How I Can Help

Made to Measure or Off the Peg?

This concept is taken from the world of tailoring.

• Off-The-Peg Clothing: a convenient, and relatively fast and inexpensive, way to purchase an outfit. A limited number of styles will be available and there will be compromises on the fit.
• Made to Measure Outfits: usually cut based on an existing pattern but adjusted to fit, often after several visits to the tailor/dressmaker.

Am I the Right Fit for You?

Some other website designers and developers may offer the equivalent of fully bespoke garments (exclusive and designed to your exact measurements). This could be a good choice if you have the budget. These people may work with you to determine the right branding to appeal to your target market. They may provide copywriting and design services to maximise the chances that your website ranks highly on search engines and converts your visitors into paying customers. They may also maintain your site for you, in exchange for a monthly fee, to make sure everything runs smoothly.

It’s only fair to point out that my pricing page has a longish list of things not included in my website building services, and this is reflected in the prices I charge.

Both types of service that I offer do involve a fair bit of input and decision making from you. Having said that, with my “Made to Measure” option, you don’t need to have made all the decisions before starting; there is scope for trying out some different ideas until you reach an end result that you are happy with.

Off the Peg Websites

This option is aimed at people who have a lower budget, or who want to get something up and running quickly. You might consider this to be a minimium viable product – something that is sufficient for now but that can be refined later. Although, my aim is to produce websites that are good enough to last for as long as you need them.

I’ll ask you to look at my “Blank Slate” website (note that this is a work in progress) and choose just the sections that are relevant to you, re-arranged according to your requirements. I can also incorporate any features that appeal to you from my “Standard” demo website.

Blank Slate has a number of pages described as layout options. You are welcome to pick a “hero” section to appear at the top of the homepage, from one of the example pages, and then combine it with sections from any of the other layouts – just as you would put together an outfit by combining different pieces of clothing.

The hero you choose will depend partly on what type of images you have available. Some of these layouts will work only if you have an image with empty space for text, or one that works as a background with text overlaid on top of it, for example.

Please tell me what pages you require, which sections should go on each page, and provide the content, (e.g. text and images) of each section.

I have suggested some places to find images in my articles “Where to Find Free Website Graphics” (including in the comments section where I add new resources that I come across) and “More Places to Find Free Graphics“. Many of the places I’ve listed also sell resources.

Please ensure that all photographs, and other images, have been legally obtained and respect the copyright and licensing requirements of their creator. Note that some of the free stock photography websites hide away, within their terms and conditions, the fact that photos of recognisable people should not be used for commerical purposes. It may be safer to buy a license if you want to use a photograph showing a person’s face, so that you know that the subject has signed a model release.

I’ll need you to provide between one and three colours for your design – see my Colour Scheme Suggestions page for inspiration. You may find it easiest to pick a palette from one of the sources listed under the heading “More Ideas” towards the bottom of that page. I just need midtones from you; there’s no need to give me all the darker and lighter variations of the colours.

I also have a Font Suggestions page if you want to choose some that are different from the ones I’ve used on the Blank Slate website.

You’ll need to purchase hosting for your website, install WordPress and give me login information for the WordPress dashboard.

Once you have sent me everything described above, I can build the website. You’ll need to check the results and confirm that everything seems OK. At this stage, you’ll get one final chance to tweak things slightly. You can send me one email with a few changes (e.g. change the colour of an item, move the sections around, edit the wording). This is one of the main differences between the off the peg and made to measure options, as the latter offers you the opportunity to make many adjustments before signing off the project as complete.

The other big difference, which enables me to offer this option at a lower price, is that you do a lot of the planning work yourself – based on guidelines that I have put together (see the section further down this page titled “Planning Your Website”).

Of course, it’s possible to buy a ready made item of clothing and then customise it by changing the buttons, shortening the length, dyeing the fabric, or adding ribbons and lace. In the same way, you can take one of my off the peg websites and then either tweak it yourself or hire someone (which could be me, but doesn’t have to be) to make the changes for you. This is something that can be done again and again, to breathe new life into your website over time. If you do want to hire me to make changes to your site in the future, that would be a new project and would be charged accordingly.

Made to Measure Websites

The easiest way to understand this option is to read the section above and then consider the differences.

If I’m going to build an off the peg website, then I need you to specify what you want me to include and where to put it. With a made to measure site, you can be a lot more vague and we can start by discussing your requirements.

You can send me your thoughts, based on the guidelines in the “Planning Your Website” section below and I’ll produce a first draft. As before, this is likely to be based on my Blank Slate website but, this time, it’s just a starting point.

I’ll ask for your feedback, make some changes, and we can repeat the process until you are happy.

Planning Your Website

If you’re hiring me to produce an off the peg website, or building a website yourself, then these questions could help you as you plan the site. If I’m building a made to measure website for you, then feel free to send me anything you’ve put together during this planning stage.

You don’t have to answer all the questions, and remember that nothing is set in stone; content and styles can be changed even after the site is complete.

The Purpose of Your Website

• Why do you want a website?
• What action do you want people to take as a result of visiting your site and is this different for different sections of the site?

Content

What sections do you want your site to have? For example:

• About
• What you do / Services
• Testimonials
• How to find you
• Image Gallery / Portfolio
• FAQ
• Blog (note this could also be called: Latest News, News, Updates, Diary, Journal, Recent Work, Articles, etc.)
• Contact form

Any of the items listed above could form part of a homepage rather than being displayed on separate pages.

What content, e.g. text and images, do you want to display? It doesn’t matter if this is just a draft as it can easily be changed.

I recommend Imogen Allen’s article “What Makes a Good Website Homepage” and also some clear and helpful guides by Gill Andrews: “Creating an Effective Homepage” and “How to Write a Killer About Us Page for Your Small Business Website“.

Do you have a good idea of the structure, layout and appearance that you want? You could make sketches, draw diagrams or bookmark examples of websites with features that you either like or dislike. My collection of “Website Design Inspiration” links might be a good starting place.

The Look and Feel of Your Website

It could be useful to consider what sort of person your site is aimed at and to think of words that describe your vision for your site.

When considering the appearance of your site, you may find it helpful to put together a mood board to help you reflect on styles that will appeal to your target audience. This could be pictures from magazines or photos you take yourself, or you could use Canva, Milanote, or a board on Pinterest (see this blog post by the brilliant Melissa Love at The Design Space “Using Pinterest To Nail Your Next Creative Project“). Don’t worry if the idea of creating a mood board is overwhelming though; it’s not really necessary.

How much will it cost?