Our Process As A Website Design Agency

September 9, 2024
5 min read

Do you need a website? You’ve come to the right place. 

We are an Edmonton website design agency dedicated to helping businesses, non-profits, and social enterprises create meaningful brands with forward-thinking website design.

With over 34 years of experience creating memorable brands and beautiful websites, our mission is to provide a finished product that helps you grow your business and reach your goals sooner.

Who We Help

Our website design agency specializes in helping purpose-driven businesses, non-profits, and social enterprises create brands and websites that help them achieve their goals. 

This includes: 

  • Organizations with no branding or a website
  • Businesses with existing branding but who need a website
  • Businesses with existing branding and a website, but neither is serving their needs any longer

Their website goals often include: 

  • Brand Awareness: Establishing and strengthening a brand’s presence online. This often includes showcasing a logo, brand colours, and messaging that reflects the brand's identity.
  • Lead Generation: Attracting potential customers and capturing their contact information for follow-up. This is common for businesses that rely on generating new sales opportunities.
  • Customer Engagement: Providing valuable content and resources to engage visitors. This could include blogs, newsletters, forums, or interactive tools.
  • Information Dissemination: Sharing important information with visitors. This might include educational content, company news, updates, or FAQs.
  • Professional Credibility: Demonstrating expertise and professionalism. This is often a goal for consultants, freelancers, and service providers who want to establish trust with potential clients.
  • Community Building: Creating a space for like-minded individuals to connect, share ideas, and interact. This might include social networking features, discussion boards, or user-generated content.
  • Customer Support: Offering support and resources to current clients. This might involve a help center, live chat, or support tickets.
  • Portfolio Showcasing: Displaying your work or projects, often used by fellow creatives like photographers, designers, artists, or writers to attract new clients or opportunities.
  • Event Promotion: Promoting and managing events, including registrations, schedules, and updates. This is common for non-profits, conferences, workshop and retreat hosts, and community events.
  • Educational Purposes: Providing educational content or courses, including tutorials, webinars, or training materials.
  • Securing Growth Capital: This can include fundraising money for your cause, securing new stakeholders or investors or propelling your company's growth through strategic content and lead funnels. 

If you are a small business, social enterprise, or non-profit with any of the above goals, our agency was designed to help you achieve them. 

Why Clients Choose Us

There are a lot of Edmonton website design agencies out there. Finding the right one for you takes research and, sometimes, a few meetings. 

Here’s why our clients choose us: 

  • Value-Driven: Delivering a high-end product is just one part of the equation. We support your long-term success through education and encouragement so you receive the highest value for your investment.
  • Streamlined Cared: We care about our clients, and our business style reflects that. That means quick response times, honest communication, clear timelines, one invoice and one point of contact.
  • Effective Branding: Strategic branding is the key to greatness.  We work collaboratively with your team to ensure your goals are aligned with your brand and that everything that comes out of your business feels right.
  • Perfected Process: Working with us is both positive and empowering. Everything from our project management style to onboarding tools and beyond works together to ensure you are cared for at every step.

One of our clients, Adam, had this to say about his experience working with us: 

“Spark & Pony has provided a level of client care that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced from another company. (I deal with hundreds of other companies across many industries) Their skills in website, graphic, and content development are unmatched, but it goes well beyond that. They make business personal and truly become involved in your vision. I don’t know where I would be without you.”

Our dedication to treating our clients with care and delivering outstanding results has been the cornerstone of our success. That’s why we have: 

  • 76+ Happy Clients
  • Successfully Shipped 588+ Projects 
  • Launched 26+ Websites 


We might be the perfect fit
if you value… 

✅ Honest and open communication
✅ Clear timelines and milestones
✅ Creative thinking
✅ Strategic decision-making 

And you want to feel like you and your business matter. 

Our Website Process

To make things easy, we’ve laid out one of our most common website processes that shows what it’s like to work with us, from when you book a virtual meeting to the day we ship your website live and the support you receive after the project has wrapped. 

