What actually happens, step by step

The nine steps

1. 01

   Step 1: A first conversation

   One call, sometimes two. I ask what your business does, who your customers are, what you want them to be able to do, and what you like and dislike about other sites in your industry. We also talk about budget early, so neither of us spends time on a plan that was never going to work.

   Your part
   Show up and talk about your business. No preparation needed.

2. 02

   Step 2: A written scope and a quote

   I write down what we agreed: the pages, the features, what’s in and what’s explicitly out. Then a fixed price against that scope. For anything open-ended, an hourly estimate with a cap instead. You get this in writing before any money changes hands. If it doesn’t match what you thought we said, this is the cheap moment to fix it.

   Your part
   Read it properly and push back on anything that looks wrong.

3. 03

   Step 3: Contract and deposit

   A signed agreement covering the scope, the price, the timeline, and who owns what. A 50% deposit before work starts; the balance is due at launch. The contract protects both of us. It’s as much a commitment from me about what you’re getting as it is about getting paid.

   Your part
   Sign, and pay the deposit.

4. 04

   Step 4: Setting up your accounts — in your name

   Before I build anything, you register the accounts the site will run on, under your own name and on your own card. I get added as a collaborator or admin. Never the owner.

   Domain and hosting, in plain words

   Your domain is your address. Mine is fostercurtis.dev. Hosting is the computer that answers when someone types it in. A domain runs about $15 a year; hosting for a small site runs from nothing to about $25 a month, depending on what the site has to do. The reason I insist you own them: if we ever stop working together, you keep your website, your address, and your email. You can hand the keys to anyone. This is the single most common way small businesses get stuck with an agency they have outgrown, and it costs nothing to avoid.

   Your part
   Create two or three accounts and add me to them. I walk you through it.

5. 05

   Step 5: Content

   I need your words and pictures: what you want each page to say, your logo, photos of your work or your space, hours, address, phone number. We agree on a date for it. If you’re not ready by then — which happens; you have a business to run — I write placeholder copy and use stand-in images so the build doesn’t stall waiting on you. We swap the real material in later.

   Your part
   Photos, logo, contact details, and whatever text you have. Rough is fine.

6. 06

   Step 6: The build

   This is the part where I go away and make it. You hear from me weekly: what got done, what’s next, and anything where there’s a real tradeoff worth your opinion. You won’t be surprised at the end, and you won’t have to chase me for a status update.

   Your part
   Answer a weekly check-in. Usually five minutes.

7. 07

   Step 7: Your review, on staging

   When it’s finished you get a link to the whole site, working, on the internet, but not yet at your real address. You click through every page on your phone and your computer, try the forms, and tell me what’s wrong. We fix it, you look again, and then you formally sign off.

   What “staging” means

   A private copy of your finished site at a temporary address, so you can use the real thing before the public can. Nothing is live until you say it is. That sign-off is also what the word “done” means in the contract: the project ends when you say it’s right, not when I say it’s finished.

   Your part
   Actually click everything. This is your last easy chance to change things.

8. 08

   Step 8: Launch

   I point your domain at the finished site and it goes live. I check that it loads properly, that forms deliver, and that search engines can read it. The final invoice goes out for the remaining balance.

   Your part
   Pay the balance. Then tell people about it.

9. 09

   Step 9: Afterwards

   Quarterly checkups to make sure nothing has quietly broken, plus updates whenever you need them: new photos, a price change, a page for a new service. Whether that runs on a monthly retainer or hourly as needed is your call.

   Your part
   Email me when something changes about your business.