Interested in working with us? Great!

In order to give you a quote for your project, we’ll need to know the basics. For a web design project, we’ll need to know what pages and functions you’d like, any special features like shopping carts, etc, and what you’d like in the way of design.  The best metaphor for this is that building a website is in many ways much like building a house. We need to know how many rooms we’re talking about, how many bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, utility rooms, etc, all the way up to and including whether or not you’ll need a swimming pool. We need a clear picture of what we’re building before we can give you a quote on how much it will be.

For website maintenance, we’ll need to have complete (preferably written) instructions on what you’d like done.

To work on your site or give you an estimate, we’ll need to be able to see the backend of your site. We’ll need the FTP (file transfer protocol) information, and any other logins used (wordpress admin and pass, joomla, etc). If you don’t have that information, please contact your host company.

We also STRONGLY encourage clients to not email passwords to their sites and accounts in plain text.  You’re welcome to submit your credentials via our secure form, send them to us via text, call and leave a message for us via telephone, or use a one-time-secret message service like this one hosted by Southwest Cyberport, one of our favorite and most reliable local hosting companies.

We are happy to make changes to flash files, but are unable to do so unless you have the original source files. Due to the decline in the use of flash, we can also convert most flash files to animated GIF’s that are more compatible with current browsers.

Please send your text and photos to us in electronic format. Text can be in txt or doc format, and graphics as .png, .gif or .jpg. Please do not send photos embedded into word documents. If you’re worried about making sure we understand what photo goes where, just insert the name of the image file. Please don’t send hard copy for us to retype. If you have documents that need to be retyped, there’s probably cheaper ways than paying web designers to do it. If you have a number of files to send us, we can set up a folder in our Dropbox account for you to upload to, which is more reliable than trying to email stuff to us.

Most requests can be completed by the next business day, but we seldom add new things to the day’s list after 3pm, so that we can focus on wrapping things up properly. And like everyone, we’re working on that whole work/life balance, too. So we’re not in on weekends, and close at noon on Fridays.

When sending requests for changes or updates, please explain what you’d like done as clearly as possible. We know that you’d rather have our next email to you be letting you know the job is done, rather than asking for clarification.

Our primary method of communication is via email. This is for a couple of reasons. First, it allows us to stay focused during work periods, without interruptions. Projects go faster, costs are reasonable, and everyone is happy. Second, having everything in email means that tasks are much, much less likely to get misunderstood or skipped. It’s like a little todo list, right there in our inbox!

We’re happy to give you an estimate, and you can go ahead and assume that we’re going to do our best to keep costs reasonable, while providing excellent service. There’s no need to remind us to keep costs low with each request.

Web design projects usually take approximately eight to ten weeks after initial deposit and all material has been received in our office. We know you’re super busy and super excited to get your new site done as quickly as possible. We’re actually pretty happy to get things rolling out the door as well.  It has been known to happen that in the middle of a project, the client goes missing. We assume that you’re on a secret mission and can’t break radio silence. Which we totally understand. And we know that you’ll understand that if you go missing in the middle of a project, another project may take your place in the queue. If you’re missing for a really long time, we may have to charge a rebooting fee, since it takes a while for us to get back in the flow.

We do take payments on larger projects. Work will start after the initial deposit is received. For design projects, another payment will be due after design sign off. Changes made to the navigation or design after signoff may incur another payment, so we’ll work with you to get things just right before that starts.

 Ready to get started? Let us know!