While we like to be flexible and responsive to your needs, we also like to deliver what we promise within the time frames and budgets we have allowed. If you ask us to add new features to your website while we are building it, we will most likely ask why? If we all agree that your new request will help us achieve our objectives then we will be more than happy to oblige. If your new feature is something you would like to add to your website but is not directly tied to your original objectives then we will suggest to schedule it for a second iteration of the website once it has been launched. This will require a new statement of work.

Once your website is launched, we will provide 30 days of support to make sure any bugs have been ironed out and that you are confident using your new website. After this you will need to subscribe to our Monthly Website Maintenance Plan or one of our Custom Digital Marketing Plans to make sure your website is looked after and maintained. These plans may include updating your software, regular backups, security checks and making sure your website is online and open for business 24/7/365.

Provided you subscribe to one of our digital marketing plans, we will be your first point of call should something go wrong with your website. We will determine whether it is something the hosting company needs to fix or something that is covered by your plan. We will provide training and tutorials to assist you in using your website once it is launched.

WordPress

Your website needs to be hosted by a hosting company that specializes in WordPress hosting. There are many companies that do this. We host many of our client websites at GoDaddy.com. As the world’s largest WordPress hosting provider, they have award-winning, 24/7 support.

HubSpot

Your website will be hosted on the HubSpot Marketing Platform.

Squarespace

Your website will be hosted by Squarespace.

WordPress is open source content management software and currently powers around 25% of all websites on the Internet. The project is contributed to by tens of thousands of developers all over the world and is growing from strength to strength. WordPress allows us to develop flexible and customizable websites to modern standards and observes web development best practices. Furthermore the community of web developers that use WordPress reaches far and wide and allows us to tap in to this collective intelligence and bring that wealth of experience to your project.

An interactive prototype is a bare bones version of your website that is designed to prove the functionality and features as they will work in the browser. No design elements are applied at this stage as the prototype is just built to allow all parties to make final decisions on the functionality.

Information architecture describes how the different pages of a website are related to each other. This is usually communicated through a visual tool called a sitemap.

A typical Website Essentials Project will take approximately 8 weeks to complete. Website project enhancements and add-ons may extend the project timeline. Timelines are also subject to variables that are often out of our control, such as systems access, resource availability, and client reviews & sign-off being executed in a timely manner. In some cases, timelines can be accelerated with a well-prepared client.

Discovery [2 Weeks]

• Discovery: Requirements gathering and scope of work review.
• Discovery: Development of a sitemap.
• Discovery: High-level design theme
• Discovery: Requirements gathering
• Discovery: Detailed scope of work

Design [2 Weeks]

• Design: Development of wireframe or functional prototype.
• Design: Website user experience and user interface to allow the target audience to easily navigate and use the website to address their challenges and goals.

Development [3 Weeks]

• Development: Development of a working website on the WordPress content management platform.

Deployment [1 Week]

• Deployment: Final testing and debugging
• Deployment: Pre-Launch Checklist
• Deployment: Migration to production
• Deployment: Post-Launch Checklist

We can install Google Analytics software on your new website and show you how to log into your Google Analytics account where you can see a wide range of statistics about your website including number of visits, page views than the amount of time people are spending on your website. Once you subscribe to a Monthly Website Maintenance Plan or one of our Custom Digital Marketing Plans, you will also receive more detailed analysis about your website performance and recommendations on how to improve.

Although we’ve built hundreds of websites since 1995… we’re not only web designers, we’re digital marketers. Our team will create a website that aligns with your marketing initiatives, not act as a billboard in the desert. Our website designs are based on strategy. We listen to our clients and develop a web design strategy that reflects their business objectives (ex. lead generation, awareness, customer loyalty). We create websites with these client objectives in mind.

The following link provides a sample of pre-launch, launch, and post-launch checklist items completed for a WordPress Website Project.

The following is a list of items that clients can typically be expected to provide.  Delays during website projects most commonly come from this type of content not being readily available by the development phase of the website project.

