While you can tell your story on social networks and a variety of other platforms, none is as crucial as having your own "home" on the web. You own the content and determine how it's delivered.
Design-build process
We start with an interview. Do you already have a website? If so, what about it works for you... and what doesn't? What are the key calls to action for your visitors? We set expectations of what you and your visitors will get out of the website before we determine what to put into it.
From there, we create a content map and sketch out how the elements will work together. Sketches get refined into a design while you gather drafts of content. The approved design goes on to be adapted to a collection of page layouts. We load draft content into those layouts and add interactive pieces (e.g., inquiry form, location map, etc.). All along the way, we test, test, test.
Launch of the website is the completion of the design-build process but a website really isn't done. From time to time, or frequently, you'll want to refresh the content to reflect new product, practice, personnel—anything that will help a visitor decide whether or not to follow through on a call to action. And timely, helpful updates can help your page rank on search engines.
Methods & means
You have a contact who owns each step of the process. You'll be updated on progress (and be asked for feedback) and you may access the Trello board we'll use for planning and tracking the project from start to finish. During and after the build, you may participate in adding and editing content, following a brief training session or two. We build on CMS platforms such as WordPress (most popular) and Joomla, both of which offer control over content and who may update it.
By default, we use responsive layout. That is, pages of your website will flow, even rearranging or showing/hiding content to fit the screen on which a visitor views it. As common as it is for people to browse the web on their smartphones, this has become common practice.
Selected work
Prefix.com
Distinguishing feature: The Careers page dynamically reads an RSS feed from their HR service provider, rendering the current open positions as linked tiles on the page. A prospective employee can click any of the tiles to go directly to the detail page for the position and click to apply.
CyclotronProducts.com
Distinguishing feature: a series of galleries, by industry, of filter systems they offer. Visitors may click a thumbnail to advance directly to the corresponding full-size image in the slide presentation.
Q & A
The short answer is, "It depends..." It depends on how much content you want to have published at the time we launch (or re-launch) the website. It depends on the features and functionality, and the complexity thereof. It depends on various other factors, too, like how involved you want to be in adding pages during the build stage. Typically, though, the process ranges six to eight weeks.
Most, if not all, variables that affect the timing also will affect the cost. When drawing up the scope, we'll discuss how we can budget time & materials, or give you a single dollar figure. (Note that a website also has recurring costs, like hosting, the first year of which can be packaged in with the design-build.)
Possibilities range from placing "Buy" buttons on pages of your website, to linking between your website your online shop, to building the entire site with ecommerce in mind. Again, this will come out during our discussion of objectives.