ASGC & RAAC Webite Development
Prepared by Chris McMahon on October 31st, 2019
Project Overview
The project objective is to rebuild the existing ASGC website using WordPress with deisgn changes that will improve navigation and ease of use on mobile and tablet devices. The finished site's WordPress template will then be used as the theme for the RAAC website.
The more I get acclimated to the new design, the better I like it. It feels clean and airy, like it is breathing.
Paul Bernish
CCO
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Project Scope
Design
Option 1 - Minor Design Changes
When rebuilding the site, changes will be made to improve the usability of the sites navigation and usability on mobile and tablet devices
Option 2 - Complete Redesign
The site will be completly redesigned with a clean and modern layout, allowing the site to be easy to maintain and quick to download.
Since the majority of traffic these days comes via mobile devices, we will employ a Mobile First/Responsive design approach.
Every decision will be viewed through the lens of speed, ease of use, and whether is satisfies both the users' and the client's goals. This does not mean bandwidth-intensive elements such as video will be excluded, merely that it should be initiated by the user instead of foisted upon them.
The site layout will adapt to the user's device so that the site will be usable across a wide range of screen sizes such as desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
Design Exploration
Finding the best design to meet the needs of the project.
- Mood Boards: I will create several boards containing multiple options of colors, fonts, graphics, and other design elements for the client to choose from. The mood board process includes up to 4 additional hours of research should the first offering need refinement.
- Homepage: I will create the homepage based upon the decisions reached during the review of the Mood Boards. This is also the phase where many of the global design elements, such as the header and footer, will be designed. Up to 6 hours of revisions are included in this phase of the design.
Alternative Design Exploration (Optional)
This option is for clients who would like to evaluate more than one design direction. In order to provide a different prospective on the design solution, I will engage one of the other designers I work with on a regular basis to complete this phase.
- Mood Boards: I will create several boards containing multiple options of colors, fonts, graphics, and other design elements for the client to choose from. The mood board process includes up to 4 additional hours of research should the first offering need refinement.
- Homepage: The designer will create the homepage based upon the decisions reached during the review of the Mood Boards. This is also the phase where many of the global design elements, such as the header and footer, will be designed. Up to 6 hours of revisions are included in this phase of the design.
Designing In-Browser
Instead of the traditional design process of creating static design mock-ups in a graphics program such as PhotoShop, I prefer to design within the web browser itself.
This allows for the client to view and interact with the site across multiple platforms (mobile, tablet, desktop, etc).
If the option of adding an alternative design exploration is chosen, the designer who works on that may not take the same approach.
Supporting Design Elements
These elements round out the site design, providing content specific templates.
- Primary Interior Templates: After the homepage is approved I will move on to the interior page templates, including one & two column templates, news/blog templates, and a contact form template. This phase of the design process includes up to 4 hours of revisions.
- Landing Page Template (optional): The landing page template will be a simplified version of the interior page design that focuses on converting visitors brought to the site by online marketing such as pay per click ads, social media promotions, and email marketing. This phase of the design process includes up to 2 hours of revisions.
- Email Template (optional): I will design and build a email template to be used for email marketing. Up to 2 hours of revisions are included for this phase.
Development
Content Management
The project will be using WordPress as the content management system. This will allow the client to easily make updates and additions to the site.
A WordPress theme will be custom built for this project. The theme will focus on design only. Functionality will be handled by plugins. This approach allows for the site's theme to be updated or changed without affecting the content and functionality of the site and also ensures that only elements needed for the site are included, avoiding all of the bloat that is common with pre-built themes.
This will lead to improved performance, ease of maintenance, and portability of content.
Up to 4 hours of training is included in this proposal.
