Begin assembling the “building blocks” of your project.

What do you wish to accomplish? Which metrics will you use to determine success. Who’s on your team? Whose voice matters? How do you prefer to proceed? What is your communication style?

Understand your timeframe and budget.

Here are some pieces to help you think about how you will build out your product.

Preparation

1) Domain name login and details: a domain name is the URL for the site, e.g. “http://www.yourproduct.xyz”. Purchase this at a registrar.

2) Hosting login and details (FTP and Control Panel/SSH): depending on your needs, we recommend Pantheon hosting for Drupal sites that require heavy user interactions, or Nexcess.net for products that are more informational.

3) Primary contact: who is the main decision-maker with signoff approval on this project?

4) Desired “roles”: depending on your requirements, different people will have different levels of access to your content. What are your different types of “roles” that a user might inhabit? For example, there may be an “Editor” role, and also a “Member Services Manager” role, as well as some default roles like “Paid Member” and “Administrator”.

5) Staff list: collect username, email, and role (in spreadsheet or table). Who do you want to allow access to the site as it’s in-development? These are your core teammates or users that will help guide the direction of the product as well as give feedback and submit initial content.

Implementation

6) Design: do you have design ideas? If you have initial specifications, please prepare those: logo, motto/byline, user personas, overview, mission/vision/values statement, and product description, as well as team bios, are important to begin assembling.

7) Editorial: Collect all content such as text of “About” page, “Programs” description, and more. A great set of pages to begin with include: Homepage content, About, How it Works/Overview, Contact, and Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

8) User Inputs: Consider what type of user information you require and list out the different fields, e.g. “First Name” and “Last Name” as well as the required fields vs. the optional fields. For example, if you require user login you’ll need to collect a username, password, and email.

9) Digital Assets: Prepare desired images, logos, digital downloads, or stock photography: when you have collected your logo as well as stock photography, keep it together in a folder organized by topic or content page.

Consultation

Reach out: when you have a clear plan of timeline, budget, details of what you’d like accomplished, then connect with us on LinkedIn.com.