Creating a New Website
My goal is to give you an online presence that offers the look, feeling and information you want others to have when they visit your site. Here are a few things to think about:
Have a Plan
When you're ready to give your business a new presence on the web, whether it is updating your look and style or creating your web presence for the first time I'd love to work on it with you.
Here are a few pre-planning things to think about when you're ready to have your website built:
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Your Brand— Do you have an established look, or are you creating a new one? I can help you with either, so we're ready to start right where you are now). The ultimate goal is to get your brand/name out there. If your current website isn’t shouting your brand all over it, then a rebuild and rebrand of your website needs to be #1 as part of your new website goals.
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Your Call to Action— What is it you want your visitors to do? Is your goal to simply have a presence on the web, then you probably just need a beautiful page that supports your visual image, a bio, or about us page and a place where they can contact you.
You also might want to educate them on what you do, or all the options and services you offer. You can do as much or as little as you like, and there is no limit to what you can put up there from taking payments on your website, scheduling clients, publishing a blog and selling items in your online store and more. The more of a plan you have in mind, it can simplify the design process once we know what actions you want your visitors to take.
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The Content— What questions do you want your website to answer? It’s important to plan out the content strategy before starting on the new website. New websites need a bit of structure to be successful. Of course I'm are here to help you along the way if you’re not sure what you want.
Do your research. Look around at the look and feel of the sites of other companies who offer the same products and/or services that you offer. What do you like and what don't like about them? What do you feel works and what doesn't? Keep a note of them to show me so I can get a feeling for what appeals to you.
Here is where you can give me a call, or send an email and let me know you'd like to begin the process. Once we have a conversation about the above, I will create a cost estimate for the site you're wanting me to create. Contact me at debbie@debbiemackall.com or 847-726-2093 and we'll get started!
Creating Your Site
Web Design Process
I take the time to ask you a bunch of questions (like the above) to get an idea of who you are and what you want your image to look and feel like to your clients and potential clients.
Phase One
We meet via phone or in person to identify your business objectives. We'll define the look and feel that you are after, create a content strategy, and identify required functionality to make your website interactive. If you have new text and information for the site, now is the time to give me this in the form of a text file or in the body of your email.
Phase Two
I'll create a concept with some variations that is inline with your goals. You'll receive a mockup to make sure everything is to your liking before the building of your custom website.
Phase Three
I develop the content structure and style each page of your new website. I make sure the linking structures within the site are all setup to our pre-planned content structure, and make sure each page is developed with all Meta tags so that your site will be found on google and other search engines easily.
Proof
Here you can see the site before it is posted live. You proof the site to make sure everything is to your liking. If you have any changes or additions, you can provide them now. Please write them down either in the body of an email or in a separate file saved as .txt.
Your Website Goes Live
Once I'm complete with the revision cycle we can take your new website live. After it goes live I'll
re-test everything to make sure it’s working correctly. At that point—
— congratulations you have a new website!