Budget Friendly Local Website Designer Edmonton & Calgary

Gathering the website design and build requirements can take anywhere from 5 minutes to several weeks or months, depending on the client and scope of the project. As a designer and developer of the website, it is vital to understand the requirements that the clients need before starting any work on the website. By understanding your end goal, we can leverage our expertise toward a viable solution and help you make the best design and functionality decisions based on those requirements. 

Requirement gathering can take 5-15 minutes in situations where

• The client already knows what they want or has a good idea
• The website is simple, or the requirements are straightforward (i.e. copy a PDF menu)
• A template is already in place
• There is a clear budget and scope of work 

Requirement gathering can take longer when

• Requirements or scope of work is not precise or set
• There is no template 
• The future website will have a many pages or posts
• The client is looking for a particular custom design or functionality
• You are working/coordinating with multiple people (try to avoid that)
• The website is for a larger business ( More approvals, red tape, etc.)

Design and development sometimes occur in two phases. The first phase is the website’s design in a mockup known as wireframes. Wireframe tools for website design mockups include Adobe XD, Adobe Photoshop, Sketch and Figma. Once the design is completed and approved, the website gets coded based on the wireframe design. 

A designer/developer can also code the website right away. This approach is best if the client has a good idea of what they want to see in the website design. We recommend the client showcase a few example websites they like. In addition, it is a great idea to mention: 

• Primary (main) colour of the website
• Secondary colours to use
• Fonts you like
• Give concrete examples of actual websites you like

Usually, by picking out a few existing websites or themes, a good designer can build the website to your specifications using your content, pictures and branding style. 

Be prepared to pay 2x more for a website design project that includes a wireframe/mockup as it takes up to 2x longer to do. Often a designer and developer will need to work together on wireframe projects. A dedicated designer will create the wireframe, and the developer will then build the website based on the wireframe specifications.

A local website designer often uses premium stock photos to build your website, especially if you don’t have your own. Sometimes premium stock photos might cost extra, and you will need to discuss this with your local developer to see if it is an additional cost. A website designer can also use your photos and edit, resize, compress and crop them as needed to be website ready.

There are lots of premium stock photo libraries available. If you are working with an agency or reputable designer, they will likely already have a subscription to one. Finding and using stock photos might already be factored into your website design package cost. Stock photos individually can cost up to $10 to $100 or more per image on sites like Adobe Stock. If you are not happy with the stock photo selection, the designer may ask you to search for one and provide them with photos from one or more stock photo sites.

Chances are you already have some photos of your business online or stored on your phone that is okay to use on your website with a bit of photoshop touchup. You may also look to your Google My Business page to find some photos (provided you have permission to use them). Another option would be to hire a local photographer, which will cost you at least $150 upfront for photos and editing. More experienced photographers can charge up to $100/hour or more. 

In the end, it is up to you to decide. I recommend using a mix of readily available photos and stock photos where appropriate if you are looking for affordable options. Hiring a professional photographer will make your website stand out from the crowd, but you will have to reach into your wallet.

SEO refers to “Search Engine Optimization,” and having a beautifully designed website is worthless if nobody will visit it. A website designer and developer typically will work to ensure essential SEO aspects of your website are optimized. On WordPress, plugins like Yoast or Rank Math (we prefer the latter) can be set up and configured. 

A small or local business often overlooks the process of SEO. Often the client may not even be aware of the time needed or benefits of optimizing website content for search engines. 

We believe a designer or developer should inform their client of the benefits and time required to properly SEO optimize a website and to price a website design accordingly to factor this in. Doing so benefits both the client and your local designer in the long run. Popular SEO optimization tools that a designer can use include Math Rank, Ahrefs, SEM rush and Google Search Console.  

A website designer will help you purchase and pick out a domain name that is available and appropriate for your business. A website designer should also inform the owner what TLD (top-level domain name) to use based on the requirements. A domain name is usually not included in a website design project but sometimes it is included as part of your website hosting. 

A TLD refers to the last part of the domain. For example the .com, .org or .ca part of the domain name. If you plan to serve customers worldwide, use a .com TLD. If you are a non-profit organization, a .org is more relevant. If you only serve customers in your city or one country, then a country-level TLD like .ca or .co is excellent.

Go Daddy and Namecheap are the most common places to buy a domain name. You can use other registries, but Go Daddy seems to be the most popular option, followed by Namecheap.

Once your website is complete, the developer will show you how to update your site easily. The most popular choice for a content management system (CMS) for websites is WordPress which powers 30% of the web. Business owners often do not want to worry about website maintenance or updating pages or plugins. Your local website designer or developer may also offer a maintenance plan or package that might include hosting and other plugin fees. If you prefer doing this yourself, invest in a good hosting provider that offers daily cloud backups and excellent customer service.

We don’t recommend ultra-cheap hosting plans such as Go Daddy’s entry-level hosting plans. These shared hosting plans don’t back up your site on the cloud and throttle resources too much, leading to a slow website

Once your website is complete, the developer will show you how to update your site easily. The most popular choice for a content management system (CMS) for websites is WordPress which powers 30% of the web. Business owners often do not want to worry about website maintenance or updating pages or plugins. Your local website designer or developer may also offer a maintenance plan or package that might include hosting and other plugin fees. If you prefer doing this yourself, invest in a good hosting provider that offers daily cloud backups and excellent customer service.

We don’t recommend ultra-cheap hosting plans such as Go Daddy’s entry-level hosting plans. These shared hosting plans don’t back up your site on the cloud and throttle resources too much, leading to a slow website

It is essential to link your website to your social media pages, which are usually displayed on your website’s footer. Listing your social media pages on your website and vice versa gives Google the signal that these are associated with your business. You may also work with a website designer to display your social media posts dynamically. Doing so keeps your website updated automatically, and updated content is an integral part of on-page SEO.

If you are a brick and mortar with more than one location in the city, then a store locator like the one found on Mcdonald’s can help your customers find your closest location. Your website developer will enlist the help of Google Maps API to help create this functionality. 

Google Analytics helps reveal many questions about your website data. Questions such as :  

• Who are my website users? 
• How much time are they spending on the website? 
• What pages are they visiting? 
• How are they finding me? 

Discuss this with your website administrator and make sure you are using GA4, the latest version of Google Analytics (older versions are retiring soon or already retired). A good website design and development project should include the setup of Google Analytics on your website. 

Depending on what you are trying to measure, your website designer/developer may also need to set up Google Tag Manager. Tags will help track events like phone calls, orders, form submissions and other actionable website events.

I don’t recommend setting up GTM (Google Tag Manager) unless you run marketing campaigns on Google Ads or other social media channels. Google tag manager is vital to set up if you spend money on Google ads for tracking and remarketing purposes.