The Build Process

As Easy as 1-2-3-4

We have been developing sites since 1996 and for the past two years have focused exclusively on websites built on WordPress for business owners and marketing directors. We have a focus on perfecting the build process to make sure we do what we say we will and our customers get the websites they need.

1. Idea:

You are ready for a website that puts control in your sales, marketing, customer support, product development and public relations departments versus your IT department. You have an idea for your new site, but your are not sure how to get there.

2. Meet:

If you are in the Minneapolis area, we invite you to our Burnsville office so that we may walk through your needs and our capabilities in person. Don’t let distance turn you off though, roughly 70% of our business is from out-of-state (or country) and this meeting can be handled with desktop sharing online and the telephone.

3. The MarketSmart Site Build:

Once agreements on project scope, materials needed and launch date are agreed upon, we start our build process from Planning through Launch.

• Plan
• Design
• Build
• Train
• Launch

Plan

We go through our Online Marketing Worksheet with you, covering your markets (both B2B and B2C), messaging, content available and the measurable goals for the project. We also help you select the needed add-ons, and any customizations that will be necessary. Advanced planning available: Brand Playbook, Editorial Calendar, and Rules of Engagement.

The project overview and wireframing outline will be the first two project milestones. They outline the scope, schedule and price of your project. Once all parties have agreed we can move on to the next step: design.

Design

It all begins with a Style Guide. The Style Guide outlines your logo usage, color scheme, fonts, call-outs and other images we can use throughout the site build and any site add-ons you select such as social media and database marketing. If you do not have a Style Guide to provide to us let us know – we can help you create one.

Site Mocks presented at this milestone will be developed by working from your designs, purchasing them online, through one of our partners, or using our designers.  Once all parties have agreed we can move on to the next step: build..

Build

During the build phase, our team will work the project plan outlined in the wire framing process and apply the design to all aspects of the project. Custom site features and integrations are also added during this phase. Before beginning this phase we assure all materials are assembled to make sure we are efficient as possible with our client’s time.

When your new site is tested and ready for launch it will be presented at this milestone. Once all parties have agreed we can move on to the next step: training.

Train

What good is a site that you can’t drive? As we are prepping the site for launch we will train you and your team to read your site dashboard, control content, handle social media / email marketing and access us for assistance. All of our packages include some training, the amount of training depends upon the feature set of your new site.

Initial training is available through our post-launch services. After your initial training we can move on to the next step: launch.

Launch

Once we are a go, our team goes through the launch sequence including testing, transfer and search engine care. If you have an old site, we will handle the transfer according to suggestions for the search engines. During the launch week we schedule time to be available for hand holding should any adjustments need to be made.

Two weeks after launch, we run our post-launch diagnosis to make sure search engines are updating, leads are flowing and tracking is active.

4. The Newsroom: Post-launch Services

Once your site is launched we won’t leave you. We want you to succeed. We invite our MarketSmart customers to attend training on marketing principles, database marketing techniques, social media strategy and much more.