Communication is the key to a successful outcome. If we have not already talked, the first step in your web design project is a free consultation to discuss your ideas.
After the initial consultation, the following are the Terms and Conditions and a general outline of the process for a new site design or a website redesign project:
1. Website Planning Phase
Proposal and Client Agreement
Based on the decisions made during our preliminary talk, I will prepare a proposal detailing the project requirements and their estimated costs. Upon your acceptance of the proposal, and depending on the project, I may also send you a Client Agreement to be signed and returned to me.
Payment Schedule
- 50% Down Payment
A non-refundable down payment is required before work on your website project begins. Typically, the down payment is 50% of the estimated cost of your project.Upon receipt of the down payment, I will schedule your project and we can get to work.
The down payment is non-refundable once I have begun research and/or started working on design concepts and mockups.
- 25% Progress Payment
On new site designs, website redesigns, or other large projects that take more than a month to complete, a progress payment of 25% of the estimated design cost may be required 30-45 days after the project begins.
When a project involves design mockups, the progress payment will be due after you have accepted the final design mockup if the mockups have been completed before date the Progress Payment is due at the 30-45 day mark.
The progress payment must be received before I start creating and coding the actual website pages.
Refunds: Please note that if the project is paused or terminated once development of the web pages has commenced — either at your request or at my discretion due to a prolonged wait for content or requested feedback from you — an accounting will be made of all work completed up to that point to determine whether a refund of the Progress Payment might be available or an additional payment is due from you if the payments made to date are not sufficient to cover the costs. A paused project can be resumed with an updated agreement in place.
- Final Payment
Once the website project is completed, tested, and approved by you, I will issue an invoice for the final project cost based on the original pricing estimate, less payments already made, plus any additional costs for work that you requested that was not part of the original quote.Upon receipt of the final payment, your new website will be removed from draft mode or transferred from the development server to your web hosting server to launch your site to the public.
You can pay by check, money order or credit card. I process credit card payments via PayPal. You do not have to have a PayPal account to pay by credit card.
2. Website Design or Redesign Phase
Your input is not only welcome but is necessary. The more I know about your site requirements and design preferences, the more successful I will be in creating a design that is perfect for you.
Appearance and Layout
We will have conversations and do research to determine the look and feel of your site. Things to consider:
- Do you have printed materials (business cards, brochures, etc.) that your website should complement?
- Do you have a logo that should be displayed on your website?
- What colors do you like?
- What tone will your site express? Will it be serious, spa-like, playful, bright, or conservative?
- Where do you want the main navigation menu to appear? Above, below or to the right of the logo/header?
- What special features will your site need?
Assignment: Look at other websites and provide me with a list of sites that have features, colors and styles that reflect your ideas for your site.
Design Mockups
Once we have generally agreed upon a design style for your website, I will create up to three design mockups for you to choose from. We will tweak the chosen mockup until it meets your approval.
Once you have approved the final design mockup, your 25% progress payment is due before any work on the actual website begins.
3. Website Content Creation
It’s not absolutely necessary, but it is helpful if I have content as early in the design phase as possible. At the very least, I will need to know approximately how many pages your site will have and their purpose so I can design the navigation architecture accordingly.
If you are unsure how to create or organize content for your website, I offer consulting services that include guidance and resources to help you get started.
Text
You will provide the text for your site. The text should be ready to publish, already spell-checked and edited for grammar and punctuation. I will only be formatting and coding the content layout, not proofreading it for errors.
Please email content to me in a format that allows me to copy and paste the text into the WordPress editor. Word processing documents (like Microsoft Word) or plain text files sent as email attachments work best. If you mail documents that require that I scan and/or type text manually, an extra charge will be added to your final invoice for time spent scanning, typing and proofreading at my $50.00 per hour design rate.
Graphics
You may have a logo, photo, or other images that you want displayed on your site. You may want to use stock images to complement your text. If you have ideas but don’t already have your images, I can suggest some affordable online graphic and photo resources. Images can be emailed to me as attachments.
Optimizing Content for Search Engines
Depending on how reliant you are on getting traffic from search engines, a separate discussion on search engine optimization (SEO) may be in order. SEO is a complex and long-term process, but the basics are fairly simple to put in place. You can implement simple on-site SEO strategies as you create your site content, or we can tackle optimizing your site and tracking traffic as a post-launch project.
4. Website Development and Coding
Once I have received your Progress Payment, I will begin creating the web pages on a private development server, using the content you have provided.
When all of the pages have been completed, I will make the site available for your review. You may see a few changes that you would like to make during this phase. There is no charge for minor tweaks.
Cost and Schedule Changes:
If you decide that your site needs any significant changes that go beyond the scope of the original Proposal or Client Agreement, the design you approved, or the content originally provided by you, there will be additional costs to make these changes.
During development there is a certain amount of feedback and content required from you in order to progress to subsequent phases of development. Any failure to respond to my requests for information, missing content or design change approvals will cause the project to be placed on hold and will void my previously estimated timeline for completing the project. After I receive what is needed in order to move forward with the next phase of the project, a new timeline for completing the project will be determined subject to available time in my schedule.
I will make reasonable efforts to complete the project on time. Small delays may occur due to illness, emergency work required by other other clients, or other unanticipated events. Should a delay occur, I will notify you about the issue and let you know if any change to my estimated schedule for completing tasks will be necessary.
Bear Data Services will not be liable for breach of contract where that breach was due to software, hardware or electrical failure, internet service interruptions, or natural events such as fire, severe weather, or other events beyond the control of Bear Data Services.
5. Launching Your Website
Once you have reviewed the completed website located on the development server and approved it to be ready to go live, I will invoice you for the final 25% of your project cost plus any fees for extra work that you requested.
Upon receipt of your final payment, I will move the website from the development server to your server and your site will be live!
After the site is live on your server, we will test that all links and interactive features, such as forms, are functioning properly. We can still make any final minor adjustments that might have been missed prior to launch without an additional charge. If you are using email addresses associated with your website domain name, we will make sure you can receive and send email.
6. Maintaining Your Website
Any additional work that you wish me to do for you will now be considered to be post-launch website maintenance.
Tracking your site’s traffic and enhancing your online presence with additional features and functionality can be addressed at any time.
Your website is never finished. It will be evolving as your online needs change.