What steps are involved in the web design process?

Consultation
Free initial consultation - We have an initial meeting to determine the purpose of your website and gather information on your target audience. We will discuss your ideas on the appearance of the site as well as the functionality you expect it to provide. We explain the technologies involved in the more complex designs using plain language and offer pricing packages on the variations we discuss. Other issues such as site structure can be decided and a potential site map drawn up.
To give you some ideas on what to think about when planning your site we have provided a website planning guide.

Quotation
We provide you with a written quote - Based on our initial meeting we offer you a web design proposal.

Planning
Collate website content - Content such as text and images is collated and the need for either modification or extra content is discussed. The content is arranged in a way that will allow users of your site to quickly find what they are looking for and allow high priority functions of your site to operate smoothly. The site map could be adjusted at this stage and ideas are suggested to improve delivery of the content.

Domain Name and Website Hosting - Domain names are decided and registered. Appropriate hosting services are purchased.

Design and Development
Design Mock - A draft design (look and feel) and/or page samples are prepared for your approval.

Database Design (if required) - The database that holds your website content is custom designed to fit the functions of the website.

Production - All resources required for the project are collected or produced.
Ongoing Consultation - We design and develop your site with ongoing consultation and testing.

Publishing
Site goes live - After your approval the site goes online with your choice of web hosting partner.

Modification
Fine Tuning - We monitor the traffic to your site so we can make suggestions for improvement in either holding the web users attention or increasing the number of visitors to the most important pages.

What do I need to supply?
Because you know your business and market best, your input is valuable to designing an effective site. Generally we supply you with a list of necessary items with our website planning worksheet but we leave the amount of control in the design process up to you.

It will save you time and money if you have any of the following items:

• text content
• company logos or letterhead
• quality photographs or images
• brochures
• previous print advertising material

If your business does not have the time or the resources, we can take care of all the content. This can include copy content, original photography, logo design and branding.

How long does it take to get my site online?
Websites vary enormously in content and complexity. The time involved to create them is a reflection of this.

It usually takes about 1 week for a small site with up to 5 pages.

For larger sites with interactivity, rich graphic content, flash animation, original photography or advanced programming it can take 3 weeks or more.

A large e-commerce or database driven site will usually take 3 weeks or more.

Hosting and domain name registration only take a few days.