The Website Development Process

1. SITE DEFINITION
   
   • Objectives: We meet and define your website goals, target audience and your business identity - both existing and to be developed;
   • Domain Name: We choose the domain name to be purchased, if available, and alternatives if the first choice is not available;
   • Functions and Technology: We look at what will be required to make your site work. These may include scripting for an art gallery web site, a shopping cart, a database, a blog, a newsletter subscription form or other interactivity;
   • Website Size and Organization: We estimate the rough number of pages that will be required, their focus and connection to each other and how they will be grouped or organized to make navigation logical and intuitive.
   • Communications: If the site is for a larger business or a group of artists we determine who will oversee the process, make decisions and provide content for the site.
   • Targets: We outline the timeline, budget & payment plan so we all know what is expected of each other, and when.
   • Style: We discuss your personal preferences in website style, colours, text type, site layout and the overall look and feel of your website.


2. DESIGN DEVELOPMENT:
   
   • Draft Layout: We create at least one proposed layout complete with navigation,  color scheme, font style - everything but the actual contents - for the main home page and secondary pages.
   • Corporate Identity: We develop &/or optimize the necessary graphics such as a logo to establish or reinforce your corporate or artisitic identity.
   • Approval: We meet again and communicate via email until your website design is fully customized, polished and approved before developing all the pages and adding all the contents.


3. SITE CONSTRUCTION:
   
    
   • Research: We do the work to determine the optimal keywords and phrases for each page of the site - words that people actually search for and that identify the contents of your page clearly to the searchers.
   • Pages: All of the site's pages are structured and linked through the website navigation - the framework is built.
   • Images: If necessary we can arrange for professional photography of your fine art, products or business premises. Your printed images may need to be scanned or require work to clarify the detail and adjust colours or contrast. The images are optimized for quick downloading and resized for the page layouts. Care is taken to ensure colours are as true as possible and clarity is preserved.
   • Contents: The images, text and other page coding is inserted in the pages and optimized for recognition and indexing by the search engines as we build the pages. The text information you provide may be reworded for clarity, flow and searchability.
   • Functions: Forms, blog, shopping cart and newsletter signup and any other functions you need are developed and installed.
   • Hosting: We make arrangements for you for a web server that will provide the Internet connection for your site, the server technologies needed and the email service for your custom email addresses @yoursitename.com (or .net, .org, .ca, etc).
   • Final approval: The entire site pages and contents are verified and finalized in our test area before being launched on your host's server.


4. WEB SITE LAUNCH:
   
   • Installation: The launch starts with uploading all the site images and files on your host's server, checking all the pages and images and testing the navigation and website functions.
   • Email: The addresses you need are set up on the server and we assist you in setting up your computer's access to your email.
   • Search engine submission: The website information is submitted to the major search engines and directories.