Features, Changes, and Technical Requirements
- Ability to add a rotating banner
- Events Calendar
- Ability to assign events to multiple categories
- Events can be filtered by activity
- RSVP or purchase tickets for events
- Accept donations (payments to be processed by either Stripe or PayPal)
- Current resources section of site will be replaced with a note asking to call for information
- A resource directory that is searchable and can be filtered by type and location is a planned future improvment, the cost of which is not included in this proposal
- Password protected section/document reposirtory for internal communication
- Email newsletter signup forms integrated with Constant Contact or other email service provider
- Contact Us page with email form
- Removal of Chat system
- Simplification of site footer
- Install and configure Yoast SEO and integrate Google Analytics code
- Include Social Media links and/or social media feeds
- Site will be ADA Compliant
SEO
Site Structure
The site will be built in a manner that follows best practices with regards to Google’s guidelines for search engine optimization. For example: proper use of headline structure, page titles, and alt text for images.
Site Map
A human accessible page containing a listing of all public facing pages will be included to help with wayfinding and search engine indexing. The site will also include an XML version of the sitemap, as many search engines also use that in their indexing efforts.
Redirects
As the project is a redesign of an existing website, redirects from current URLs to new URLs will be put in place to assure that no existing pages indexed by search engines return a 404 'Page Not Found' error. This will also help maintain any relevancy that search engines have assigned your current site.
Analytics
A Google Analytics account will be set-up (if one does not already exist) and integrated into the site to allow for search traffic analysis.
How Two Owners Got the Web Sites They Wanted
A New York Times piece on Mackey Advisor's experience building their website
Chris helped us relaunch our website in 2011. He was so easy to work with, made great suggestions, and has been a HUGE asset since completing the project. He is a great resource when it comes to the tricky pieces of web design, a great trainer, and takes the time to break things down for a non-tech person. I really enjoy working with him.
Grace Mohr
Operations & Communications Director
Mackey Advisors
Site Specifications
- Site will be HTML 5 compatible
- Site development will follow the concepts of progressive enhancement.
- The site will be compatible with the following browsers:
- Microsoft Windows
- Internet Explorer 10 and above
- Most Recent Version of Microsoft Edge
- Most Recent Version of Google Chrome
- Most Recent Version of Mozilla Firefox
- OS X:
- Most Recent Version of Safari
- Most Recent Version of Google Chrome
- Most Recent Version of Mozilla Firefox
- Mobile
- Most Recent Version of Chrome for Android
- Most Recent Version of Safari for iOS
- Microsoft Windows
Testing
The site will be built with modern browsers (latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, & IE) in mind and reasonable adjustments will be made to ensure functionality in older browsers once the site is complete.
If more than 2 hours is needed to make the site meet the client's specifications in browsers older than those listed above, that additional time will be billable. This is usually not necessary as old browsers represent less than 3% of US Market Share.
Content Population
Content will be imported from the existing site.
Changes and additions to the content of the current site will be done at an hourly rate of $65.
Alternatively, the client can populate content changes themselves during/after training
…Impressive and very inspirational.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, after touring the exhibit ‘Invisible: Slavery Today’
Hosting
The site can be hosted on any host that provides PHP 5.6 or greater (PHP 7.x offers much improved speed) and MySQL 5.6 or Greater. Unix is preferred to Windows for the server’s operating system. I can provide recommendations for hosting and will evaluate any other providers the client may be considering. Up to 2 hours of hosting related consulting and configuration is included in this proposal.
Hosting is included (along with many other helpful tools) in all of the hosting & maintenance packages listed at the bottom of this proposal.
Email configuration (beyond the creation of MX records) is not included in this proposal. A third party email service provider can be recommended if needed.
Timing
Project timeline is 4-6 weeks and, as of the submission of this proposal, can start November 11th. A more detailed timeline, along with key deliverable dates, will be provided upon signed agreement and receipt of deposit.
Chris has delivered every project on time and at budget. What I like most is his desire to make our projects better by offering suggestions and guidance.
Ed McMasters
Director of Marketing & Communications
Flottman Company, Inc.