• Images – Banners
  • Artistic photos suitable for page feature images (2000 pixels X 1000 pixels)
  • This content can also be purchased, but is ideal if the content is exclusive and personalized to the organization.
• Images – Client Logos
  • ai or .eps file format
  • If the above file formats are not available, high resolution transparent .png files can sometimes work.
• Images – Staff Photos – Head Shots
  • For each member of the staff to be featured on the website
  • Ideally these are professional photos where the staff member looks approachable/happy, wearing professional apparel, and against consistent backdrop (logo drape, logo wall, plain white background).
• Video
  • Marketing-ready video that might be applicable to page content (e.g. case studies, services, technology, about Versa).
• Value Proposition Statement
  • Format example: Company XYZ helps [Buyer Persona] with [Service] so they can [Buyer Persona Goal] without [Buyer Persona Pain Point].
• Copyrighting – Staff Bios
• Copyrighting – Customer Testimonial Statements
• Copyrighting – Company History
• Copyrighting – Certifications & Awards
• Copyrighting – Services
  • Services short description (1-paragrah)
  • Services long-form narrative content (600 – 1000 words).
• Case Study – Copy, Images, Video
  • Business Driver (goal or pain point that served as the catalyst for the project)
  • Solution (what did your company do?)
  • Qualitative Results (opinions, observations)
  • Quantitative Results (anything that can be expressed as a numbers: revenue, consolidation of systems, headcount, etc.)
• Company Locations (Address, Phone, Email, Hours of Operation)
• Google Maps API Key
  • For website integration with Google Maps (Contact Us, Facilities, Events).
  • Google’s way of monitoring who uses their mapping engine and how often.
  • Free service.
  • Instructions at https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/get-api-key
• Google Analytics Property ID / Google Tag Manager Container ID
  • For website integration with Google Analytics to track traffic, goals, and conversions.
  • Free service.
  • Provide if this already exists, otherwise Touchline Marketing can help.
• Tracking Pixel Code (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
• Google Adwords Remarketing Tag
  • For website integration with Google Adwords PPC services.
  • Provide if this already exists, otherwise Touchline Marketing can help setup.
• DNS Configuration
  • So we can turn the lights on to your new site, when ready.
  • Your domain name is just an entry on a domain name server (DNS) that point to an associated webserver’s IP address and port number.
  • If Touchline is provided access, we can make the DNS configuration changes for you. Otherwise, we can give you the information to make the changes yourself.

Content Management Functionality

A Content Management System (CMS) will give non-technical staff the ability to maintain site content via a password-protected browser interface. The CMS will allow the administrator to maintain an unlimited number of pages. The central site will have is its own CMS database with its own content.

Administrative Access

The CMS system allows for multiple users to have access to the Admin area for editing site content, menu items and general configuration parameters. Administration and management of the website is all done through a password-protected browser interface. The main point of contact will be initially put into the system to allow access to CMS. After the initial setup, the administrator can add and remove users as needed.

All pages in a website project will be stored in a database and can be searchable via search engines. Touchline will utilize their SEO Checklist to prepare pages for on-page SEO (search engine optimization).

It is recommended that clients conduct market research and conduct interviews with their customer base to develop a baseline buyer persona to guide all of the company’s marketing efforts, including keyword and keyword phrase definition.

The website will be configured to send data to Google Analytics via a tracking code and, ideally, Google Tag Manager.   The instance of Google Analytics will be an out-of-the-box setup with little to customization. Further customization may be desired at a later date to track goals and conversions.   The most important part of this deployment is to begin to collect traffic data that can be analyzed later.

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google Analytics is the most widely used web analytics service on the Internet.

Google Analytics’ approach is to show high-level, dashboard-type data for the casual user, and more in-depth data further into the report set. Google Analytics analysis can identify poorly performing pages with techniques such as funnel visualization, where visitors came from (referrers), how long they stayed and their geographical position. It also provides more advanced features, including custom visitor segmentation.

SSL Certificates validate your website’s identity, and encrypt the information visitors send to, or receive from, your site. SSL websites can most often be recognized by the https prefix in the URL and a security or padlock icon visible in a user’s browser. The primary reasons to apply SSL to your site are:

• Keep thieves from spying on any exchange between you and your shoppers
• Gain customer confidence
• Safely accept credit cards on your website
• Gain a better search engine ranking (i.e. Google)

Touchline recommends that all clients apply an SSL certificate to their website. The cost associated SSL Certificates typically varies from $50-$200/year depending on the level of validation and is not included as part of this website project. Touchline can help clients interested in applying an SSL certificate on their website.

Clients are required to secure hosting for their website.  Many Touchline clients on the WordPress CMS host their websites using GoDaddy.com Managed WordPress Hosting services.  As the world’s largest WordPress hosting provider, they have award-winning, 24/7 support.

Website Project clients are charged a flat rate for services.   All materials (software purchases, rich media content, subscriptions, hosting fees, etc.) are considered outside the rate for services.

50% of the services for a website project are due to Touchline Marketing prior to the start of the Discovery phase. 25% will be due at the sign-off of the Requirements Phase. The remaining 25% will be due to prior to website Deployment (Go Live!).

• The client will identify a single point of contact to work with the Touchline Marketing Account Manager.
• The client will provide timely access to all necessary systems.
• The client will assume the ongoing costs of hosting and subscriptions to third-party code / WordPress plugins.
• The client will provide images and photography in a high-resolution format (300 dpi. Min 2000 x 1000).
• The client will have an active email mailbox setup for correspondence.
• The client will provide all necessary text/narrative content for designed/wireframed/prototyped website sections.

A typical website project project consists of an out-of-the-box deployment of a pre-built theme / design on the most recent version of the selected content management platform (WordPress, HubSpot, SquareSpace).

The functionality of the web application is limited to what is included in the theme / design and native to the content management system.  Requested functionality that is not compatible with the out-of-the-box version of the software and/or requires creation of additional website development code (HTML, PHP, CSS, etc) is considered out of scope.

Customizations to the design of the out-of-the-box deployment and documented configurations for systems integration are intended to make the website specific to the client and are outlined in a scope of work.