There are many steps necessary in gathering information to successfully configure MemberLeap and develop a new website that meets the Client's specific needs. While a lot of information is gathered during the sales process, our Customer Service and Design staff will be conducting their own research and possibly asking similar questions, so they can better understand the client's specific requirements.
In order to maintain our timeline, it is helpful when communication is held to a 24 hour or less turnaround time. Also, good communication and feedback always make this process go faster. Finally, it is extremely beneficial when all communications go through our ticket system, so it is documented and accessible by both the Client and various Vieth Consulting staff working on the Client's project.
The website design process begins by asking the Client to complete an online Website Questionnaire in our Ticket System. If the Clients' Project Manager needs to gather feedback from others in the business regarding the new web design, they can each download a PDF of our Commercial Website Questionnaire to provide their feedback. After compiling this information, the Project Manager can then complete the online form. This will allow us to learn more about the Client’s business goals, website content needs, and features required as well as aesthetic style requested.
After the questionnaire is completed and returned, our Project Manager will schedule an online GoToMeeting with all primary parties that need to be involved during the project to make sure everyone knows their role with regard to the website process and what is expected of them, and a general plan will be determined.
From the information gathered in both the questionnaire and the Planning Meeting, our designer will usually create three different designs of the home page. Of these options, the Client will decide which direction is the h3est, and revisions will be made to this design to ensure it is exactly what the Client is looking for. The header (area at the top of a webpage that usually includes a logo and navigation menu) and footer (area at the bottom of a page containing contact and copyright information) of this design will be used to frame the content of all the other internal webpages.
We ask that the Client designate one person who acts as the intermediary between our designer and any interested parties of the Client. All designs will be sent to the Design Contact to gather feedback and push for consensus internally. Revisions and suggestions will be automatically entered into our ticket system by simply replying to design emails.
We will also create one broadcast email message header and one eNewsletter header that is branded to match the Client's website header.
View a gallery of our clients’ websites.
After a final design has been approved by the Client, we will move into framework, which is the actual building of the webpage (header, footer, navigation bar, etc.). Any significant changes to this design after this point will be billable hours at our median hourly rate (currently $125 per hour, subject to change). Also, it is during this phase of the process, the new website will be fully integrated with MemberLeap.
Once the framework is in place and connected to the Content Management System, we will work with the Client to get the content added to the new website by creating an outline to determine which content will be migrated over from an existing website as well as new content needed for additional webpages.
We will tailor MemberLeap and configure the modules to meet the Client's specific needs (customer plans, custom data fields, merchant accounts, etc.).
The portions of the newly built website or MemberLeap that require custom programming will be built using the framework mentioned above. After this stage is completed, the majority of our work is done.
We will provide detailed guidelines regarding our data conversion process, including an Excel spreadsheet template. During this phase, we will ask the Client to provide the current customer data from an existing system, so we can convert it and load it into the Customer Database. The Client’s customer data is limited to one file, up to 50 fields wide. There is an extra minimal cost for files with more than 50 fields wide, and this cost is determined after analyzing a sample of the Client's data. We will only do this once as a service included in this package. There may be a short period of time where the old and new systems will both have to be maintained simultaneously until the new system is tested and approved. If we have to convert data again, there will be minimal additional charges.
After we have migrated the content over to MemberLeap and the Client has verified the data conversion is complete, we will schedule live training sessions using online GoToMeeting to educate the Client about the tools available to manage the new website and use the various MemberLeap modules. Sessions can be unified among various topics: general overview, content manager, help desk, etc. The personalized training sessions will be recorded and then stored in the Client’s File Archive to reference later and for new system Admins to review.
We support numerous payment processing companies, such as PayPal, Authorize.net, ClearGate, and others. If the Client has an existing merchant account that we already support, there will not be any additional charges. However, if we haven’t worked with them in the past, integration of a new gateway typically requires three billable hours. Alternatively, if the Client doesn’t currently have a merchant account, we can help find a solution appropriate for the Client’s budget and needs.
The new website will go through a final testing where we verify that it is cross-browser compatible, is mobile device compatible, meets security standards, and is easy to use and read.
Once testing is complete, we are ready to release the website and make it live. We usually release a new website Monday through Wednesday to allow us to address any problems that might arise on Thursday and Friday (before the weekend).
Since SEO is a complex topic, an effective long-term optimization strategy can be time-intensive. We can tailor this strategy to the Client's unique needs. We will review the content of the new website and make search engine optimization recommendations, so the Client can get search engine-based web traffic results.
Once the new website and/or MemberLeap is released and meets the Client’s approval, any additional work (other than bug fixes) would be considered billable hours at our median hourly rate (currently $125 per hour, subject to change).