Pricing
Wed Design & Development
| Service | Cost |
|---|---|
| Minor Design Improvements | $450 |
| Complete Redesign (optional) | $1,700 |
| Alternative Design Exploration (optional) | $1,020 |
| ADA Compliant WordPress Theme Development | $4,250 |
| Events System | $1,270 |
| Install and configure WordPress theme for RAAC | $1,270 |
| Sub-Total | $7,240 - $9,510 |
| Less Donation of Complete Redesign Option | -$1,700 |
| Less Non-Profit Discount | -20% |
| Total | $5,790-$6,250 |
Maintenance & Hosting Packages (Optional)
The packages below will help keep your website running smoothly, keep it patched for performance and security issues, and provide back-ups in case something were to break or be accidentally changed or deleted.
| Features | Entry | Standard | Plus | Pro | Realtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month to Month | $49 | $79 | $149 | $199 | $249 |
| Yearly | $499 | $799 | $1,499 | $1,999 | $2,499 |
| 2 Years | $899 | $1,499 | $2,699 | $3,599 | $4,499 |
| Free WordPress Optimized Hosting | |||||
| Included Storage | 2 GB | 5GB | 10GB | 20GB | 40Gb |
| Free SSL Certificate | |||||
| Free CDN | |||||
| Free Site MigrationFree Site MigrationWe will move your site from its existing hosting providers server to our own at no charge. | |||||
| Over $400 in Premium Plugins | |||||
| WordPress Core Updates | |||||
| WordPress Plugin Updates | |||||
| Update Rollbacks | |||||
| Security Scan | |||||
| Off-Site Backups | Monthly | Weekly | Daily | Every 4 hours | Real-Time |
| Email Forwarding | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email Accounts | 0* | 0* | 0* | 0* | 0* |
| Database Optimization | |||||
| Page Speed Optimization | |||||
| Spam Prevention & Clean Up | |||||
| Uptime Monitoring | |||||
| 404 Monitoring | |||||
| Broken Link Monitoring | |||||
| E-Commerce Support | |||||
| Real-Time Order Backups | |||||
| Free Services per Month | 1/2 hour free, a yearly savings of $600 |
1 hour free, a yearly savings of $1200 |
2 hours free, a yearly savings of $1800 |
3 hours free, a yearly savings of $2400 |
4 hours free, a yearly savings of $3600 |
| Discount on Additional Services | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% |
*Email is not included in any of the above plans. However, CRM will help configure up to 5 email addresses at a third party email service provider, such as hover.com (preferred), Microsoft 365, or Google Workspace. As of March 1st, 2023, cost of these services are between $20 -$72 per user (email address) per year.
Payment
- Payment is accepted online via all major credit cards and PayPal. Checks and bank transfers will also be accepted.
- A $500 deposit is required before the project can be scheduled and work begun.
- The Remaining balance will be paid in 6 equal monthly installments.
- Maintenance & Hosting Packages are paid in full annually or on a monthly schedule.
All original materials completed by CRM Holdings Limited including but not limited to graphics and test results will become the property of and be delivered to Client upon payment to CRM Holdings Limited of all outstanding charges. CRM Holdings Limited retains display rights in the work, i.e., for use in portfolios, exhibitions, and other self-promotion channels.
This project uses WordPress, which is licensed under GNU General Public License. Please be aware of the implications regarding copyright this may entail.
All out-of-pocket charges will be billed at cost; no mark up will be applied to out of pocket charges. Cost to license stock photography is not included in this budget and will be billed separately.
Alterations or modifications requested that are not detailed in the above proposal will be billed in addition to the above total estimated project budget. The client will approve any additions to the estimated total budget prior to the initiation of the requested modifications.
Client will be billed at the completion of each stage or as described in a payment schedule in this agreement.
Payment terms are 30 Days Net except for initial deposit and/or hardware items. A 2% finance charge or $25, whichever is greater, will be applied to invoices past due every 30 days. Once work has begun no refunds will be offered for completed work.
CRM Holdings Limited will provide a 90 day Break/Fix Guarantee (extended to lifetime for clients who are using one of the Maintenance & Hosting packages listed above) for the custom software provided. If during the first 90 days of implementation any software issues should arise that are the responsibilities of CRM Holdings Limited and reported within the guarantee time frame, CRM Holdings Limited will repair the problem free of charge. Issues beyond 90 days will be charged at CRM Holdings Limited’s normal hourly rate. This excludes issues with 3rd party plugins (but that rarely happens and are usually easy to fix).