Category: F.A.Q.

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Can you find us a WordPress Theme / Template to customize?

I realized that I’ve been putting off pulling together a website quote for someone because they asked me to “find them a WordPress template to buy.” Shopping for a template someone else created and dealing with it’s quirks and problem coding is not how I work.

With every template there’s the potential that someone did some coding poorly or in a way that will have a negative impact on the implementation of plugins. Choosing a poorly coded theme can cost more in both time, limitations and headaches and it’s hard to know what you’re dealing with before you buy and get involved with a theme.

Creating a child theme from the current WordPress theme (twentytwelve or now twentythirteen at the time I’m writing this) and heavily customized css is my typical workflow these days. There are also a few select others like the Genesis framework that have been heavily vetted by the WordPress community that we will work with.

No – your site does not need to look like these themes, that’s why we customize them heavily using child themes.

Why is this a better way of working?

  • These themes just give us a leg up to speed up the creation process so that we’re not starting completely from scratch.
  • These are themes that are built by, specifically for, and included with each WordPress release and have the core functionalities needed to utilize most of WordPress’s  power without having to start from scratch.
  • These themes are less likely to cause problems with well built plugins or have strange quirks that are hard to fix.

See our process for more information.

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Can you design something for less than the “typical” pricing shown on this site?

Yes, in particular instances it’s possible given your project details for your pricing to be less. It’s also possible for your project requirements to be more than this. As noted, what’s shown is “typical” pricing and this is why we have a process for initial meetings, projects and estimates.

Exceptions are the listed hosting and email packages which are fixed. And yet there are still instances where a custom hosting package may be needed to accomodate large sites with heavy traffic or unique needs. We’ve posted the hosting and email packages because they are what suites most of our potential clients.

ALL projects are reviewed on a per project basis and recommendations given based on your needs. Please see our PROCESS page. 🙂

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I sent a RFQ /RFP (request for quote/proposal) and you asked to meet with us, why?

I don’t submit bids for RFPs without a meeting or option to have a conversation.

I find that it’s very important for both parties to be able to ask questions, get answers and know that they can work together off paper as well as on paper. A website or getting something designed is a collaboration and I have yet to have seen an RFP that was thorough enough for me to give an accurate and full estimate from without additional follow-up.

If you are sending out RFPs simply looking for the lowest price, you have come to the wrong place. Our pricing is fair to both parties, both the customer and the designer(s), which often means it’s not the rock bottom lowest. When in doubt, I bid high because I’m not going to nickel and dime people after the fact which is the other reason that having a conversation and having questions answered is so important to an accurate estimate.

One other thing that typically comes up when I see either “RFP” or “RFQ” as the starting point is full-time employee head count. I will go ahead and get this out of the way: I work with other reliable designers on an as-needed basis and do not currently have employees. I have more than once been told after submitting a project sheet and estimate that “one of our contract requirements was 5 employees minimum, sorry we missed telling you that.” Please save us all some time and be forthright if this is one of your requirements.

I hope this doesn’t come across as rude but having been in business since 2000, I’d rather call it like I see it instead of waste people’s time.

At a bare minimum Fascination Design must be able to ask questions and get answers in order for us to consider spending time an RFQ/RFP. Bottom line: IF there’s no conversation we’re probably not a good fit anyway.

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What if I need to share something with you but can’t meet in person?

There are a lot of technological advancements for video chat and screen sharing. Including but not limited to Skype, Adobe Connect, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, JoinMe and even facebook video chat.

Lots of options, the best choice will depend on your setup, comfort with technology and existing services you use. Just like with a phone meeting, I’ll ask you a few questions and we’ll schedule a time. Sometimes a phone and simply sharing some links is enough.

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What if I bought an email list from someone else?

Do I really need to have a discussion with you all about why buying an enewsletter list from someone else is a bad idea? Apparently so…

Today’s Public Service Announcement:

Adding new subscribers to your enewsletter is not as simple as buying a list off of someone else. Even if that someone else is local and in a complimentary industry.

