will take between three to five weeks, depending on the scale of the project.
4 A Dummy Site
Your draft website will be put on a temporary host, so you can see it operating as a real site. All our websites are responsive, which means a single website will work on mobiles, tablets and larger screens – you can test at your leisure.
You will be able to visit the draft site for a week. I will design the remaining pages, with agreed tweaks and all the final content. You can then check and test the completed website on a temporary host for a month, or longer if it helps.
5 Your Website Live
When the website has all necessary content, it can go live. To go live, you need a host.
All our websites are designed for the WordPress platform.
Option 1: Host with Green Ginger
We use a Namecheap UK Datacenter server to host all our sites. We will do regular backups, and ensure that all WordPress software, databases and plug-ins are up-to-date.
Check out our pricing options.
Option 2: Host with your own provider
We will provide you with a complete set of backup files on a USB stick for you to restore onto a clean WordPress installation.
If you want to use your own hosting company, but are not confident about getting the website live yourself, we can help you with this.
6 Managing your website
You’ve got a website – now you have to keep it up to date.
We will set up your website with a Content Management System – and this is one of the great strengths of WordPress. With this, you will be able to add written content and images to many sections of your website.
If you don’t have time to update your website yourself, we can do it for you with our Content Management Service, and will keep your content and your SEO up-to-date.