Basically this questions could be reworded as: “What are the tasks needed to effectively bring a new website from concept to completion?”
As it turns out theses steps are numerous and take time and collaboration between client and the development team which generally consists of a graphic designer, an SEO specialist, a programmer and ideally a content developer/verbiage editor. In some cases one individual will wear several hats and perform more than one of these tasks offering you a lower price. But in our experience we’ve found that most people are stronger in one skill than another and a team approach gets the best results.
In summary, the following issues and tasks require attention from the professional team members and this takes time and that is what determines pricing.
- Defining the website goals and functionality. This usually involves several conversations and sometime face-to-face meetings between client and key team members – especially the designer and programmer.
- Selecting an SEO effective domain name.
- Assisting the client in registering said domain name.
- Selecting a hosting company that meets your needs.
- Assisting the client in setting up the hosting account.
- If needed develop a logo suitable for print and digital usage.
- Review competitors websites regarding style, keywords used, functionality, and SEO strengths/weaknesses.
- If needed review and edit client supplied verbiage. In some cases a professional copywriter is the best solution.
- Defining the website SEO keywords to incorporate into the page content and source code. For a thorough job on SEO competitive websites will be analyzed and keywords will be tested with software to determine the degree of competition. This process may require several cycles of testing and discussion to come to the best keyword strategy.
- Deciding on photographs and any other needed graphics. Developing such graphic images if needed.
- Now we can finally get down to designing the website, client reviews, revisions, programming and testing the site for desktop and mobile devices on numerous Mac and PC browsers (ie. Safari, Chrome, Explorer, Firefox and Opera).
- Adding Google Analytics so site effectiveness and traffic can be monitored. Potentially training the client to use this tool.