Web Design
Hello! I’m so happy to hear you’re interested in hiring me to help you establish your website. To start, here are some things I’d like you to know about…
MY QUALIFICATIONS
I’m a professional musician in Toronto (vocalist, saxophonist, pianist and songwriter/producer) with a 9-5 job in a related field. I have no formal training in web design or coding, but I’ve always had a passion for words and an interest in visual layout. Through maintaining my own website since 2012, I’ve gotten to know Squarespace (a popular website-building software & service) pretty well. Here are three websites I have created using Squarespace:
Shannon Chapman, my own website to promote my music and musical services (yes, this one!)
Katherine Wilson, a website for a Toronto-based singing and acting coach.
Spirit n Soul, a website for a life coach/spiritual healer
Sandra Frieser, a website for an independent singer-songwriter
Myself and my clients have different website needs, different visions, and different tastes. I’m happy to offer suggestions and opinions on the content of your website, but ultimately, the final look and content are up to you!
MY AVAILABILITY & TIMELINE
At the time of writing this (November 2020), I am working a 9-5 job while working on my music & freelance projects on the side. This service is one of my side-hustles, but if we communicate in advance about your timeline, I’ll do my best to plan accordingly. I’m usually quick to respond by email, but sometimes I need until the following day to get back to you.
THE COST
Aside from my personal rate, there are additional costs you need to consider when setting up a website. Squarespace’s pricing is comparable with other leading website-building services such as Wix and Weebly. The plan I recommend is the “Personal” plan for $144 USD a year. Squarespace also offers one year of custom domain hosting (your “www. yoursitename .com” address), and after that, additional years of domain registration & hosting are around $20 USD a year (costs vary depending on domain name).
I can begin building your website on Squarespace’s 14-day free trial, but you need to purchase your annual billing plan before the trial expires in order for your site to be published.
You can learn more about Squarespace pricing by clicking here.
At this point, since I have no formal training in web design and not a ton of websites in my portfolio, I’ve chosen a rate similar to what I would charge for my time and skills if I were a beginning music teacher - $35 per hour (my current music teaching rate is $70).
In my experience, setting up a basic functional website takes about 10+ hours, making my base quote $350.00.
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN MY BASIC SERVICES
Consult with you to understand your website needs and vision, present options and suggestions for website features, and collect basic content from you
Register you for Squarespace, offer layout options and establish a trial site
Customize font styles, colour palette, and other visual design elements
Create unique pages and develop the website flow to serve your needs, including public and private/hidden/internal-use pages
Add text, visuals, and actionable content to your pages
Embed photos, videos, and other media
Do copywriting, proofreading and editing of all text on the site
Make changes and tweaks according to your requests
Connect your social media profiles
Publish your site and optimize it for Google search results
Offer basic support after your site is published
EXTRA SERVICES
In addition to my basic services above, here are some other specialized services I can offer:
Basic image editing - I’m handy with the Procreate app, Canva, and GIMP image manipulation software, having used them to create visuals to promote my music and services for many years. If you’re looking to tailor the visual experience of your website even more, I may be able to help you with that. See examples below.
Custom music and voiceover - I’m a trained saxophonist, vocalist, pianist and songwriter/producer. If you need music, audio or voiceover for your mission statement or product video, I’m able to achieve high-quality results from my home studio. For more information and examples about these services, please visit my Professional Services page.
THE PAYMENT
Once we’ve spent some time consulting via phone and/or email, I can send you an invoice for 50% of my initial quote and get to work, keeping you updated on the progress. If I believe the work will exceed the initial quote, I’ll be sure to tell you well in advance and present options on how to proceed. Upon completion, I’ll send an invoice for the remaining work.
If more than just basic support is required after publishing, we can discuss additional hours of service. Payment by e-Transfer is preferred.
MORE INFO
Here are some pieces of general info and advice that you may find helpful as we go forward:
Decide what your primary needs and features are. Depending on your business, art, or services, you may consider some site elements (such as a blog, contact form, calendar, and media) to be of more or less importance than others. Knowing the basic hierarchy of these features can improve the flow, friendliness, and usefulness of your site.
Think about visual branding. Through fonts, colour palette, and visuals, you can really give site visitors a strong understanding of what you’re about. You can consider your personal preference, but also what makes the most sense for whatever you are promoting through your site. Either way, I’ve found that a cohesive visual scheme, with high-quality photos and videos, helps unify all the elements of your site and add that professional polish.
Consider your short-term and long-term website goals. It’s my objective to achieve a website that looks great and is fully functional within my initial quote. However, as your needs grow and evolve, I’d be happy to work with you to continue customizing your website experience on a contract basis.
