GoDaddy
Web Design
Web Development
Webflow Development
SEO
This is a great example of what I can do on a limited budget. Grant approached me wanting to build a personal project that could turn into a business someday. Grant's got a passion for online gaming, and he wanted to share his knowledge with the world! We were able to work together to bring his vision to life for a reasonable price, and help keep the internet full of personal pages and passion projects.
I get asked this question a lot. Often with a small business owner, or a personal project, my client won't have ever worked with a web designer or developer. They might have done some research, but often my client has at best a vague idea of what the process will look like. I believe that explicit communication is key to a good client/freelancer relationship, and I try my best to make sure my clients understand what's happening at every step of the process.
It starts when I provide a timeline to the client for how long the work should take. I break this down into different phases (i.e. research, design, development, SEO) and include in my estimate how long I expect each phase to take. For a smaller project such as this, there won't typically be a lot of research or design time; I use my existing industry knowledge for research and do the design on the page. That was the case for Guided by Grant, and we worked out how the design would look on a staging site that comes with every Webflow account for free. I can use a staging site when I develop WordPress sites too; it's just a bit easier on Webflow and one of the reasons I recommend Webflow for a project like this.
My default is to send out weekly updates by email once a week on Fridays. I'm a freelancer though; that means I'm flexible and can work with your schedule. In Grant's case, we did the weekly emails, as well as a 30 minute meeting roughly every two weeks to talk about changes and go over things. That schedule worked for him and helped him to feel comfortable understanding what was going on at all times. Were there obstacles? Of course, that's life. But with this framework, even if one or two meetings or emails are missed, we never get far off the track. Whether you prefer a lot of communication or a little, I can work with you to dial in exactly the amount that you need.
In this case, Grant wanted to use AI generated images for most of the assets. I designed a simple logo that went well with the color scheme and font choices that we chose. For a site like this, I only use free icons, forms, assets, etc... unless the client provides anything, which I am always happy to use! If a client wants a simple site with professional design, I can help with that as I would with any site. That's when I would bring in a professional designer. While I do design user experiences and user interactions, I am not a Professional Designer. I've spent my career focusing on development, with a side in design; designers have done the same on the other side of the fence. I know a few great designers I can recommend that come highly rated.
It was great working with Grant on this, and it was a fun project overall. I got the opportunity to use some great attributes from F'insweet that really cut down on my design and development time. I also use their client-first framework to easily manage the styles for my clients' websites. In this case and with most of my clients, I created a framework that they can modify after I'm gone. I create training videos for you and your whole team to utilize in the future. I also offer simple and affordable maintenance contracts for a worry-free website experience through the life of your business. Contact me today if you'd like to get started on the website of your dreams!
