Frequently Asked Questions

How much and how do you charge for a website?

Please see the Services & Pricing page for details about my pricing and service offerings.  I require a 50% deposit on every project before work begins, and I use PayPal for my invoicing so that you can pay by credit card in addition to mailing a check.

How far in advance do you book projects?

For website projects I usually book 4-5 weeks in advance.

How long does it take for you to build a website?

The average semi-custom project usually takes between 2-3 working weeks from start-to-finish, and the average fully-custom project usually takes between 4-5 working weeks from start-to-finish.

Note that the time-to-completion for a project very much depends both on the scope of the project (larger projects take longer) and the turnaround time for feedback.  I’ve worked with many clients 1:1, which tends to go quickly, and also entire marketing teams, which tends to go more slowly.  I’m glad to work either way, but you should know that it will effect the schedule.

Do you also write the website copy? (IE: Do you do copywriting?)

I give all my clients advice and tools to help them discover what’s most searchable and relevant for their project so that their content is designed to connect with their target audience and search engines, but I am not a copywriter.  While I am glad to advise you, you will need to provide me with the actual text for the various pages of your website.  I also think it’s nice if your website copy is written in your own voice.

I am glad to refer my clients to a great web copywriter if you want to hire professional help.

I have a photographer/illustrator/logo designer/publicist/book cover designer/etc… — will you work with them directly?

I am glad to work with your assembled team on your project with you, either answering questions for others about what we need for the website or providing information to them so that they can do their job successfully.

Can my existing site stay in place while we work on the new one?

Absolutely.  Once your new site is ready to go live, I can archive the old one for you and replace it with the new one so that there are only scant moments of downtime during the transition.

How do I maintain my new website? Do you do website maintenance?

Although I build every site I create with simple maintenance & updates in mind, everyone is different.  Sometimes clients who are technically savvy can take their site and run with it and I never hear from them again.  Some need a helping hand with bigger items occasionally.  And others want/need someone to do everything to do with updating their site.  I’m glad to work with any scenario, and reserve time in my schedule for ongoing maintenance for my existing clients.  I can usually get to smallish updates within 3 working days, and will provide an estimate for how long something will take me before I begin work.  For any work that I do like this I charge hourly at $95/hr, and send an invoice at the end of the month for any time accrued.  This kind of maintenance is only available to clients for whom I created a website.

I’m also available to answer questions and/or do WordPress tutorials to help my clients do updates themselves, and phone or email consultation is also billed hourly.  Fully custom projects automatically include an hour of tutorial time.

Separate from content updates, I also do WordPress (and plugin) updates on a monthly, every-other-month, or quarterly schedule for any of my clients who want/need it.  Wordpress & plugin authors regularly release updated versions of themselves (just like the Apps on your phone) and you want to stay on top of these because they often fix bugs and patch security holes in addition to adding new functionality.

For WordPress & plugin updates I take a site backup, then take care of all available updates, then optimize the database to keep things running smoothly and remove spam or extraneous/expired WordPress files left from the update.  I charge $35 each time I do this and it’s only available to clients for whom I created a website.

What’s the process for working with you on a website?

1. Every project starts with an information gathering phase.  This is when I learn about your business, your goals, your brand, your concerns, your target audience, your future plans, your aesthetic preferences, etc…
2. Using the information I gather, we come up with the outline for your website together during a strategy session.  I make recommendations to you about what the pages might be, and what they might include, and most importantly why. We factor in search engines at this point in the process to set us up for the best possible searchability for your content before it’s even created.  The result of this strategy session is an outline that acts as a checklist for both of us — for me to create the site making sure everything we want to have included is included, and for you to know what I’ll need you to provide to me to build the site (such as photos or text).
3. For semi-custom projects I use this information to recommend WordPress themes that will work best for your project based on what we’ve established your site needs to be.  I provide you with things to consider as you’re reviewing my recommendations to help you make the best choice for your project.  For fully-custom projects I start by designing a mockup of the Home page of your site — the most important landing page.  The design establishes the overall look & feel for the project, the framework (what’s available in the header and footer throughout the site, for example), and the layout and content for the Home page.  There’s time built into the process to make changes to this, and once you approve it I move on to build a custom, responsive WordPress theme, from the ground up, to match.  I don’t use a WordPress theme framework or a child theme.  It’s a fully-custom-coded theme just for you.
4. I install WordPress for you and set it up for the project, then I install the theme and set it up for the project, then I build out the Home page.
5. Once the Home page is in place I provide you login details so that you can check out the site-in-progress.
6. There’s time built into the process for changes at this phase, and once those changes are in place, I move on to filling in the rest of the page content (and/or migrating blog content).  I optimize the layout of each page based on the content and goals for the page.
7. Once you’ve approved the full site, I install Google Analytics, create an XML sitemap, and optimize your metadata for search engines.
8. The site goes live whenever you’re ready!

What’s the process for working with you on a logo?

1. After gathering information from you about your business, your goals, your audience, your voice & aesthetic preferences, Kate will generate 5 unique logo concepts for you to choose from.
2. After gathering your feedback about the initial designs, she will refine one (or more, if desired) of the ideas presented for your final review, resulting in a final logo that can be used for the web or print.
3. Kate delivers multiple formats of your final logo so that you can use it from a tiny profile image on Twitter all the way up to a huge printed banner at a conference and everything in between.