WILSOL LLC - Site Development

WILSOL LLC - Site Development...

An early objective of collaborative website development is centered on two components:

Acquainting you with the development process and gathering a comprehensive body of information - i.e. - specifications and text of your site.
Provide you with a cost quote and a design sample of how your site will look.

We usually accomplish this with 2 meetings. The first to collect information and answer your questions about the process. The second to present design drafts and to acquire feedback on work completed to date.

Note: Meetings can be conducted via the Internet with a series of e-mails. We find electronic communication to be more thoughtful, so we encourage everyone involved in the project to have access to the web and e-mail.

The first meeting:

To acquaint you and ourselves with each other and to present an explanation and/or demonstration of several aspects of the Internet including some of your competitor's sites. We aim to discuss features of the Internet and opportunities which may help your business income. Our goal is to demonstrate some Internet concepts first hand, so feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

WilSol will be responsible for:

Creating the textual information on behalf of your site? (yes or no).
Creating the graphical information on behalf of your site? (yes or no).
Obtaining a URL for the Client as:
- 1st choice: www. .com or org and a 2nd choice: www. .com or org
Announcing number of pages with the top 10 Internet directories. (yes or no)
Hosting the site on our Windows2003 server. (yes or no)
Hosting fees are $20 per month (due quarterly in advance) for up to 10 megabytes of storage.
Providing digital photography (yes or no)
Company legal name/Billing address/Contact person/Telephone number:

The second meeting:

This will be the most important meeting of your project. We ask that all persons involved in the project be present. The development agreement is usually completed at this stage, which includes a retainer fee equal to 20% of the estimated or fixed cost of the project.

The collecting of a good deal of information will occur before substantial site development. Generally speaking, it's possible to collect most of this information during our initial meeting with you, however, it's common for clients to check with their staff or partners regarding issues and to get back to us with direction. Clear communication of elements presented here is critical, so we encourage you to ask ANY questions you have.

We can't stress enough the importance of sharing with us all the necessary information at this stage. This provides us with the foundation on which to efficiently build your site. There are simply too many parameters and variables involved in projects of this type to proceed confidently without accurate information from the start. Without accurate information there WILL be missed opportunity and potential misunderstandings.

Information to gather:

The completion date of the project.
The budget or not to exceed cost:
Who else needs to understand what is being developed?
Purpose
- What is the purpose of the site?
- What is it expected to achieve?
- What's the goal of the communication?
- What is it that you would like to accomplish with this web site?
- Who is it that you're currently talking to? Established clients, prospects, the industry?
Optional Questions:
- What is your companies overriding purpose or prime directive?
- Do you feel that your company’s present image/brand exemplifies its directive?
- How do people that either buy your products or use your services perceive you?
- How would you like them to perceive you?
- What do you want the target audience to do with the information you’ll provide?
- Describe the feelings your business conveys to your customers that move them to a buying decision.
- How do you facilitate the feelings with your current practices?
Content
- What content is the site expected to deliver?
- How frequently does this content change?
Design Questions
- Describe a general "feel" or image you wish to convey with the site.
- Do you have example of the style you'd like to mimic?
- What identifying graphics, existing logos, colors, music or artwork need to be incorporated into the site?
- Are there standards for using these? (i.e. can we use the logos on the International site?)
- How much latitude do we have in how these materials are employed?
- Is this site an extension of an existing identity defined elsewhere?
- Do you have example sites, layouts or print material?
Description of the audience (optional)
- Who is your best customer?
- How are they expected to interact with the site?
- What hopes or fears exist in your target customer?
- Describe the people you want to communicate with - your target audience.
  - Who are they?
  - Where are they?
  - What do they have in common?
Which of these interactive functions are we to include in the site:
- Message board(s)
- Guest registration
- Survey(s)
- Form(s)
- Visitor analysis logs or counter
- Calendar
- Community Information
- Local or industry News
- Storefront
- Hover buttons
- Animations
- Streaming audio
- Photographs
- Links to other www.addresses - like?
E-mail forwarding addresses?
Will we be training you, or your staff?
Is there existing copy or text?
Is the text in digital form?
Will we be converting images from print to digital?
Will we be creating original digital images/pictures.
Do you want to learn how to update your pages yourself?
Following the second meeting, WilSol will take the information gathered and generate a design concept.

The Next Step:

Following the completion of this questionnaire, WilSol will take the information and generate a detailed accounting of the elements of the site and generate a price quote. If you choose to proceed with the website project, the development agreement is usually completed at this stage, which includes a retainer fee equal to 25% of the estimated or fixed cost of the project. Checks should be made out to WILSOL LLC.

The Second Meeting:

When some of the information has been gathered and with provisional approval, the following should be presented at the 2nd meeting, which can be via email:
A review of the design concept reflecting the "feel" of the site.
A schematic or site map of the "pages" contained in the site, and the major links between the pages.

Completion of Website:

Once the website is completed and meets with your approval, you will receive a final invoice for the balance (75%) of the project. Checks should be made out to WILSOL LLC.

Thank you for considering WILSOL LLC for your website project!