It can be bad for business branding and worse, it could also get you banned from sending e-newsletters through certain systems like Constant Contact, MailChimp or even blacklist your website / hosting server if you’re sending through something like SimpleNews with Drupal or Mailman.

A large unsubscribe rate as well as messages being flagged as spam by recipients can trigger you to be banned because it indicates you did not get people’s permission to send messages / market to them.

What to do if you’ve bought an email list, for example, from a failed (local) competitor:

  1. If you must go this route, ask the list seller to instead send a letter via their system to their customers asking them nicely to sign up for your enewsletter, listing several reasons why they think it would be a good match and why they might be interested in doing so. Have them include a link to your double opt in signup form and possibly a link to your e-newletter archives as well.
  2. If they are not around, do you have their logo? Do you have the rights to use their logo? If so, follow the above instructions BUT NOT FROM YOUR ENEWSLETTER SYSTEM. Follow the instructions I have here: What should I do with an older enewsletter list?

Also make sure you send an version of YOUR e-newsletter within a reasonable time frame after this request so people don’t forget that they signed up with you! 🙂

 

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Can you come train me (or my staff) in person?

I get this question most often with WordPress and other CMS systems and usually I have written into the project sheet a set of video tutorials that will be provided.

To clarify further, I personally do not have the patience to sit next to someone and train them in person but I will happily make video tutorials you can use for training and reference and answer questions you might have after reviewing the training videos.

If you live in Lexington I can also refer a couple of people to do training. I also have certain contacts in select other cities throughout the country for in-person training.

If you can’t live without this, and video tutorials aren’t enough, then we might not be a good fit.

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Can I sit behind you and tell you what I like as you work?

The short answer – no.

The longer answer – I do not do computer or creative work in front of clients. It typically takes longer, is frustrating for both parties, and does not fit well with either the creative or coding process.

The design and development process requires a certain level of focus. We can have a phone meeting, or a computer screen sharing meeting, depending on the level of detail or changes that needs to be conveyed about a design mockup. Trying to make changes on the fly as someone comments still isn’t going to work.

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What should I do with an older enewsletter list?

Situation: You have a list of subscribers from an older e-newsletter system. One that did not remove email addresses after numerous bounces. Too many bounces can trigger enewsletter software such as MailChimp or iContact or Constant Contact or Aweber into thinking you are a spammer. But these same bounces in small quantities do NOT typically trigger ISPs to consider you a spammer. If people mark your message as spam that’s a different story but they should not be doing this if they know they subscribed anyway.
STEPS TO RECONFIRM YOUR SUBSCRIBERS:
  1. In short, you will need to send an email out from your email account asking people to reconfirm their subscription. This is using Outlook, Mac Mail or whatever you usually use to check and send emails with.
  2. Use the most current list from the old e-newsletter system.
  3. I would recommend doing this in small batches (20-40 recipients at a time) from the old email list. You will send to the entire list of email addresses whether you know if they are good or bad.
  4. Be sure to put the email addresses in the BCC field so that you’re not advertising people’s email addresses to one another.
Your email can say something along the lines of:
We’re doing some electronic housekeeping at <CHANGE OUT FOR COMPANY NAME> and need to ask all of our subscribers to confirm / reconfirm their subscription to our newsletter by filling in the form at the following link: <INSERT LINK TO YOUR SUBSCRIBE PAGE>
This is a longer explaination of what you should do and why: http://kb.mailchimp.com/article/reconfirm-your-list
I have confirmed that this process is required for not only MailChimp but other e-newsletter systems as well. iContact, Constant Contact, or Aweber to name a few.

Yes, this may be time consuming and yes, you may lose some subscribers but this would be better than risking getting banned entirely so you can send no e-newsletters to anyone.

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We’re looking for a WordPress (WP) pro to do a little contract labor for us now and then, tweaking here and there etc., is that the kinda work you do?

I DO actually do contract work and updates. I would like to know a bit more about the types of updates/tweaks you’re looking for and some additional information about the servers before I would commit to it, but the generic answer is yes.

If you want someone to come in to your office and work certain hours, that answer is no.

See also: