To start the project you will be assigned a project manager who organizes all the tasks, the design & development team, and the client.
The Project Manager will:
- Communicate with the Client
- Communicate with the LaLa team members
- Help LaLa team members and client move forward with their tasks
- Collect information and assets
- Unblock or work through any issue that may arise
- Review and test completed work
GOOGLE UP & GO:
Every client needs a Google account. We can use an existing one, or setup a new one for you.
- We use Google Drive to create a shared folder with LaLa Projects
- All of the project deliverables will be deposited into this folder
- This is a great place for clients to give us digital assets like logos and photos. No need to email all the assets, just drag and drop into the folder.
- In Step 5 we’ll use this account to setup additional Google Tools
In the end, you will have a well-organized collection of digital assets for your business.
Learn more about our approach to Google Drive and Asset Delivery
Option 1
Create New Logos & Style Guide
Logos MUST be scalable in size. This way, you can use them on all marketing platforms from your website and social media pages to your letterhead or a billboard.
In addition to new logos, we will work to develop a style guide that will define your brand’s colors and fonts. This will be used in all your brand assets, influence your website design, and be included in the Press page.
Option 2
Gather Existing Logos & Branding Assets
We’ll work with you to gather and organize your existing logos and branding assets. We’ll evaluate what you have and spin up what we need for your website.
Add on a Style Guide
Websites have a way of bringing your brand into focus. If you don’t already have a style guide and you want one, we can work with your established logos to create one for you.
Visit our Logos & Branding page to view our portfolio and learn about the deliverables you’ll receive.
Step 2: Website Design & Content Strategy
Website Design
Once we have the brand established, these assets will be used to influence the website design. Before we do any coding, we will create a graphic representation of your website. In the website design, we will work to highlight all the topics of importance with design information or sales funnels. This will help your website visitors quickly find the information or product they’re looking for.
Content Strategy
We’ll work with you to understand the services and/or products of your business. This will help determine what pages need to be included in the website and set the stage for content development. During this step in the website design process, we’ll also be focusing on how to organize content in a way that will drive sales using call-to-actions.
Step 3: Website Development
We recommend building the website with WordPress. WordPress is affordable, very flexible, and highly customizable. In addition to being an easy-to-use content management system, it allows us to build a custom-designed website that will suit your exact needs.
LaLa Theme 4
See the LaLa WordPress Theme 4 in action on our documentation website theme4.lalaprojects.com. This theme is well supported; we continue to add new blocks, features, and plugin extensions.
This theme uses the new WordPress Gutenberg content editor with building blocks functionality. Gutenberg makes creating new pages, blog posts, and content blocks a breeze. We are excited to be able to offer you the latest and greatest tools available.
Child Theme
We use the LaLa Theme 4 as a parent theme and layer a custom child theme on top of it. This gives us the ability to customize the website to match your brand style guide while also inheriting all the features and functionality available within the parent theme.
The parent/child theme setup also gives us the ability to update your website with new blocks, features, and functionality when they are rolled out in the future.
With the introduction of the new WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor comes the styling of the Editor itself. Out-of-the-box the editor is styled to match LaLa Theme 4. You have the option to style it to match your custom child theme.
- Con: It requires a separate style sheet, so it adds a little time/cost to the development.
- Pro: The editor will match your front end, so it will make page building easier to visualize in the backend.
Some plugins are required to make the website fully functional. When you work with LaLa you get discounts on premium plugins. Visit our Hosting page to get details on pricing
Required Premium Plugins
- Advanced Custom Fields Pro
- Smart Slider 3
- Font Awesome Icon Library Pro
- Formidable Forms Pro
Optional Premium Plugins
- SmashBallon Social Feeds:
- Bundle Social Wall + all Individual Social Feeds. See Example
- Individual Social Feeds: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube
At their core, all businesses and organizations offer products and/or services, but each one is unique. Depending on what you do and how you do it, you may want to consider developing custom functionality for your website.
In the world of WordPress, we approach website customizations through the following options.
This setup is similar to a blog. There is an archive page that shows all of the posts and there are detail pages that show the individual post. This requires 2 templates.
Content blocks give you the ability to place the content on any page or post within the website. Gutenberg and LaLa Theme 4 come with a set of standard content blocks.
We have the option to create custom blocks for your unique needs.
Custom page templates are used much less since the introduction of blocks. They are commonly used to custom style a blog or online shop.
These are stand-alone programs and can be made up of Custom Post Types, Blocks, and Templates. The benefit of a plugin is that it can easily be applied to multiple websites. This could be beneficial if you are managing multiple sites with similar functionality.
Other customization might be the setup of an out-of-the-box solution that often requires template customization. Common examples of this are WooCommerce and The Events Calendar. Both solutions are so robust they really require a developer to set up properly.
Step 4: SEO, Content Development & Page Building
Search Engine Optimization
You can build a beautiful website but without SEO, it won’t give your business the support you need. SEO is an extensive topic and we are very passionate about it, so we built an entire page discussing our approach. Head on over to our SEO page to learn more.
What is website content? Good question!
Option 1: Content Coaching for DIY Copywriting
The biggest challenge that all clients face is writing website copy. You are the expert in your organization and an integral part of developing the website messaging. Even though you know what you want to say, it can be challenging to know where to start, how to stay motivated, and what keywords work for your brand. At LaLa Projects, we provide you with a content coach to help you write compelling and effective website copy.
Option 2: Copywriting Services
Well-written copy tells your story, connects with your target customers, and your audience a reason to convert. Along with enhancing your website’s user experience, your website copy is crucial when it comes to your search engine ranking.
If writing your own website copy feels like too big a task to take on, let’s dodge the DIY and connect you with a copywriting partner that suits you and your business.
After the child theme is built, styled, and content has been created, the next step is to build out all the pages. We do this using WordPress Blocks, Smart Slider, and Formidable Forms.
Part of the page-building process involves selecting which images to use. We size and optimize all images for the web and accessibility.
We use the Smart Slider Premium Plugin to create interesting slideshow experiences with style and movement.
Form building is an important part of the sales funnel. Forms provide a call-to-action that website users can take to achieve their goals. We use the Formidable Forms WordPress Plugin to generate custom forms on websites. All website forms can be set up to send email notifications to one or more people within your organization.
- Additional Form Options
- Adding eCommerce to website forms requires a plugin extension for a merchant provider like Stripe or Auth.net.
- Add a plugin extension to connect your forms to a bulk email solution like Mail Chimp.
- We can create even more integration and automation with Zapier
Setup Digital Business Assets
We will evaluate or assist you in setting up the following Digital Business Assets.
Recommended Items
- Website Domain: yourdomain.com
- Setup Website Hosting
- Use the Google Account to setup the following Google Tools:
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Google My Business
- ReCaptacha
- Other Google APIs if needed
- Domain-based email if desired
- Add an SSL Certificate
- Free SSL for lower encryption
- Paid SSL for high encryption for websites to securely process transactions.
- Organize theme, plugin, and software licenses.
Optional Items
- Termageddon supplies dynamically updates policies that keep pace with changing laws. Learn more about why this is important.
- Privacy Policies are required for all websites
- Terms & Conditions are required for eCommerce websites
- Disclaimers are required for websites that use affiliate links
- Mail Chimp or other bulk email provider.
Next Steps
Contact us to work through the final steps. Contact Debra for assistance, email create@lalaprojects.com or call 616.635.1045
- Review your Proposal
- Get questions answered
- Select which options you wish to move forward with.
- Get a Final Estimated Price
- Sign Agreement
- Pay Deposit
- Kickoff Work!
