Getting Started
Here's what we need to get started and a process overview to help guide you along!1) What we need to get started
Details, Details, Details!
We’ve put together an important survey to help get started. The more information you provide us, the more you’ll love your new website.
Your Logo
PDF, EPS, high res JPEG or PNG, if possible.
No logo? No problem – we can design one for you. Just mention that on your survey.
We’ll send you info on how to get that logo over to us, but now is a good time to locate those files.
Please send your logo to: support@sariswebdesign.com, adding your Clinic Name/City in the email subject line.
Domain Credentials
Do you have a login for your domain? Usually this is at GoDaddy, E-Nom, Network Solutions, NameCheap, etc. Do not email us these details, as we’ll provide a secure channel for this important information, but take a moment to collect this important info. Don’t have a domain yet? No worries – we’ll get one for you!
Style Guide
Do you have a brand style guide, colors or any specific design requirements? We’ll be sure to follow this. Don’t have this? NO WORRIES! We can create a logo for you or if you really want to get serious we can create a full set logo/branding guide for you – inquire about pricing here.
You’ll share some of this information as far as color, etc on your survey, but if you already have a branding guide, you’ll want to share it with us.
Here’s a helpful tool if you’re trying to choose branding colors!
Content
We’ll need to put together page content, verbiage and information for your new site. If you have any existing page content that you have prepared, you’ll be able to share this with us. If you’ve not started this yet, we’ll help walk you through it page-by-page. Many clients find it helpful to look at existing website content, clinic brochures or newsletters for a starting place, as you may already have some content prepared.
Does this feel overwhelming? Please don’t worry – we’re here to help!
One area that you can prepare for your site while we’re working on it is staff bios. Copy this template and hand out to staff – we’ll even write your bios for you! Just send completed bios to support@sariswebdesign.com and add your Clinic Name/City in the subject line of email.
Images & Pictures
Current and/or new images and pictures you’d like to use on the new site.
We have subscriptions to multiple stock photo libraries and can provide this imagery on your site, too.
Do not, we repeat, do not just take images “off of Google” to use for your site.
(Note: pay special attention to Basecamp and Dropbox below. You will get these links to share content with us after completion of your website survey)
2) Basecamp
Basecamp is an awesome online platform for communication and project management. We’ll be using this to send messages, share files and track progress during the process. This will help alleviate content and images being lost in long email threads. Everyone loves email threads…right?! (Don’t worry you can still use your email. The messages will post directly to Basecamp!) Once your project is underway, you’ll receive an email to set up your Basecamp profile and we’ll be off and running! Basecamp will ALWAYS be the fastest way to reach our team.
3) Dropbox
Dropbox is a great online image/file sharing platform. If you have more than 15-20 images for your website or if they’re too big to send through email or post on Basecamp, we can use Dropbox. We also use this to share important logins and credentials instead of sending through email. We will set up a folder for the project and will share the folder with you via email. You can upload all images and files there. If you’re not sure which tool to use, i.e. Dropbox or Basecamp, to share files, pick whichever one is more comfortable for you!
4) If You’re Social….
Quite honestly we’re a group of extroverted introverts, or is it introverted extroverts? That will be a conversation for another day 🙂 But what we’re referring to here is your digital presence in social media channels. If you’re not here for this service, skip to the next section, you can always come back here to learn more about it.
We have quite a few tools to help us create great social media pages for our clients. Just because we love the latest tech, doesn’t mean you have to, too! We’ll do it for you. We have plans for those who want to maintain a fresh, solid, digital presence, and for those who want to take their presence to a full custom level. One of the tools you may hear us rave about is Planable. This is our social media scheduling and collaboration tool that we use to help you coordinate, plan and execute your social media strategy. We are one of the ground level companies that embraced Planable, and they even wrote a case study about us! We think they’re pretty spectacular!
5) Our design process
Designing a website, no matter how big or small, is an extensive process that can be overwhelming. To better help you understand what to expect during the design and development, we’ve outlined our process into 3 steps:
1) Define
A large and time consuming part of designing a website is in the planning and layout stage of the process. Depending on the type of site you’ve chosen, the process will vary.
Are you getting a one-paged site? We’ll use the info you provided to us in your survey to get your information ready for you to preview.
Customized Theme? Using the information that you’ve provided to us in the survey, we’ll prepare a home page and interior page for you to preview. Pending approval, we’ll begin getting the rest of the site pages ready for you.
Full custom site? We’ll be providing a wireframe design to you to preview, then we’ll create the Page/Menu hierarchy) of the website for approval. Pending approval, we’ll design the home page and a sub page (or more upon request) for additional approval. From when we have your content, this usually will take about 3-5 business days. Depending on the amount of content you have, this may vary, but we’ll let you know.
2) Design
Once the site layout and overall design is approved, we’ll move forward with the designing all site pages and implementing all functionality. We’ll make sure your site looks great and functions nicely across all devices and web browsers before moving to the final step. This will take approximately 3 business days.
3) Refine
Once the site is ready for final review, you’ll be able to review each page and we can make detailed edits until the site is ready for launch. We ask that you please review ALL pages to make sure all spelling, grammar, addresses and information are correct before going live.
6) Wrapping Up & GOING LIVE!
Once your new site is ready to go live, the especially fun part starts! We will redirect your domain to “find” your new site. Once live, it may take between 24-48 hours for the new site to pull up on some devices. Your browser may need to be refreshed in order to see the new site, though most will see the new site fairly quickly after the launch.
It’s important to note that Google will not “instantly” find you. This can take up to 2 weeks. We strive to build appropriate site structures so that you are found easily, but it’s not an instant process, especially if you have a newly obtained domain address.
Your website logins and all credentials will be sent to you via Basecamp or secure email ensuring the security of your passwords. Keep this information – we do not save this information for your security. However we can reset your passwords at any time. PLEASE SAVE ALL LOGINS FOR YOUR RECORDS AS WELL. Upon completion, you’ll receive a link to our Moving Forward page where you’ll receive tips and tricks on what to do to promote your new site.
This doesn’t mean our support to you stops…..at any time, you can initiate a message in Basecamp or send a request for support to support@sarismedia.com.
Feel supported? Great! Let’s get started.
Feeling a little overwhelmed? Please give us a call and we’ll walk you through the process: 612.454.1859.
If you have any questions, feel free to email and if you haven’t had a chance to, please fill out our: