When we start work on a project you will receive a ‘Getting Started’ email from me detailing exactly what is needed for your specific project.
Below is a general overview of generally what is needed to get started on your website / design project along with an introduction to the process involved in order to get your new site live!
Office Hours & Communication
Communication is vitally important to the success of projects.
I aim for transparency and efficiency throughout the project so communication for the project will be mainly on Trello and via limited emails (l know how busy inboxes can get).
Office Hours
Monday to Friday – 8am to 5pm
What I Need From You
Your Logo
SVG, EPS or high resolution JPEG or PNG if possible
Hosting Credentials
Your hosting account login and/or Cpanel username and password.
Domain Login
This would be a login to where your domain is registered, eg letshost.ie or register365.com
WordPress Login
An administrator login to your current WordPress site. (if you have one already)
Images and Graphics
Current and/or new images and graphics you’d like to use on the new site.
Planning Questionnaire
A completed project planning questionnaire to help create the most effective website.
Brand Styleguide
Any brand style guidelines you may have or specific colours or any specific design requirements.
Project Management
Trello is an easy to use online platform for communication and project management. We’ll be using this to manage the entire project; send messages, share files and track progress during the process. This will help alleviate content and images being lost in long email threads. It will serve as the project hub. We will store logins, social media profiles, links, links to Google Drive folder, brand guidelines and any other project related piece of information.
How Trello is used to manage projects.
Google Drive
We will be using Google Drive to store all the content for the project. This isn’t necessary for every project, but if you have more than 10-15 images for your website or if they’re too big to send through email we will use Google Drive.
I will set up a folder specifically for the project and will share the folder with you via email and it will be added to Trello for reference. Each page will have its own sub-folder under content and you can upload all images and files into the relevant sub-folders. The structure will generally look like the image below.
Providing Feedback
Feedback can be provided in two ways.
Replies on each Trello card or via visual feedback using Markup.io.
To make visual feedback easy for everyone, Markup.io allows you make visual feedback on sites as I develop them.
Once the project is underway, you will be emailed a link for providing visual feedback and it will be stored inside Trello too for easy access.
Additionally, I also use this tool on live sites that I manage in order to make requested changes easily. This ensures no requests for edits or changes get lost and I can work through them efficiently.
Providing visual feedback.
The Design Process
Designing a website, no matter how big or small, is an extensive process that can be overwhelming. To better help you understand what to expect during the design and development, I’ve outlined my process into the following steps.
Planning
A large and time consuming part of designing a website is in the planning and layout stage of the process. This stage is where all the project management tools and folders will be set up that will store all the project assets.
Design
I’ll start this stage by creating a sitemap or site structure (Page/Menu hierarchy) of the website for approval first. I will then design the home page and a sub page (or more upon request) for approval. If it is an eCommerce project, I will also design a product page and shop page.
Development
Once the site layout and design is approved, I’ll move forward with the designing the entire site, pages and add all functionality and plugins. I’ll make sure your site looks great and functions nicely across all devices and web browsers before moving to the next step.
Testing, Edits & Revisions
Once the site is ready for final review, you’ll be able to review each page and we can make detailed edits until the site is revised completely. I ask that you please review ALL pages to make sure all spelling, grammar, addresses and information are correct before going live. Extensive testing is carried out to ensure the site looks good on all devices.
Launch
Once the site has been tested and approved by you, I will put the site live. This can take up to 24 hours to fully propagate on all servers.
Post Launch
Once your site is live, I will check sitemaps are submitted to search engines and Google search console and test for any errors or issues. I will check to ensure search engines are crawling the site and starting to rank your content.
If it is a replacement site, I will check to ensure redirects are in place and no errors are appearing in search.
Wrapping Up & Going Live
Once the site is ready to go live, all unnecessary plugins, pages, images and backend files will be removed. The new site will be backed up and saved locally, should it ever need restored.
Once live, it may take between 24-48 hours for the new site to pull up on some devices. Some computers will need to be refreshed in order to see the new site, though most computers will see the new site immediately depending on the wifi connection and where they are in relation to the location of server that the website is on.
Your website logins and all credentials will be sent to you in a Website Owners Manual. This document contains your passwords and login details of your domain, website and hosting and who is responsible for various tasks. I also include a link to a brand style guide which includes details on colours and typography used.
Moving Forward
Once a new website is launched, you will receive a link to my “moving forward” hub where you will find tips and tricks on what to do with your new website.
Additionally all websites needs to be maintained and content kept up to date. Almost all clients retain me to manage their websites so they know it will be backed up and any security issues and updates will be taken care of. Learn more about my website management plans to find out what is included. I also offer secure optimised hosting to ensure your website remains secure and fast.