At the end of the day, we want to build a website that works for you. A site that you can be proud of. When your website leads to conversions, fosters trust, and extends your brand, that's a win for us!

So let's shine some light on our process. Here’s how a typical project unfolds.

Our Process

Discovery

Once the project is underway, we'll schedule a discovery meeting. Building a great website is so much more than just making it look nice (although we're big fans of that). It's about collaborating with you to understand your goals, audience, and requirements. We learn what to prioritize, and what success looks like for you.

Research

After that, we get to researching. We need to know your industry better, and get a clearer strategic picture of what we're designing. Think notes and sketches.

Design & Collaboration

Now to the fun part! It's time to design your website. We move from concept and theory into initial designs. We design with mobile-first in mind, and begin building all the components that will make up your site. We build a design system that is unmistakably your brand and flexible enough to be used throughout your website.

When initial designs are ready, we'll schedule a meeting to review it together in the browser and discuss feedback, refinements, and improvements. Your feedback is so important here! We value your thoughts, and look for ways to align our vision with your insight.

After that we'll revise designs as needed to make sure you're thrilled with the direction! Once we are on the same page, we'll finish front-end development and move the project forward.

Content & CMS Integration

At this stage, we bring your content and design together. What this looks like depends on your project and what we have outlined in the proposal. Sometimes we help shape or refine the content. Other times, you provide it, or we migrate it from an existing site. No matter the approach, our focus is on making sure your content feels natural within the design and works well for your audience.

If your project includes a Content Management System (CMS), we will integrate everything in a way that is intuitive and easy to manage. We will then meet with you to walk through the CMS and show you how to confidently make updates to your site moving forward.

Testing

At this stage, the finish line is in sight. We take the time to carefully walk through every detail, using a thorough checklist to make sure nothing gets overlooked. From accessibility and performance optimizations to the small but important touches like your favicon, we focus on all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps your site running smoothly and sets it up for long-term success.

🚀 Launch

On launch day, we’re right there with you as everything goes live. We handle pointing your domain to the hosting environment and then take time to test the site on the production server, making sure everything is working as expected. That includes checking layouts, forms, and any other key functionality, so you can feel confident in a smooth launch.

Post-Launch

We don’t launch a site and disappear. After launch, we include 30 days of complimentary post-launch support to take care of any small tweaks or adjustments within the original scope.

Beyond that, we believe a website is never truly “finished.” It should evolve as your business grows and your needs change. We aim to be a long-term partner, not just a one-time vendor, and we offer ongoing maintenance plans and retainers to help keep your site healthy and up to date.

It depends on your needs.
It depends on your budget.
It depends on your time.
It depends on your skills.

You get the point, it depends.

When working with potential clients, we occasionally recommend a site builder. We're not interested in building a website, just to build a website. We are interested in doing what will help you and your business or startup out the most.

I often compare building a website to building a house. There are many ways to do it, and so much is dependent on time and budget. Want a quick and relatively speaking inexpensive house? Then perhaps a modular home is for you. Want a custom build that is uniquely tailored to you? Then maybe a stick-built home is more your style.

So, what are some reasons you might prefer a web developer?

Custom website design vs templates

Ever notice how so many websites look the exact same these days? I have. I miss the days of really unique designs. But I'm just an old web developer yelling at the clouds :)

Beyond the aesthetic, it's reported that a well-designed user experience can boost conversion rates by 400%! (Per Forrester Research). That's huge! That’s a big reason many businesses choose custom web development over a site builder.

When you don’t have time to build a website yourself

I've had many folks tell me they are just too busy. And I can certainly empathize with that. It's doable to build a site yourself via a site builder, but there are nuances to each system, plenty of gotchas, and a real time investment. In the end, that's time spent building your website, instead of working on the parts of your business you'd prefer to be working on.

Needing custom website features or integrations

Those site builders are great if you've got a standard set of features. But what happens if you need any custom integrations? Or you have a need that doesn't fit in any of the pre-packaged boxes? You quickly feel limited. And breaking free of the site builder can be dreadful. They are your home for everything. The unique toolset, the domain, the hosting, etc. Think of switching all your Apple apps over to Android, or vice versa. Ugh, no thanks.

Hiring a web developer as a long-term partner

We are of the mindset that a website should be constantly shifting and improving. We'd much rather partner with you long-term than “finish” a project and walk away. So, it's one thing to make a beautiful website, but if no one sees it, what good is that? It's the marketing and SEO side that get folks to see your website, and lead to conversions.