Timeline

There will be a maximum of 18 business days before launch (three and a half weeks).

Day 1:

You decide to purchase a site. You pay a 50% deposit ($1,500 unless discounts apply) and submit your organization’s logo along with any other images you are licensed to use (this process includes signing a release for the images) which are needed for site interface design. After we receive the initial payment, we provide you with login information for our project management service. The following information is requested of you:

• Your brand profile
• Primary and secondary decision makers (including contact information)
• Domain name preferences
• List of relevant search engine keywords (up to 25)
• List of competitor sites (up to 5)
• List of favorite sites (up to 5), rated in terms of design and experience each on the scale of 1-5
• List of required email address (including first and last names of recipients)
• Basic layout preferences (we will provide you with samples to choose from)
• List of prefferred iStockPhoto images by URL or photo reference number (optional)

Day 2:

You submit the information requested in day one. This is also your last day to provide logo and images without incurring a delay of project* fee.

Day 3:

Our interface designer utilizes the resources you have provided to begin the design. The designer will contact you if any questions arise. By the end of the day a rough interface design is created and shared internally for critical response from our professional design team.

Day 4:

Any needed adjustments resulting from our internal review are executed, and by the end of the day you receive your first proof of the interface design. This proof is delivered via our project management service, and your primary and secondary contacts will be notified. You are prompted to provide feedback on the design.

Day 5:

The development team begins the installation and configuration of our preferred content management system (CMS), initiation of domain name transfer or registration, and integration of your domain with Google services (including email account setup).

Day 6:

Client feedback on the design proof is due, either via our project management system, or directly with the designer. If feedback is provided directly to the designer via phone, meeting, or email; the executable tasks will be recorded in our project management service. No additional confirmation will be required, though you’re encouraged to review for accuracy.

Day 7:

The designer reviews the proof feedback, contacting you to clarify any questions you had; and ask any of his or her own. After feedback is discussed, the designer proceeds with the noted adjustments and requests.

Day 8:

You receive a revised proof of the design (officially referred to as “Proof Two”). If no further changes are needed, you will provide a formal proof approval and the project will proceed to the next phase. If further changes are needed, two additional days may be added to the project timeline, for another revision cycle (these two additional days are not subject to additional fees). If the Proof Three is not accepted, there will be a delay of project fee added to your account for each day of further revision, until the Final Proof is approved.

Day 9:

The designer finalizes the files of the site interface design, and passes them off to the development team for implementation.

Day 10:

The primary implementation of the design is complete, and the site is published on a testing server for internal testing and review.

Day 11:

Any necessary revisions to the site based on our internal testing and review are completed.

Day 12:

All your copy, photo, and video content is due. We review your copy for spelling and grammatical errors, as well as adjusting it in the context of the provided keywords. Photos are added to your newly created Picasa Web Albums account, and videos are added to your newly created YouTube account. Copy will be loaded into the CMS, and related images and videos are inserted as you specify. If you cannot get all of these assets together by day twelve, one day will be added to the project without and additional fee. However, if additional days are required you will incur a delay of project fee for each day until the assets are received, and the timeline will then resume.

Day 13:

You will be sent a private link to review the site. We request feedback in several areas:

• Accurate spelling of your company name, keywords, and content
• Accurate depiction of your images and videos
• Accurate association of images and video with appropriate copy
• Any general feedback on the site

Day 14:

You are securely provided administrative login information for the CMS and all supporting services.***

Day 15:

Any necessary edits based on your review of the test site are complete and you will be notified the site is ready for launch. You receive a final invoice, including any discounts and rewards for incentive programs. After final payment is received, the site is launched. Though our tasks will be executed immediately upon final payment, it may take 24 – 72 hours for your site to be available online. This timeframe is commonly known as “propagation” and applies to all site launches across the internet.

Days 16 – 18:

These days may or may not be required depending on how quickly the project progresses. If you have not opted for any extensions the project is complete by day fifteen. If for any reason you extend the project beyond eighteen days, there is a delay of project fee incurred for each day beyond eighteen.

Your Responsibilities

Logo

Provide your organization’s logo, preferably in a digital, vector format such as Adobe Illustrator, or EPS. If this is not available to you, send us the best quality file(s) you have available. If you do not have digital files available, bring in the best quality print, up to 8.5 x 14 that you have for scanning. If we are using a scanned logo, additional fees may be assessed for cleaning up or redrawing the resulting logo file for use in the site interface design. Fees will be estimated to the client prior to execution of anything beyond an initial scan and crop. The initial scan is included in the Foundation Site. You will be provided with the digital files for future use.

Copy

Provide at least basic, rough draft style copy which is sufficient to launch the site. Keep in mind the included pages listed above and feel free to ask for copy guidance via our project management system. We will review and update the copy for grammar and adjust the content to include optimized keywords from the provided list. This package does not include full copy writing services, only editing. All site content must be submitted by the end of the project’s second week. Failure to submit on time may result in a delay of project fee each day.

Photos

Provide digital files of any imagery intended for use in your site content and interface design. This site package does not include photography services. The interface design services provide for a 20 credit budget of stock imagery. All images required for use in the site interface design must be submitted at the outset of the project. All images required for use as site content must be submitted by the end of the project’s second week.

Video

Provide video files of all content to be included in the site by the end of the second week. We will create your YouTube account, install the required plugin, and insert your videos as requested.

This site package does not include filming, editing, ripping, or rendering your video files. Video submissions should be the following file formats: Windows Media Video (.WMV), .3GP (cell phones), .AVI (windows), .MOV (mac), .MP4 (ipod/psp), .MPEG, .FLV (adobe flash), .SWF (shockwave flash), .MKV (h.264)

Caveats

We do not accept Microsoft Publisher or Works files. Files submitted in this format will be utilized as submitted, with a $15 conversion fee, per file. These fees will not be estimated to the client before execution.

Your requested domain names may not be available. If you would like to review availability in advance, Register.com and Hosting.com have great, simple tools on their home pages. Do not register your domain as registration or transfer is included in the site cost.

We can create affordable small business sites because of this structured timeline.  Diverting from this timeline decreases the efficiencies which make these projects affordable. Therefore, we require that our clients agree to all client responsibilities, the defined timeline, maximum number of additional days, and understand the delay of project fees.

* Project Delay fees are $75 per day