Reliable and affordable web site design - Step 2
Follow our step by step web site design process to gain a better understanding of how we deliver on our promise to produce a professional, affordable and reliable web site to sole traders and small businesses.
After choosing and registering your domain name the next stage in designing your web site is the initial consultation.
A design that delights and reflects the value of your business relies upon clear instructions to the web designer. You need to have a clear vision of what you want from your web site, as well as more general ideas on the content, corporate colour schemes and graphical content.
We will, of course, be on hand to offer advice on the many styles of web sites that can be built, and suggest a style that fits with your business and your expectations of your new site.
Following the initial consultation we will design a style for your site, as well preparing a comprehensive quote based upon our initial discussions. This quote can form your 'total budget' or allow for additional elements as the design takes shape. Either way our transparent pricing policy will ensure you control the costs.
All of our designs are W3C compliant - which means your web site will look great to visitors irrespective of the web browser they use.
Once the style of the site meets with your approval, and our quote has been accepted, the design will begin in earnest. We will require a non-refundable deposit of £200 at this stage.
With the style agreed, our design team will prepare your web site normally within five working days. In exceptional circumstances if we are not able to deliver within this time scale you will be advised of the current lead time. Completion within five days is entirely dependent upon your submission of the site contents of course.
Our starting price is just £180 for the design of a 3 page web site
Please familiarise yourself with some of the pitfalls of web site design that you can avoid by commissioning Octen Web Design as your web designers.
SEE THE TOP TEN ON-LINE MISTAKES TO AVOID
The second, and most critical stage of the process, is agreeing the content for your web site
It almost goes without saying that the content is a critical element of your web site since it will provide the information to your visitors. This is not its only role however. Your content will help determine the structure and design of the site, and its visibility to search engines.
The content should include several keywords or phrases - generally these are the words that your visitors enter in a search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN etc.). The most effective keywords are those that are the most relevant for your business and the objectives of the site.
Time spent on research at this stage in the process will be more than repaid once the site is 'live'.
You should ask yourself:
- What is the main objective of your web site?
- Who are your target visitors?
- What do they want from the visit?
- Who are your main competitors?
- What can they teach you?
Since no-one knows your businesses as well as you do, your participation in the research phase is important. The final decision on the content and keywords is yours, although we are always on hand to provide advice, and guide you through the process. We will supply you with our guide to web page optimisation and a range of free internet tools.
Of course the process should not end when your site is published. Investing time regularly to review your keywords and freshen the content pays dividends.
Once our design team have agreed the content and style of your web site they will begin the third stage of the process - building your site.
Throughout this process you will be kept advised of the progress of the project and be given the opportunity to view the web site on line so that you can make further suggestions.
We publish the web site within our client area. This area is restricted by a username/password, so that you can be confident whilst your web site is "work in progress" only you and our design team will have access to it. In the initial stages we may publish on a third party 'trial' site, but rest assured the site will remains anonymous.
If, during the design stage you require further elements for your web site (perhaps more pages than had been originally quoted, a photo gallery or email form), you will be advised of the cost before the additional elements are included. Throughout the process you remain in control of the budget.
Once the web site has been finished to your satisfaction we can move to the final stage of the process - publishing. It is at this stage that the balance becomes due.
Should you wish to make regular revisions to your web site we can handle this too! An annual maintenance contract priced at £180 is available. You simply advise us of any changes you wish to make on a weekly basis and our design team will make the change for you, and publish the 'revised' site. Obviously any changes are limited to content and not to the overall design or style of your web site
If you have not registered your domain name, or do not have a contract with a web site hosting company we can help with this.
