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A
website upgrade, or update, can range from a simple 're-skin',
a new design applied to an existing site, to a complete make-over
covering content, design and purpose. At its most basic a
website upgrade is usually triggered by a need to change the
design or to add improvements or both.
As
a customer of cpnwork you'll be provided with information
about the entire process and the cost of each stage of the
update. Gone are the days of receiving just a quote and a
design with no explanation.
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Essentially
a website update should encompass the following process:
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Stage
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Name |
Process |
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1
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Need |
Why does your website need an update?
What are your competitors doing?
Is your website looking 'tired'?
Is there a need to update web based services?
Does your site just need a re-skin?
If there are improvements, these can be incorporated into
the subsequent Assessment (Stage 2) and Design (Stage 3).
Incorporation of improvements at this stage can offset costs
in the next stages.
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2
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Assessment |
An assessment should cover
the existing functionality of a website and any approved improvements.
This is the basis of any build and can be done in conjunction
with the Design (Stage 3). The resulting document should include,
but not be limited to, site navigation, number of pages, a site
map, content needs, search engine optimisation needs and any
other issues that need addressing. |
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3
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Design |
This stage covers a visual
representation of the design and associated design brief. The
brief explains the components of the design; how the new design
will work. At this stage costs can be kept down by creating
a 'fluid' design. This is a design that covers the basic pages
in the site but does not encompass all of them. A fluid design
can be altered during the actual build (Stage 5) to meet the
needs of the existing content. |
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4
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Plan |
Also known as a Build Brief, this is the
project statement. It should outline the cost and the timeframe
for the actual build and reference previous stages as required.
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5
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Build |
This is the actual build. It
should include testing of all changes and then the final release. |
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6
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Review |
This stage allows all parties
to review the site for completeness in regard to the Build Brief.
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Cost Structure
How the update is approached will be determined by the complexity
of the site. Billing for a small site update would probably be encompassed
in one document. For larger more complex sites, Stage 1 would normally
be cost free. Billing would be at the end of Stages 2, 3, 4, and
5. This allows you to both defer your costs over the entire process
and bring in specialist 3rd party services for specific site update
needs and cost them appropriately.
For an assessment of your website update needs contact
cpnwork today!
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