How We Work

Our website work process depends entirely upon your needs. But it generally looks a bit like this:

1. Initial Meeting & Scoping (You and Moiagroup)
   This step assumes that you’ve already met us and decided that you want to work with us. Our first meeting will involve all of us sitting down together and setting the parameters for the project. What do you want to accomplish? Who do you want to reach? What kind of an image do you want to deliver? What specific bits of functionality do you need? That kind of thing. We’ll figure out what we need in the way of materials, which typically includes logo files (if you have one), photos, databases (if needed), etc.
2. Materials Delivery (You)
   At this point it’s your turn to do some of the work: we’ll need a rough content outline, as much of the content as you can provide, and whatever graphic materials we’ve identified in step 1. If we’re working with a writer, or if we’re going to help you with the information architecture, this step will be somewhat different. But you get the idea. This is also where we typically ask for an initial payment to get us started.
3. Design (MoiaGroup)
   Monte will begin working on an initial design concept that has the elements you want and the functional bits that hold it all together and make it look like a website that people know how to work with. At the end of this step you’ll receive a snapshot of a homepage design and a second level design.
4. Design Approval (You)
   If you’re not happy, we’re not happy. We’ll work with you to refine the design until it’s what you want. We’re not afraid to argue with you if we think it will result in a design that works better for you, but we’re pretty persuasive and we’ll do our best to make you think it was your idea to begin with.
5. Production and Coding (MoiaGroup)
   At this point Monte will break apart the flat design snapshots created in step 3 into optimized graphic files and Ian will start putting it back together again into good, clean XHTML/CSS templates that work with WordPress or whatever CMS we’re using.
6. Content Population (You and MoiaGroup)
   The site will now be a living, breathing thing living on one of our production servers, like “http://you.moiagroup.com”. At this point both of us will be able to use the administrative interface to start adding pages, news stories, and other content. There’s no such thing as a “finished” website (at least no good ones), but we’ll try to get as close as possible.
7. Testing (You and MoiaGroup)
   Once most of the content is in place and the functionality is ready, we’ll both go in and test the site. Different browsers, different users, unexpected content — all of this will help us make sure that the site is ready for the public.
8. Approval (You)
   Once you’re happy and confident that the site is looking and working the way it should, you let us know and then we can move on to the next step, which is much less work and a lot more fun:
9. Site Launch (MoiaGroup)
   This the the moment you’ve been waiting for: we transfer the new site to the live server environment, let Google and all the other search engines know it’s there, and watch the traffic stream in. At this point we usually ask you for the final payment, too.
10. Launch Party! (You)
    This is where you celebrate your new website and buy your whole company drinks. We’ll come too.

Custom Applications

If we’re developing a custom application, the process will be more complicated, like the code itself, and will almost certainly involve a lot more ping pong. We can help you design an implementation-neutral specification (i.e. a development roadmap that doesn’t assume anything about who’s going to do the work or what tools they’re going to use) and we can also help you develop storyboards and simple prototypes to flesh things out. We encourage prototyping as a way to make sure that what you say and what we hear are the same. We use tools that let us get the basics up and working quickly (like RoR or Cake) and spend our time (and your money) on functionality that we know you want and that’s unique to your application. If you want to know more or discuss how we can work with you, contact us.

What if I already have a designer/programmer?

No problem. We’re happy to do as much or as little as you need.

What about hosting?

We don’t provide hosting. We work with several hosts we like a lot, like eapps, mediatemple, and others. Your hosting is your business, and that’s a relationship you have directly with the hosting company.

What about monthly costs?

Our whole process is intended to make you self-sufficient. With that being said, things will come up that require a little bit of our help — security upgrades, template modifications, etc. When these things happen, we can give you an estimate on time and cost and go from there. It’s safe to assume 2-3 security upgrades a year, and they usually take 15 minutes or so.