This process includes customizing an 8 to 12 Page Webflow Template to your needs. Please note that this route is popular with non-profit organizations or small businesses looking to maximize their time and investment.

We also offer fully customized developments with multiple integrations for social enterprises and businesses looking to elevate their existing brand. If this is you, please reach out, and we can provide a detailed process for that specific website design service. 


PHASE ONE: 1- 2 Weeks

Discovery Call

We book a virtual chat over coffee to discuss your needs, goals, and vision for your website. We also like to cover who your target audience is, if you have desired design preferences or features, budget limitations and any integrations you want to have.

We aim to gather as much information as we need to create a proposal and project tailored to your goals.

Proposal

Once the call is wrapped, we create a detailed proposal outlining the project scope, deliverables, timeline, and budget. This document will give you a clear plan for how we will help you meet your goals and will include specifics on design, functionality, and any additional services or integrations you requested.

This proposal will help you understand what to expect and allow us to make changes based on your feedback. It will also include a list of additional services and products you can add to your package to fully round out your offering and ensure there are no surprise additional costs along the way.

Agreement

When you are ready to take the next step, we send over your contract. It will include everything from the terms of the project, including payment schedules, project milestones, estimated project timelines, and intellectual property rights, to any other fine print applicable to the project.

Our contract ensures both of us are on the same page and protected throughout the process. Once signed, we send you a non-refundable payment deposit to secure your spot and get the ball rolling.

Client Portal, Timeline, Next Steps & "How We Work"

This is when things get detailed! We create an in-depth timeline for your project, outlining key milestones and deadlines. This step includes a schedule of when each project phase will be completed and specifies the next steps.

Clear communication is everything to us; our detailed timeline is something you can check back on throughout the process, and we will be sure to send you multiple emails to remind you where we are in the project and what to expect next. 

We also set up your own client portal so your team can upload graphics and content, view updates on the progress of the work, and access contracts and invoices at any time.

This allows your team to always have access to a general overview of the project and deliverables. Also, keeping all the communications in the portal keeps things streamlined—no more searching your emails for important links, information, and deadlines.

Finally, in your portal, you will find our ‘How We Work’ document that lays out clear expectations and what to expect throughout the process.


PHASE TWO: 2-3 Weeks

Research

Time to get to work. We will send you a brand and content strategy questionnaire to complete via Content Snare.

This will be your opportunity to provide any content, photography, videography and branding elements you already have. We also ask you questions about your brand, the various pages on the website, and more.

Our questionnaire is extensive, and if, at any point along the way, you need help getting through it, we book a call to answer any questions you might have. While you are working on the questionnaire, we begin our initial research. We gather information about your industry, competitors, and target audience.

This includes analyzing existing websites, identifying trends, and understanding your needs more deeply. The goal is to inform the design and functionality of the website based on the data and insights we collect so we can make sure your new website meets both your expectations and serves your target audience. 

Content Creation

Once we have all your content, we begin parsing it in clear language that fully represents your brand tone and voice. We also sort through your images, videos, and other assets to determine where everything is best suited on the website.

At this stage, we usually find some holes where additional information or assets are needed. We will follow up with you immediately so you can collect those missing pieces while we get to work.

Home Page Design & Development

Once everything is organized and we have a clear view of everything we are working with, we create your final sitemap based on our research and recommendations and start designing the home page.

If we discover the need for additional pages beyond the initial scope, we will touch base with you and your team to discuss if this is something you may want to add to the website.

Home Page Proof

We present the home page design and layout for feedback in a virtual meeting. This proof gives you the chance to review and approve the overall look and feel of the home page design and content before we move on to the the rest of the site.

We love working this way because once we have edits and approvals on the home page, we can move forward confidently with the rest of the website because we know exactly what you want and like.


PHASE THREE: 8 - 10 Weeks

Website Wireframes

Next, we create wireframes for your entire website. These would lay out basic design and content parameters and define user flow. These initial wireframes would focus on layout and functionality and be refined based on your feedback.

Once those are finalized and approved, we move into the design and development stage for the entire website.

