Working with McDougall Interactive – Our web design process
Discovery Phase:
Timeframe:
This can often be settled in one meeting of one to two hours forsmall sites. Larger sites requiring complex programming orapplications require a technical specification to outline theexact site needs.
If you are out of state or working on a tight deadline,filling out our web design survey (listed below) can expedite theprocess for smaller sites.
The discovery phase is where we discuss your needs and thegoals of the site. From this we gather the site size, purpose,multimedia needs, databasing or e-commerce needs, if it needs tobe just search engine friendly or highly ranked in the searchengines, and the overall purpose of the site. After we understandthe concept and scope we can make a suggested Sitemap (the listof page names) and provide a quote.
Once we have an approved sitemap and a deposit we can startthe designs. The sitemap is important to know before starting adesign because the site would look very different if there wereonly 5 categories as opposed to 15, for example. Usability is aterm that refers to making a site easy to navigate and to getinformation from. The best sites keep the links categorized in away that is not overwhelming to the visitor. If we know yourlong-term goals before we design the site, we will more easilymake the most general categories that allow us to make drop-downmenus or additional links on sub-pages in a way that flowsinstead of adding too much information in the navigation.
Requirements for the design :
- High-Resolution Logo
- Rough home page text (if search engine optimization is veryimportant to you, 400-600 words that clearly describes yourservices, ideally with headings above each paragraph, is clearlybetter than a short welcome paragraph.)
Example A: Key phrase rich text with bullet points:www.vantagetech.com
Example B: Key phrase rich text with headings above paragraphs:www.atkinsonresort.com - A few photos that may work well on the home page (sometimeswe can find stock photos available for purchase but sincechoosing these can be very personal at times or impossible tofind if you have products unique to you, we may need help inconfirming selections. It is always best if you can provideinitial photos or clear ideas of what you envision to get ourcreative process started on the right footing.
- Hot topics to focus on. What are some key elements that maybe important, not only to have as links in the main navigation,but also to feature? Is it featured products, or 3 key services?This helps us layout the design with added impact to helpincrease conversions.
- Two or three websites that you like of other companies.
Design Phase:
Timeframe:
Typically one week – Two weeks maximum (Usually two designsto choose from)
After you choose a design or make additional suggestions, weedit it one to two times to make sure it meets your needs. If thedesign is edited more than the allotted times we will let youknow if there will be additional fees before continuing editing.On approval of the design we move on to the materials collectionphase. It is important that you understand that major navigationand design elements can only be changed later for a fee. What canalways be changed more easily are things like page text that isnot stuck in navigation graphics, banners, graphical tablestructures, etc. So if the text in the design is rough, or theproduct images may change don’t worry. You can approve thedesign and change the text and inner page elements later. Iflater you want to move the logo around and change the colors andthe navigation names (such as “services” to“products”), then we need to stay in the designphase.
Materials Collection Phase:
Timeframe:
This is largely dependent on the client, unless we have beenhired for text writing and content development. A delay heredelays all the other timelines.
Here we are looking for your page text – also known inadvertising as “copy”. We will need your photos ondisc or via email (please keep each email to under 5MB) and allyour product info. Ideally you will submit all the text in a worddocument (or in a word document for each page) and above eachgroup of text, specify which page the text goes with.
Example:
Home
Text goes here…
Include photos xyz.jpg and abc.jpg (see attached)About Us
Text goes here…
Include photos xyz.jpg and abc.jpg (see attached)Services
Text goes here…
Include photos xyz.jpg and abc.jpg (see attached)
Also include the movie clip on this page (refer to DVD coming inthe mail)
By doing the steps above we have an organized documentoutlining your site text and materials.
Quick Tip:
To copy the photo names directly from the files, right clickon the file, choose “rename”, and then copy thehighlighted image name for pasting into your description of whatimage to use for us). So you would cut and paste the photo names,such as product1.jpg, and past these photo names under the pageheadings so we know where the photos go. If possible, make afolder of all your materials after completed and send it to us asan attachment or on a disc. We will keep your files together in afolder until we have complete materials. We cannot start thewebsite production phase until we have all of your materials.This is allows us to build the site in a timely manner.
When we have all of the materials, we will start theProduction phase. Materials sent after the production phase hasbeen started will be added but on an hourly or by-quotebasis.
Production phase:
Timeline:
Small ten to fifteen page sites can be produced, if the designhas been approved and all the materials have been collected, inless than one month.
This is where we cut the design up into slices and make thegraphics into html documents. We then post the files in a testarea such as yourtestsite.mcdia.net where you can view and testthe site. Once we are in the production phase, if you ask tochange the design there will likely be fees. These fees may besignificant if you are really asking for a redesign, so pleaseget the input of all parties involved before signing off on thedesign.
Shopping Carts:
Timeline:
Typically a fairly simple cart can be built in one or two monthsif there are no hold-ups, such as waiting for credit cardmerchant details. More complex carts require a technicalspecification and phased timeline.
We require you to have your bank or one of our partners setyou up with an authorize.net merchant account and to provide uswith the merchant transaction ID and password details. Theshopping cart requires the design of the site to be completesince the cart will be built in the format of your site design.This means that the shopping cart will not be started until thesite design is approved.
Testing Phase:
During this phase you can click around the site and get a feelfor how it functions. You may at this time realize some page textneeds to be adjusted, or products need to be a swapped out. Weallow for a couple rounds of what we call “normaledits” (text changes, swapping a few product images etc.).After the site is approved it is ready for posting.
