Do you offer Maintenance?

The answer is yes — of course! A Think it First website is a flexible and durable marketing tool that’s designed to evolve with you and the changing tech world around us. And our goal has always been to help you get the most from your website investment long after launch. Today, it’s so important to keep your site maintained, updated, and secure so that you present an optimal experience to your customers on all the devices they use. Investing incrementally in maintenance is the best way to protect your site’s overall appeal and value, keep you safe and secure, and spot and fix bugs on the regular.

So what is my role in all of this?

This is going to be your website so we ask that you remain involved and responsive for the duration of the project. We will do most of the heavy-lifting, and keep you updated about how things are going and what we need to keep the project moving forward. Some of the things we will need from you: Access to existing accounts and passwords for certain services like DNS registry, old websites, FTP, etc or introductions to the parties that have access to these resources.

Your involvement is critical to help keep the project on track.

What if I need to put things on hold for a bit?

We get it, stuff comes up. If at any point you need to put the project on hold, we can pause. Once you’re ready to get moving again, there is a 5% restart fee to continue.

Why do you use WordPress?

WordPress is open source content management software and currently powers over 30% of all websites on the internet. The project is contributed to by tens of thousands of developers all over the world and has grown from a blogging platform to a fully-featured CMS option when executed correctly. WordPress allows us to develop flexible and customizable websites to modern standards and observes web development best practices. Furthermore, the community of web developers that use WordPress reaches far and wide and allows us to tap into this collective intelligence and bring that wealth of experience to your project.

How long will it take to appear at the top of Search Rankings?

The time it takes for your website to appear on page 1 of Google depends on a number of factors. It depends on the search phrase people are using to find your website and the number of other websites that are also available for those search phrases. Nobody can truly say how long it will take for your website to appear at the top of search engine results pages (including people who actually work for Google), however, there are a number of factors that can improve your chances. Building your website on WordPress is a good start as WordPress has some great Search Engine Optimization fundamentals built-in. Creating unique and interesting content on a regular basis for your website is also critical to increase your visibility amongst search engines. Launching your website and then forgetting about it is a surefire way to get lost amongst the noise.

We are happy to talk to you more about your search engine strategy, just reach out.

How will I know if anyone is visiting my website?

We will install Google Analytics / Search Console software on your new website in order to see a wide range of statistics about your website including the number of visits, page views than the amount of time people are spending on your website. If you already have these accounts on an existing website, great! We can use them instead.

What happens if I want to add some features to the website while you’re building it?

We like to be flexible and responsive to your needs, we also like to deliver what we promise within the timeframes and budgets we have allowed. If you ask us to add new features to your website while we are building it, will most likely ask why? If we all agree that your new request will help us achieve our objectives then we will be more than happy to oblige.

If this new feature is something you would like to add to your website but is not directly tied to your original objectives, then we will suggest a change order or possibly we will schedule it for a second iteration of the website once it has been launched. Change Orders will be priced at a blended creative rate of $150/hr. The blended creative rate is a mixed rate including strategy, marketing consulting, graphic design, and web development. The scheduling of a new phase after the initial launch of the website will require a new proposal or an ongoing maintenance plan.

How compatible will the new website be across devices and browsers?

The new website will work across all major, current browsers and devices at the time of release. If you, or your client base, require support on browsers that pre-date 2016, we can accommodate these specific technology requests with additional effort.

How many design comps will we receive for review?

We produce one (1) set of design mock-ups provided for consideration. TIF has spent years defining a process to produce accurate, strategic designs based on all of the knowledge gained about your organization in the early discovery steps as well as Think it First’s combined industry experience. This design set will include the home page and a select group of secondary pages needed to convey the overall design intent. We also include one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions.

What is information architecture?

Information architecture is the relationship of how all the different pages of a website are related to each other. This is communicated visually through a sitemap.

Example of a TIF sitemap

What is a TIF Blueprint?

A TIF Blueprint is an interactive prototype (or wireframe). It’s a “blue” and white version of your website that is designed to prove the functionality and features as they will work in the browser. TIF Prototypes are not your average wireframe. They are very polished, however, design elements such as color and imagery are not applied at this stage. A pivotal point in the project, the prototype is built to allow all parties to make final decisions on the functionality as well as add critical input to the important design and style of the website.

Example of a TIF Blueprint

Any other costs I should be aware of?

We strive to make the price quoted in our proposals all-inclusive; however, there are times when other incidental expenses may occur. In these instances, we ask that you reimburse Think it First for all out-of-pocket expenses incurred in performing our jobs. Potential incidental expenses may include, stock photography, video or custom fonts.

Questions We Regularly Get (And You Likely Have) – Part I