Building a Beautiful, Effective Website is a Partnership! This is How we to Like Work Together at Social Nectar.
Hi there! Connie Cermak here, founder of Social Nectar. Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of working with clients from all walks of business life—startups, small businesses, and large enterprises to build beautiful websites. Each project brings its own unique challenges, but one thing remains constant: building a beautiful website and launching a marketing strategy is a collaborative effort! Yes, once in a while a client has no desire or time to get involved. Subsequently, they give us complete autonomy to create something compelling. Eventually, however, we’ll still need you to give us the goods!
We bring together all the moving parts to buld a website that not only looks amazing but works seamlessly to help your business grow. Today, I want to share what goes into this process, how we work together, and why your contributions as a client are so vital.
The following list is the result of years of failures and headaches that can easily be avoided when we’re on the same page.
The Ingredients for Buiding a Beautiful Website
Creating a website is like making honey—it takes time, effort, and teamwork to get it just right. Here’s what’s needed to make your project a success:
What You Deliver to US
WEB COPY: This includes product descriptions, service details, and brand messaging. If you need help crafting compelling content, we’re here to guide you, or we’re happy to take it on entirely, and we’ll include it in our budget.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Professional photos are ideal, but if hiring a photographer isn’t in your budget, don’t worry. With some creative direction, DIY photos can work beautifully. We’ll make sure your visuals align with the brand vision we define together.
VIDEO: Video is a vital component for your overall marketing strategy and can be a great part of your website. When it comes to video on websites, we recommend high quality. We can talk about video when we get on a phone call.
BRAND ESSENTIALS: Logos, color schemes, and any other branding materials are key to building a cohesive website.
🐝 Logo: Please send us the logo you want to be used on your website in .webp .png or .jpg format. You can learn more about logo file types here. We’ll use your logo to create your site favicon—the tiny symbol located on the tab in your web browser. You can learn more about favicons here.
🐝 Brand Colors/HEX Colors: If we’ve worked with you to create your color palette or your brand, then we already have it. But if not, please send us your Hex colors.
🐝 Brand Guide: Knowing the voice, tone, vision, and mission of your brand is key to brand recognition in the public eye and getting your staff, printers, contractors, and everyone who touches your business on the same page. If you don’t have a brand guide, we’re happy to create one. It’s one of our favorite things to do! Does every business need a brand guide? No. But even a one-person shop benefits from having one and every time we put one together our clients feel great having their personalized guide.
Collaboration is Key
If you’re working with a professional photographer, please introduce us! We love to collaborate with your photographer or videographer to ensure that photos are web-ready, preferably .webp files (here’s a converter we like to use), sized for web responsiveness, and cropped accordingly.
Photo SEO
Our team is happy to crop and edit your photos, and our time will be reflected in our proposal. Interested in what it takes to maximize your photo optimization? There’s a lot more to it than snapping shots. Click here to learn about photo SEO.
🐝 Tip: We’ve been playing with AI photos and so far, we’re not crazy about the computer-generated look and feel. I’ve subsequently deleted them from this website in lieu of the real deal—some I took myself, some I purchased.
What We Deliver to YOU
Once we have your materials, our team goes to work:
- Designing a stunning, user-friendly website that reflects your brand.
- Creating layouts optimized for conversions, from product pages to contact forms.
- Incorporating SEO best practices to ensure your site ranks well in search engines.
- Developing a content strategy that supports your marketing goals, including blogs, newsletters, and social media (per our proposal)
- If it’s not in your budget to complete all of these tasks at once, no worries! We’re happy to work in phases. Depending on the size of your project and your budget phases can be spread across months—or years.
Think of us as the worker bees, turning your raw materials into a buzzing digital presence.
Why Timely Deliverables Matter
One of the most important aspects of any project is timing. When clients deliver materials on schedule, it allows us to stick to the timeline and keep the momentum going. Late deliverables can delay launches, disrupt marketing plans, and get all of us off schedule and most importantly, we can’t guarantee we’ll be available when you’re ready. Scheduled pulse checks help to keep us all on track and moving according to schedule.
🐝 Note: We understand that things happen such as emergencies or product delays. We get it. Communication is key to keeping us all on the same page.
🐝 Note: Occasionally, we’re forced to put a project on pause. In the rare instance this happens, we’ll charge a pause fee which is applied to the final invoice.