Website Creation

We move forward with developing the entire website. This includes building all the pages, integrating content, and ensuring all design and functionality elements are consistent across the site. This step focuses on creating a cohesive website based on the approved home page and your project goals.

Website Reveal

It's time to book a virtual meeting! We present your full website, showcasing each page and explaining the design, content, and overall functionality. This walkthrough helps you understand how your website works and ensures everything aligns with your expectations.

Website Edits

After our meeting wraps up, we send over a link where you can view the entire website and create a list of any feedback you have.

This may involve everything from tweaking design elements or content to implementing additional changes to refine the website and address any concerns you might have before launch.

This is also where we consult with you to implement one simple integration of your choosing. Common integrations are adding a CRM portal or your booking software.

Website Launch

With all edits completed and final approvals in place, we officially launch your website.

This step involves making the site live and accessible to the public. It also includes tasks like domain configuration, submitting your sitemap, setting up your Google Analytics, setting up your hosting and final browser and link testing to ensure everything works correctly.


PHASE FOUR: 4 Weeks

Virtual Walk Through

We book a one-hour virtual walk-through with you to review how your new Webflow website works and hand over complete ownership. We also show you how to use the features, update content, and navigate the site.

Our goal is for you to leave that meeting feeling empowered, informed, and comfortable to make small changes on your own.

We also give you a document with your login details and additional information so you can reference it anytime.

Finally, we discuss our maintenance packages and ongoing support services if you want to keep our team on hand to support you for your next journey step.

Check-In

Once your site has been live for a month, we will check in for one more round of minor edits based on any feedback you’ve been receiving.

This step ensures that your website is functioning as expected and provides an opportunity for you to discuss any further adjustments or support you might need.


PHASE FIVE: Ongoing

Website Maintenance & Support

Website maintenance involves regularly updating and managing your site to remain functional and up-to-date. This includes assisting with Google updates and making iterative changes to better optimize your website.

We also offer several ongoing support services you can access anytime after your website goes live. These include blogging, social media support, landing page creation, and more.

Also Read: Web Accessibility: Why it Matters in Canada in 2024

Featured Client Work: Red Plaid Developments

Before you choose an Edmonton website design agency to work with, you want to see some of their previous work. One project we love to share is Red Plaid Developments, an Edmonton home builder who approached us with a unique project.

Adam, the owner, needed an approachable website explaining his innovative, accessible housing concept: The Hobby Loft, a customizable living space designed for hobbyists and people with mobility challenges. He also needed a team to support and consult with him about his ever-evolving business ideas. 

Red Plaid Developments has transformed since we first took on this project, meaning its website needs have changed several times. From introducing a new accessible housing program to iterating new features and home page designs, we have been there every step to support Adam and his vision. 

Naturally, all the time spent working together over the last two years has helped us build a relationship with Adam that we cherish. We are so proud of this project, but we are even more proud of the work Adam is doing in the community to help people live better, happier lives.

You can learn more about Red Plaid Developments here and his accessible housing program here

You can also look closer at the work we did for Adam here. You can also explore our portfolio to view our other featured website projects here.

Choosing The Right Edmonton Website Design Agency For You

Choosing the right professionals who genuinely care about you and your business is important. That’s us. 

When you work with Spark and Pony, you work directly with us, Kass and Michelle, the owners (learn more about us here).

While we have two incredible team members on hand and a network of creative professionals to bring in for various projects, you can always count on seeing our faces throughout the process. 

Whether it’s our first virtual chat or the meetings we book along the way, we are here to answer every question and support you so you not only leave your experience with a website you love but feel empowered to take the next steps to grow your business.

Our clients love us for this reason and hundreds more (and you can read some of our 5-star feedback here). 

So…

What’s next?

Need a website? Book a meeting here, and let’s chat. Or, if it’s easier, email us a few details about yourself, and we can go from there. 

If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge yet, follow us on Instagram or sign up for our quarterly newsletter. We include tons of resources, education, and tips on everything from branding to business development to websites. 

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