here follows a number of steps to creating a new website from scratch.   You can choose to perform many of these steps yourself, or your designer can do them on your behalf.  Which option you choose is up to you, but the more you leave to your designer, the more the website is likely to cost.

When contracting Scriptus Web Design to build a website, we will work through these steps with you to clearly identify which areas are our responsibility and which are yours.

An asterisk * beside one of the steps below indicates that primarily this item is your responsibility, though we are always happy to help if needed.   A † indicates a step that we are responsible for.

• 1. Evaluate need and budget *

  Are you certain a website is what you, your group or business needs right now?  If you are sure, you need to identify your budget parameters:   how much are you willing to spend?

• 2. Identify website goals *

  What do you intend to achieve with your website?  Promotional gains, information dissemination, buyers, members, sales?  Identify your target audience and ask yourself what you wish to present to your viewers, and what you hope to receive from them in return.

• 3. Initial planning & brief *

  Now you need to start planning how the website will look and work.   How many pages will you need? (Hint: a Homepage and Contacts page should be a minimum)  Got a company logo, letterhead or colour scheme?   How about a load of pictures you'd like to use?  These should all be considered in the planning of your website.

  Draw up a wish list - anything you would like to see in your site should be included.  Mark the items in your wish list with a priority grading from very high priority to very low priority.    Include all your dreams and ideas, regardless of how fanciful they might seem.

  The brief you create is the tool which your designer will use to mock up your website.  You'll save yourself and your designer a lot of hard work if you take your time and deliver a good brief.   Have a look at our guide for a step by step guide with many tips, clues and hints to creating a killer brief: How to write a great brief.

• 4. Proposal †

  • Functional specification
  • Estimate or quotation

  Having delivered your brief, the design team at Scriptus will go to work and spell out the functional specifications for your website.  We'll return this to you along with an estimate or quote for the site.

• 5. Proposal acceptance & initial payment *

  As the client you need to signify your approval of the proposal by making an initial payment of 50% of the total cost.  Of course we are happy to renegotiate the proposal if it doesn't meet your needs.

• 6. Host negotiation *

  or

   †

  This is either your job or ours depending on your preference for a host.   We need to establish where the site will be hosted and the hosting parameters as these will influence the website build.

  If you know nothing about hosting check out our hosting FAQ: Hosting Basics.

• 7. Domain name registration

    (if required)

   *

  or

   †

  Again your job or ours depending on how keen you are, or if you already have a domain name registered.  The ability (or inability) to register a specific domain name might affect the website naming, so this step should always be completed before the site is mocked up.

• 8. Website mockup †

  • Content
  • Graphic design
  • Developer testing

  At this stage we take all the information you have supplied and combine it with the functional specification, hosting services and the domain name specifics to build a "first draft" of your website.

  We design the layout, apply the colours, create graphics and generate markup for each page that your website will have.

• 9. Client testing *

  We'll give you time to view and use the draft website in order to allow you to get a feel for the site, how it works and how it looks.

• 10. Agreed changes *

  &

   †

  Any changes that need to be made to the draft site are implemented.   Changes made still need to fall within the agreed website parameters or extra charges may be incurred.

• 11. Client signoff *

  Once you're happy with the site, signify your approval and we can "go live".   Full settlement of your account is now due.

• 12. Search engine listing †

  We list your site with the major search engines to make absolutely sure you can be found in their searches.

• 13. Website hand over †

  Once your account has been settled, we release the site to you.

• 14. Upgrades *

  &

   †

  We usually negotiate at least one upgrade with the initial proposal.   This gives you a little time to "run the site up the flagpole to see if it flies".   If it doesn't fly, your upgrade is a chance to make any changes you would like.