Creative Website Planning
Is the beginning of the basic design of the website that you as an
artist and/or creative business may need.
If there are a few artistic designs you have seen while browsing the internet that appeals to you then copy the URL from the address bar and bring it to the scheduled consultation as a reference to get an idea and possibly a jumping-off point but it’s not required.
If you’re not sure what kind of a website design you need don’t worry, this is the reason that I set up these recorded conversations so everything gets noted and not missed.
You’ll need things
like graphics, image count, content, color preference, logos (if you have them) anything that you would like to include for the website including the domain name, bio, contact and business info, etc.
If you are new and just starting out I will guide you as to what information is needed and create a keyword structure so your website gets ranked well in the
SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
I don’t use a tiered standard pricing structure because each person or business has different design needs but you need to keep in mind that a starting budget of $500.00 is generally a good starting point.
Setting a budget is important because this way all the costs are upfront and without any surprises.
(I hate surprises as much as you.)
Live Chat or Live Stream Video Conference.
This will set the threshold of the basic design and size of your website. Depending on what you would like to have generally I find that 5 to 7 pages are all that’s needed for a start-up site to reach your goals quickly.
The basics include a home, about, contact, services, portfolio, gallery, blog (optional)
Then there are the required pages, i.e. privacy policy, search results, 404, and sitemaps.
Perhaps you already have a website and just want to drive more customers to your door?
We can do that too with a “Landing Page” designed just for that.
Landing pages are “One Page Websites” designed for one purpose.
To bring you, buyers, customers and, purpose!
No matter what that purpose is they all are intended to bring you more business and sales based on the various types of
S.E.M. (Search Engine Marketing)
This is discussed a bit further on the S.E.O. and Marketing page.
Creative Website Planning
is something that is done in stages where we will create a design based on our initial consultation. We will determine whether you need a standard WordPress.org application to
“get you up and running.”
I don’t recommend anything unnecessarily for the sake of making a dollar and I will tell you why you may need what I have included in the design due to the performance and security of your website.
Hosting & SSL
Shared hosting is the least expensive and most affordable but the least effective because you are sharing the server resources with many other websites. This is fine if you’re just looking for a website to send friends and customers too and that may be all you need. But as a start-up business or an artist that wants to have an
extensive gallery, shopping cart, and additional pages as you grow then I would recommend hosting that is more appropriate for a single website with dedicated resources. A secure and enticing experience for customers is what will keep them coming back.
What is SSL?
Security is a top priority during website planning and should not be taken lightly. A basic SSL is fine for most websites that don’t involve a shopping cart and/or an online store are the least expensive. SSLs are billed every year and vary according to the needs of your creatively designed website. Pricing is figured in for the first year of hosting but then after that, it is paid yearly at the time of renewal. For further reading here is a great article about SSL on one of my favorite ad-free websites
Hubspot. What Is SSL?
There are many things to creating a website for artists and small businesses and this may seem overwhelming to you but this is what I do and most likely the reason why you’re reading this.
I take care of the technical stuff and will explain the details in ‘Lehmans Terms’ for those who wish to take care of their own website and bring more visitors to your door and lift the burden of educating you in the details and technical “mumbo-jumbo.”
I started working with WordPress in 2003
when 1.0 was released and I could write a book on what I have learned through my experience but as an artist, you have more important things to do than listening to my adventures.
Rather than boring you with the details, you can leave all the technical stuff and website planning to me and once we put a plan in place then I’ll be able to give you an idea of the costs and start a basic design that fits your artistic style and still stay within the search engine algorithm requirements for a fast performing website.
Then if you like the ideas and can agree on a budget we’ll move forward with setting up the basic structure based on our scheduled conversation.