I’m developing a new habit of writing about myself in the first person plural… Anyroad, just posting this as a SEO thing and it’s a handy article for people wondering how business gets done round my way. It’s on my main site in Spanish, but it doesn’t hurt to have keyword rich articles under the same domain name and since I wrote it in English first I’ll shove it up here. Still trying to summon up the critical skills for those films I mentioned a few posts back. There’s a good few books too, but they’ll get short shrift here.

How does the whole AgaveWeb design process work?

We don’t expect you to be experts in web design, that’s what you’re paying us for! However if you do know about the process so much the better! For that reason we encourage you to ask questions throughout the process if there’s anything you need clarification on. What follows is a description of how your site will be built from the initial ideas to going live and updates thereafter.

Hi, I’m Gwyn and I’ll be your bilingual web developer…

Firstly there is an initial meeting with the client, preferably in person but also by phone or email, during which we establish the goals of your site. Once we have discussed your requirements we can decide on a package or a bespoke solution. What we need to know before starting are the following:

The domain name you’d like, eg. www.midominio.com or www.minegocio.com.mx, etc.

We’ll help you decide on a good name. The best names are short and easy to remember. A name you won’t have to spend time spelling out for people, eg. http://gwyn2xyg.net.uk . If you already own a domain name you’ll have to give us the details of the company you bought it from so we can use it. If you don’t have one yet we can arrange it for you (prices vary according to whether it’s a .com, .org, .com.mx, etc.)

The full name of your company and tag line/ slogan.

All sites we produce are optimized for search engines, Google, Yahoo!, etc. This means including all kinds of invisible meta information which gets picked up by the ‘search robots’ that crawl the web in order to provide them in search results. Your company name will be prominently displayed on all pages in text and in the form of your logo.

Your site objectives

This is the most important piece of information we gather. The more specific the objective, the better. For example, ‘increase sales” is a feasible goal, but it is better to define how to do this. For example, to provide an online catalog so that clients can see what products you offer and make it easier to contact you. Or to improve efficiency by reducing time on the phone explaining common questions such as your location or opening hours. This will help us decide the next point:

Pages / Sections in the site

On the downloadable form there is a list to give you ideas. We will suggest the main parts you need based on your answer to the last question. Pages or sections might include: Welcome, Contact Form, Gallery, Catalog, Blog, FAQs, etc.

Design information.

Is there an existing colour scheme for your organization?
Are there any competitor’s sites you like? Which elements?
What adjectives would you like to describe your site? eg. Modern, traditional, youthful, colourful, sober, exciting, etc.
Do you have a logo?

If you prefer not to have to think about this design information now, leave it to us! We’ll make sure the overall look of the site perfectly compliments your company’s image and objectives.

Hosting options.

All websites need a hosting service. This is where the files that make up your site are stored and are sent from whenever someone goes to your site. We can arrange this or we can recommend a hosting provider for you. We generally recommend paying for this annually for a reduced price (between 50 and 70 US dollars depending on optional extras)

Photos

Do you have any images, on paper or files to use for the site? If not we can arrange a time for a photo shoot.

Content

It is up to the client to provide the text for the site. We’ll need to have the contact details of the person who will be responsible for this. If your site is going to be bilingual we’ll also need to know who will approve the translations.

You can download the form that we use during this first meeting here. (PDF) Once we have all this information we can decide on which packet suits your needs and produce a timeline and cost estimate.

A typical timeline for a small to medium sized site looks like this:

• Day 1:Client pays 60% of the design total. We contract the hosting and domain name and forward payment details to client.
• Day 3:Photoshoot and delivery of text from client.
• Day 5: First page and one other section design ready for approval from client. Email accounts created.
• Day 6:Client approves, offers feedback about the design.
• Day 7:Changes made, client approves, rest of site built.
• Day 8:2nd meeting with client. Explanation and approval of each page. Any technical info explained, eg. How to set up email, access it, view statistics, etc.
• Day 9:Changes made. Site goes public. Site submitted to search engines.
  After the site is live 2 batches of minor revisions are included in the total price of the package. Any extra work after is contracted separately.