Working with Tech Lizard Web Design and IT - What To Expect
When you decide to work with us on your next web design project, you'll learn that we're very fun and easy to work with. Despite our casual style, we follow a specific set of project milestones when doing business.
Initial Contact - Unless you've been referred or received our business card with our contact information on it, we request that you contact us by completing the short form on our contact page. We don't publish our direct email, mailing address or phone number on our site to protect ourselves from unsolicited communications. Once we know you're a real person with a real interest in our work, we will share our contact information with you. When you complete our form, we will be in contact with you as soon as possible, often times the same day.
Information Gathering - Over the course of our communications, we will be interested in gathering information about the website you desire. What is the purpose of your site? Do you have any requirements for the design like logos, company color schemes, elements like videos, music, images, etc? Do you have content prepared? Are there specific features that you desire? Do you have a domain name, hosting, etc or should we arrange those for you? If you know an existing design that you absolutley LOVE, this is the time to let us know. We don't COPY designs from others for our clients but we can get a very good idea of what you're looking for from seeing what you already love. All of this information is going to be vital to us preparing your proposal as well as your design.
Proposal - Once we understand what you're looking for we'll be in a position to document the project and estimate the associated costs. We will prepare a formal proposal which covers the project scope/requirements, our committments to you, the contributions we require of you to complete the project, and an estimated cost for the project. We'll ask that you review our proposal, make any necessary adjustments and accept it by returning a signed copy to us. Your acceptance of our proposal is the pivotal point in our project because it's when the work begins.
Design Mockups - This is where the fun begins! Upon receipt of your acceptance to our proposal we will begin drafting design concepts for your new website. Typically we prepare at least two design concepts (mockups) for you to select from. Now please remember, we love the work we do but more than anything, we want you to be happy with your site. Please don't hold back on your critique of our work, if we're not "getting it" let us know and we'll keep working to satisfy you. We'll go back to the drawing board, we LOVE the drawing board. It's OK to tell us if you love one element of a mockup and hate the other, we're really not that sensitive. Design concepts are the copywritten material of Tech Lizard Web Design and IT.
Acceptance of Design Concept - When we've "nailed it" and you're happy with the design that we've provided, we'll ask for a 50% payment of the project estimate before we begin coding and assuming other costs for the project. Upon payment your website will start to take life, if you don't already have a domain name you'll have one and we will start coding your site. We do not do "In Progress" sites, if you desire a temporary landing page, we'll do one, but the in progress work will not be online at your domain until the project is complete. We will provide a temporary building site URL on our server so you can monitor the progress.
Site Completion - When we feel that your site is complete and we're "Ready to Go Live" you will be asked to review the temporary site for errors and last minute changes. We'll ask you to approve the final site ** and we'll request payment for the remaining balance on the project. Upon receipt, your site is uploaded to your permanent web home and the design project is complete.
Ongoing Maintenance and Site Changes or Training - Included in your proposal are hourly rates for training individuals that you've designated to maintain your site or our hourly rate for site changes. We're happy to take the role as your webmaster and will provide specific guarantees to our timeliness. Clients who choose to host their site with us get two hours of site updates each year with their package.
** Coming Soon's: We have a strong adversity to "Coming Soon" pages. We like to publish complete sites but we will make exceptions (while trying to talk you out of it). If your content is not ready but you'd still like to go live, we'll respect your wishes.