Step 1 Research & Preparation
The design of your website can be as simple or complex as your imagination. i-did-this will handle the transition from an idea, to a fully functioning website.
Roughly sketch out how you want your web site to appear, Think about colour schemes, logos, etc. and make references to other web sites that you like. If you already have existing marketing material i-did-this will replicate it for you on your website.
Now the hard work begins...
Transfer your titles, sections and content on to a word processor. Include titles and a brief introduction for each section or page.
Most web users tend to scan a web page for the information rather than read each line of text. Therefore it is best to use short paragraphs, small chunks of text, or bullet points accompanied with an appropriate graphic or picture that leads the visitor, via a mouse click to the detail they require.
As you compose the content of your website start to assemble any pictures and graphics in separate files.
Ideally pictures should be taken with a quality digital camera, properly exposed, in-focus, good colour saturation and saved as JPEG files. The ideal size is approximately 500 X 500 pixels with a file size of 50Kb. i-did this will resize your pictures to suit when constructing the web page.
How would like people to access your website, your "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator, the standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web)?
A URL looks like this: http://www.my-web-site.co.uk
The important part is the domain name, represented here by the "my-web-site". This can be your family or company name or something that relates to the content of the web site. The only restriction is that nobody else is already using it. If you have decided that you want a website it is advisable to secure your preferred domain name as soon as possible even if you are some way away from completing the preparation of your website content. Let i-did this know what your preferences are and we will take care of the registration on your behalf. Acquiring a domain name will only cost you our standard registration fee.
The standard registration fee only covers .uk domains. You can of course have any available domain you like .com, .net, .biz but these have additional charges associated with them.
Send your draft web site design to i-did this.
If it is for a single page or small multi-page web site it should be possible to email your work to us at webdesign@i-did-this.co.uk.
For websites with many pages or where there is a large amount of graphic content copy your work to a CD or DVD and send it to;
Step 6 No Obligation Quotation & Payment Terms
For an eCommerce website it is essential to have pictures that do justice to the products on offer. i-did this will be pleased to offer advise on the suitability of your pictures for publishing on an eCommerce website.
In addition, having your own domain name gives you email accounts that incorporate the URL so for instance could have your.name@yourURL.co.uk as your email address. Again, i-did this will make all the necessary arrangements and advise on the best options to meet your requirements.
i-did this
122 Mill Lane
Solihull
West Midlands
B93 8NZ
Having followed the steps above with i-did this, we will present you with;
- A no-obligation quotation based on the approximate number of pages your website is likely to need,
- Any additional costs for professional services work required making your content suitable for the internet,
- A rough draft of what your web site will look like.
During the development of your website you can make changes to your content at any time. We will advise you of any cost implications before we commence work implementing your changes.
Once you instruct us to proceed we will immediately register the domain name, set up the hosting space for your new website, enable your business emails and publish a simple holding page that presents visitors to your domain name with your logo and contact details. We will then commence work on your website.
Payment for the one off registration fee and the first 12 months per page hosting fees are due within 30 days from the date you instruct us to commence work or completion of your website whichever comes first. For a one page website that would be a total charge of £80 for the first 12 months and then £5 per month on commencing on the anniversary of the date we commenced work.
Single page websites can be completed in just a few days. More complex solutions such as an eCommerce website probably will require face to face consultation and can take more than 30 days to complete.
Once construction of your website is complete a final proof will be submitted for your approval.
When we have received your approval and any payment adjustments i-did this will publish your website.
On the anniversary of the date we were instructed to commence work payment of the monthly hosting fees for each page of your website are due. For websites that have less than four pages, monthly fees are payable quarterly or annually in advance. For website of more than four pages monthly payments can be made by standing order.
Website that fall into arrears will be suspended. A charge of £25.00 is made to reinstate a suspended website.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO WORKING WITH
i-did-this
Plan on paper what you would like to see on your website. To ensure that your presence on the web is a lasting one and your web site is one that people want to revisit, spend as much time as you can surfing the web making notes of the websites you like and the reasons why.
Write down what you want to achieve with your own website. For instance is the purpose of your web site to; provide information, present yourself, promote your company, sell your products and services or all the above?
Make an outline title list of what you wish to present. For a Hobby website this could be an introduction to your hobby, why you find it interesting, information about your hobby, how others interested in your hobby can contact you and a list of other website who share your hobby with you.
Now make a list of what categories or sections are needed to support each of your titles and start to flesh out each category and section with topics that need to be covered. These sections can contain highlights of your information with a links to further information either on your website, as a downloadable documents or elsewhere on the internet..
Seeing it on paper is only one step away from seeing it on a website.
How many pages your web site will include will start to become apparent from this process.
However, if this is not possible don't worry too much as we can optimise whatever pictures are available
If you only have printed pictures or documents digitise them using a computer scanner or send them to us and i-did this will be pleased to do this for you.
Getting Started
i-did-this is a website design, publishing and hosting company.
View us as your publisher and graphic designer, we take your content, that is the words and pictures you want published on the internet and format it so that it looks good and is optimised for use on the world wide web.
Ideally we would like the words sent in a word processor file, not as a draft but as the final version with the associated pictures and graphics in separate image files.
However, we realise the reason that most of our customers engage with i-did-this is that they don't necessarily have the skills or time to produce the content in this format. We will accept the content in any format, even dictated over the phone but we may need to make a charge for any preparation work required on your content to make it ready for inclusion onto your website.
The following step-by-step guide will assist you in preparing your content and provide you with an understanding of some of the processes involved.
Step 3 Pictures
Step 2 The Look & Feel
Step 4 Send i-did this your work
Step 5 Domain Name & Email
Step 7 Marketing
Marketing is by far the most important step towards having a successful website. If you wish people to use your site they will need to know how to find it. Basically this happens in two ways;
- If the website is an extension of your existing business, including the website address on all your conventional company marketing material and stationery will direct visitors to your website and the information they require.
- If you wish your website to be found by any potential visitors browsing the internet you will need to include on your website content that attracts the attention of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, etc. Just submitting your site address to a search engine company is no guarantee that your website will be included in their listings. I-did-this will be pleased to offer advice on what is best for you.
Copyright © 2005 i-did-this
All rights reserved.
If you have further questions you would like answers to or you would like to chat through the options, you can call us on: 07837 650 166 or mail at, enquiries@i-did-this.co.uk.
