Here's a more detailed list of all of the things my customers can expect from each and every website I build:
- A hand coded website, lovingly built from the ground up by me- no templates or messy visual editors used.
- One email address using your domain name. For example, info@yourdomain.com.
- The domain name of your choice (subject to availability), registered in your name, for one year.
- Analytics that keep track of the visitors to your website- what they look at and how long for, where they're from, how they found you, and so on. All you need is to open a free Google account, if you haven't got one already.
- A search engine friendly site (brace yourself for some necessary technical terms!):
- Compliance with current internet standards (eg. no tables used for layout, as used to be the trend);
- Tidy, unfussy, valid and semantic HTML markup with external CSS style sheets attached;
- Accessibility to keyboard-only users and those with sight impairments (DDA compliant);
- Registration with the 'Big Three' search engines: Google, Yahoo! and Bing!
- Cross browser compatibility to ensure every potential customer/client sees your site in all its glory! Your site will look the same in all modern browsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer 9 etc.). While it might not look as polished in the troublesome earlier versions of Internet Explorer (6, 7 and 8), you can rest assured the critical aspects of your site – branding, usability, accessibility and layout – will be universal.
- Cross device compatibility to ensure everyone can use your site, regardless of the device they're looking at it with, whether a touchscreen device like a smartphone or tablet, a screen-reader for those with sight impairments, or a television or games console.
- Attention to detail. Some examples being:
- the design will be perfect down to the last pixel;
- I always design browser bookmark and iPhone icons for the sites I build;
- a custom 404 Error page, matching the style of your site, so that if someone types the wrong page into their browser, or follows a link to a page on your site that's been removed, they'll still know they're in the right place and will be able to navigate to where they want from there;
- print style sheets, tailor made for printing: black text on white backgrounds and all of the unnecessaries removed (eg. navigation bars) for easy reading and to save printer ink;
- every page will have its own page-relevant 'title' (the words that appear at the top of your browser). This also helps with search engine rankings.
- An easy to build upon website, so that future additions/changes are as cost effective for you as possible.
- As small file sizes as possible, for fast download times for viewers using dial-up modems (believe it or not, they still exist!) and mobile devices (iPhones, etc.).
- A site administrator- me! Though the site will always be legally yours, I'll look after your domain name reregistration and hosting renewals as well as general account/website admin. I'll notify you when anything is up for renewal and deal with everything on your behalf.
- As much aftercare as is needed- just email, call or text me with any questions you might have!
References are available through LinkedIn or by contacting any of my previous clients (see the Portfolio page on my website).
With your permission, I will place a link to your website from my portfolio page.