Usually – not much. If you have a good web hosting company and a good website design agency, then the process is usually predictable and painless. but there are a few things you want to consider before selecting a web design firm:

• Fixed-cost contracts versus per-hour billing
• Terms and conditions for rework
• Client communications
• Post-launch support

One of the standard sales practices in the web design space is to provide clients with as low a quote as possible - initially. You may get a low initial quote but at the end will be paying 50% or even more for “extras”. It is important to clearly discuss what is included in the quote and what is not.

Joomla Bliss offers our clients a fixed-cost contract where we commit to a mutually agreed budget for the entire duration of the project. This includes project management, training and post-launch support.

Another great advantage of working with a boutique web design firm like Joomla Bliss is the fact that we nurture and baby our clients. With larger agencies, after the first or maximum two rounds of corrections, clients are usually requested to invest more to get the job done exactly the way they want it. Joomla Bliss makes sure that at the start of the project we clarify all the requirements and discuss layout samples in good detail. And later, we do not charge for rework. We work until the client is fully satisfied with the results. 

If you are working with a larger web design agency, and if your project is not very lucrative for them, your communications with their project managers and account executives (yes, you will have to coordinate with both!) will leave much to be desired. With Joomla Bliss, on the other hand, you will enjoy nearly instant communication and outstanding customer support.

The same goes for post-launch support. With larger web design agencies, clients are usually required to sign up for an annual maintenance contract. Joomla Bliss provides free customer support for the first two calendar weeks after launching a website to the client hosting environment. This time is usually sufficient to clarify those issues that may have gotten overlooked during training (training is also provided as part of the contract at no additional cost).  If further maintenance or support are required, we offer highly flexible website maintenance SLA options.

As a rule, a new website for a small business takes 2-3 weeks. For a medium business a new website takes about 2-3 months. As a service provider, we are financially motivated to complete the project on time. Most marketing folks find that getting their management to review and approve things ends up being the main challenge. 

Yes, before we start a website project, we create a project plan. We then request that the client review and approve it. Our payment schedule is tied to the project plan.

It all depends on what your website is meant to do. Joomla Biss offers flexible packages and custom web design solutions. Our most popular website design package for small businesses is a Gold package for $1,600. This package includes a full set of the most important functionalities a typical small business would want to have. Please review what is inlcuded in our Gold website design package.  

In practice, however, a lot of our clients order additional features, such as, for example, a dynamic calendar of events, store locator, job board, financial reporting, document management system, membership management system, payment process, etc. All such features - and many others! - can be added after your base website has been built. Please not that once we provide you with our official quote, we commit to it for the full duration of the website design project. Our web design contracts are fixed-cost and all-inclusive.

Approximately 90% of all websites we build fall within the $3,000-$10,000 range. 5% of our websites are in the $15,000-25,000 range. But there are also websites that fall under our Golden package for $1,600. 

In most cases the answer is "Yes". In some cases, for a large website design project, more than one meeting maybe a good idea: at the very beginning and then mid way. However, we have clients in Toronto with whom we never met in person. If meeting time is an issue, we can schedule a teleconference via Skype or other software. For management of the website design project, email and phone communications are often sufficient.