The Occasional Rush-Job
If you have a legitimate rush job (working with T-Mobile was a constant flurry of hurry so we know the drill), we’ll look at our availability and charge a fee according to the amount of work that needs to be done, and how quickly you need it. Typically, rush fees start at $500. If we’re able to save the day, it’s well worth it. 🐝
Example Rush Jobs
One of our enterprise clients had a weekend tradeshow. They realized on Friday afternoon that they had forgotten to create a registration page for the event which launched on Sunday. Social Nectar was hired to develop the registration site in 36 hours. We saved the day and charged a $2000 rush fee to launch the registration page in time for attendees’ arrival.
Another organization contacted us on a Saturday morning asking how quickly we could develop a brand, create a beautiful website, social media sites, a newsletter, and get it up and running “ASAP.” We charged a $10,000 rush fee for working around the clock over the weekend (this did not include the cost for the work) and we had all components in place and launched by Monday. Whew! I’m still exhausted just thinking about it. Way to go team! (FYI: this did not include optimization which we did in a later phase).
Respecting Time and Budget: A Friendly Reminder to Be Conscientious
At Social Nectar, we believe your time and money are precious—just as our time and expertise are. To make the most of your project, we kindly ask that you send us only the photos and materials you KNOW you want on your website. Sharing exactly what you envision helps us stay efficient and aligned with your goals.
Of course, if you’d like to share your entire portfolio, Google drive, or full Dropbox folder, you’re welcome to. Just keep in mind that sorting through a large collection of photos and choosing the best fits for your site takes time—and we’ll need to account for that in our project hours.
If you send a wide selection and later decide to swap out images for alternatives, no problem! But any edits or substitutions after our initial selections will be billed. This approach ensures we’re efficient with our time, communicating clearly and working towards a shared goal without surprises. If our rigid candor surprises you, don’t worry, our reputation for over-delivering means we don’t nickel and dime our clients.
Our aim is to create a website that reflects your vision while respecting your budget and our time. Together, we’ll make it happen efficiently and beautifully! 😊
DIY Photography: Yes, You Can!
If professional photography isn’t in the cards, don’t stress. DIY photos can absolutely work with a little guidance. During our brand visioning session, we’ll discuss:
Lighting Tips: Natural light is your best friend.
Composition: Simple backgrounds and clean framing are key.
Focus: Keep your products in focus so your audience stays focused.
Limit the Props: Keep your audience focused on the product so they’re wondering eyes don’t lose interest to the props.
Brand Consistency: Stick to colors and styles that reflect your brand.
Clean it Up: Wipe surfaces and check for cords or anything that could be a distraction.
With the right direction, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve! And we’re here to help!
🐝 Tip: When preparing for photo shoots, we only use Norwex cleaning products because they’re safe for kids, pets, and the environment, and their anti-bacterial fibers mean we can clean with water —not chemicals. One thing we absolutely can’t live without is their non-streaking, glass-wipes! Just use water.
Encouragement for the Journey
Building a website and marketing strategy can feel overwhelming, but you’re not alone. At Social Nectar, we’re here to walk you through each step with enthusiasm, expertise, and a clear plan.
Whether you’re launching a brand-new site or refreshing an existing one, the process is always worth it. Together, we’ll create something that not only represents your business but helps it thrive.
We’ve Got Your Back
At Social Nectar, we offer comprehensive copywriting services to help you craft engaging, professional content that resonates with your audience. If Connie’s writing style isn’t a good fit for your brand we work with several copywriters who have specific expertise like long-form and technical writing.
If photography or videography is needed, we’re happy to connect you with trusted professionals at a variety of price points. No matter your budget, we’ll recommend options that align with your brand and vision.
As marketing expert Seth Godin says, “We’ll do it all and you’ll pay a lot, but you’ll get more than what you paid for!” When you work with us, you’re not just hiring a team—you’re investing in the future of your business.
We understand small businesses often have small budgets and we’ll work with you to determine exactly what you need and how we can deliver you a fully optimized site that’s within your budget.
If someone quotes you $500 for a website, they’re likely using a pre-designed template, which can be a fantastic solution for some businesses. However, be sure to ask if their quote includes essential features like optimization, meta descriptions, alt tags, and Google indexing. Without these, your website may not be fully optimized for search engines, making it harder for Google to discover and rank it.
Speaking of Budgets
if you’re unsure of how much it costs to design a website, you can read our article which explains a variety of costs from designing custom WordPress sites like we do, to DIY sites like Wix and Squarespace. Read the article here.
Ready to create a website that works as hard as you do?
Let’s collaborate, share ideas, and bring your vision to life. Your success is our mission, and we’re here to make sure your brand buzzes with brilliance. 🐝
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