# The process behind a Brand Artery project.

To build your website, I use a powerful system consisting of WordPress, the Beaver Builder page builder and a set of carefully hand-selected plugins to guarantee stability, speed, security and user-friendliness.

Just like this system has grown over years of experience and research, so have my workflows. Here's the Brand Artery process: together, we get from first contact to the finish line in three phases.

## Phase 1 » Conception

- **STEP 1.1**
  - Your business
  - Your goals
  - Your visions
  - You

### Meet & Greet

We sit down for 1-2 hours. You tell me about yourself, your business, your goals. We explore ideas and wishes for website design and structure, as well as project scope and budget.

- **STEP 1.2**
  - Access data: hosting, e-mail etc.
  - Collection: visuals, text, video etc.
  - Development: front page draft

### Collection & Prototype

I craft a first prototype of your front page. You deliver contents and (access) data that you already have.

- **STEP 1.3**
  - Review of 1st draft
  - Project planning
  - Interviews

### Briefing

We look over your website prototype and lay down our design and content direction as well as project outline. Over a cup of tea, I learn all about your business, history and philosophy so I can create _your_ website, not a website by me for you.

- **STEP 1.4**
  - Written offer
  - Includes quote

### Quote & Offer

You get a written offer outlining scope, deadlines and price of the project in detail. I offer full-transparency, what-you-see-is-what-you-get pricing.

- **STEP 1.5**
  - 50% up-front
  - Project becomes binding

### First payment

To kick off the project, you pay a 50% deposit. After this step, we're both committed to the project. The remaining 50% become due when the website is done and we're both thrilled with it.

## Phase 2 » Development

- **STEP 2.1**
  - Development for computers
  - All pages
  - All available contents

### Dev: Desktop Version

You kick back and have a Piña Colada while I develop a full draft of your website for PC/Mac, including all pages and all available contents up to this point.

- **STEP 2.2**
  - Review of desktop version
  - Assessment of incomplete parts
  - Roadmap: remaining dev steps

### Showcase: Desktop Version

We review the desktop version together and determine what still needs to be amended, extended, completed.

- **STEP 2.3**
  - Responsive Design
  - Social media previews
  - Search engine metadata
  - Privacy, GDPR, imprint
  - Cookie consent
  - Security measures
  - Extended features

### Dev: Release Candidate

I build the full version, ready for release. Includes optimization for mobile devices (responsive design), metadata for search engines, social media previews, legal contents, 404 page, security measures and desired extended features, such as forum, live chat, custom content types, calendar...

- **STEP 2.4**
  - Inspection
  - Approval

### Showcase: Release Candidate

We meet up once more for inspection and approval of the Release Candidate.

## Phase 3 » Release

From this point on, design and content are fixed. Critical changes can still be made.

- **STEP 3.1** _(if applicable & necessary)_
  - Implementation: translations
  - Domain migration to new host
  - Content migration to new host
  - E-mail migration to new host

### Hosting preps, translations

If applicable and necessary, I produce and implement translations on the website and migrate domains, contents and e-mails as well as mailboxes from your old hosting provider to your new one.

- **STEP 3.2**
  - Final edits and fixes
  - Push to live environment

### Final Edits & Release

This is it! The big go-live. I make final revisions to the website and release the website to the wild.

- **STEP 3.3**
  - SSL encryption
  - Performance boost
  - Web analytics setup
  - Security check-up
  - Metadata & SEO check-up
  - Full QA testing

### Optimization

SEO steps, including page speed optimization, favicon implementation, SSL activation, registration with Google Search Console, local SEO and more. Also, installation and configuration of the web analytics tool, Matomo, which does the same job as Google Analytics. Followed by full SEO and security check-up, and final QA round for entire website.

- **STEP 3.4**
  - Training session
  - Handover
  - User manual
  - Final payment
  - Partnership

### Handover & Conclusion

You get a user's manual and training session, and after your final approval, I send you my invoice. From here on in, I remain available to you whenever you need fixes, additions, changes.

Which services do I offer and what do they cost? Learn more!