We get tons of questions from clients about our business practices and processes, as well as from clients wanting help understanding the design industry and industry terminology.
As a response to our client’s questions and inquires, À La Digital Design has compiled a list of questions and answers to help you better understand our design processes and what to expect when you work with us.
Click on a category to navigate down to that set of questions.
À La Digital Design can create a product for you no matter where you are located, but please keep in mind, we are not bilingual and can only offer services in English at this time.
We have worked with clients all over the U.S via email, phone and video conferencing; thank goodness for technology! We are also available to meet in person for clients that prefer face-to-face meetings. (Until further notice and due to the ongoing pandemic, all meetings will be conducted virtually via Zoom.)
Currently, we are available by appointment only. Appointments can be made during these hours:
Monday: 11-3pm
Tuesday: 11-5pm
Wednesday: 11-5pm
Thursday: 11-5pm
Friday: 11-6pm
(Most appointments are scheduled via Zoom)
We are not available on weekends for appointments but we may be available to take calls or texts from existing clients.
Read more about our payment policies on the Policies page.
Our quotes/estimates expire in 30 days.
We offer our clients free itemized estimates, 20-minute design consultations, as well as a follow-up meeting and additional design meetings. If a client requests a detailed proposal, we charge a proposal fee starting at $150. If we are hired by the client to complete the project, the proposal fee will be credited to the client’s account.
All of our projects typically have a 2-6 week turnaround but if you need a project rushed, rush fees will apply. Our rush fees vary and are dependent on the project type and time frame; for logo design or marketing material design, expect at least a 50 percent rush fee and for a website design, expect anywhere from 100-200 percent. Why do we charge rush fees? Because we are prioritizing your project and working under a very tight deadline.
We are not able to undertake any copywriting/SEO projects, website redesigns, packages, or visual branding projects for a quick turnaround.
Our owner and head designer Andrea Long holds nearly 15 years experience in website and graphic design and 20 years of experience in writing.
Owner & Head Designer Andrea worked for the Yellow Pages for seven years where she designed, wrote, and edited thousands of websites.
No, all of our projects are done in house by our designers.
Unlike many design companies, our head designer also has a degree in Journalism and SEO writing experience, so you never have to deal with any other company throughout the process. We do not offer any kind of marketing services, such as blog writing, email campaigns/newsletters, etc.
Please note we do not handle any printing, but we can refer you to a local printing company.
À La Digital Design is registered as a vendor with VR Indiana. We are pleased and honored to be able to work with individuals with disabilities to help them achieve their advertising goals, as well as provide training for them to maintain and self-manage their websites.
À La Digital Design will keep back ups of your product files for a maximum of 30 days. It is the client’s responsibility to download their files from Google Drive immediately and back them up appropriately.
If the client has failed to download their files after one month has passed, unfortunately, the files will not be able to be recovered by À La Digital Design and we will not issue any refunds or recreate the project.
For a logo, you will receive JPGs, PNGs, and a PDF of your finished logo.
For other graphic products, you will receive a PDF of your finished product.
Please note, you will not receive the source files (i.e., the original design files). Should you like to own your source files, please contact us and we will discuss the purchase price and other details.
Why don’t I get the source files with my finished product? Think of it this way: if you go to a restaurant and have a meal, you paid to have the meal prepared for you by the chef, not to walk away with the recipe.
We will start the process by setting up a design consultation to learn about your website needs. After your consultation if you decide to acquire our services, you will be invoiced and owe a deposit (50 percent of project cost) to get your project on the calendar and get started. After our consultation, we will send you a questionnaire to fill out so we can learn about your brand, your business, and your industry. Please note that we can not begin production until this questionnaire has been completed.
Then À La Digital Design will ask you to purchase your domain and/or hosting plan if you do not already have a website or domain name. Expect to pay around $10 to $50 per month for a hosting plan. We can assist you with this step via screen share but please note it is your financial responsibility to purchase your domain and/or hosting plan, these prices ARE NOT included in our quotes/prices.
Once those steps have been completed, we will begin the design process. We require a 3-page minimum for website design.
A domain name refers to a unique website address, for example our domain name is www.aladigitaldesign.com. Some clients may already own a domain name and some may need to purchase a domain name.
A website host is a service that allows organizations and individuals to host a website on the internet. A website host plan is required to move forward with a website design. Examples of popular website hosting companies are WordPress, SquareSpace, and Wix, but there are many choices out there.
If you need to purchase a domain and website hosting, these costs are not included in our rates and it is your financial responsibility to purchase.
A domain name is required because it is the web address of your website. It’s the unique identity of your website.
A website hosting plan is required because you have to have a space on the internet to house your website.
Think of a domain name as the address to your house and the website hosting as the property your house sits on. The address for your property is the domain name and the house that sits on the property is the same as a website hosting company providing you a place to host your website.
Yes, we can help you with the process but you are financially responsible for the purchase, and a hosting plan is required in order to have a website. We recommend that our clients purchase a WordPress hosting plan from Go Daddy or a SquareSpace plan. We can help walk you through the process if needed. Please note that for new customers, GoDaddy-managed WordPress hosting plans and SquareSpace plans include a free domain name for the first year and SSL certificate for the duration of your hosting.
Expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $50 a month for your website hosting plan, depending on the host company and plan you choose.
Absolutely. Once we complete the website design and you have paid your remaining balance, it is yours to do with as you wish but please note, we may use your website in our professional portfolio. A Basics Tutorial is included in website packages and website design prices so we can teach you the basics of how to manage your own website.
We can write SEO-friendly content for your website for an additional fee, or you can write all the content and we will gladly incorporate it into your website. Don’t worry if it’s not complete and polished right away; we can use placeholder text until you’re ready to place your own content on the website.
If you are interested in having us write and design your website, learn more in our copywriting FAQ section.
À La Digital Design specializes in creating websites for small businesses & start-ups, and entrepreneurs. Our costs are significantly cheaper than other companies because we have found it to be more cost effective to stray away from coding websites. We primarily use WordPress & SquareSpace platforms for our clients because they are cost effective, user-friendly, and easy to self-manage. There are endless options and features within these platforms and we can create you a website with all the functionality you desire.
Our philosophy for websites is “budget friendly, without compromising quality.”
Website designs vary, but generally we are able to complete smaller projects in 2-4 weeks and larger projects in 4-8 weeks if the client remains proactive with providing content, revisions, and responds to communications in a timely manner throughout the entirety of the project.
We can design new WordPress or SquareSpace sites only (no transfers or redesigns) for a quick turnaround, but rush fees will apply and client is responsible to provide all the content (writing, pictures, etc.) Expect to pay up to 100-200 percent more to rush a website design. Why? Because we are prioritizing your project and putting in overtime hours to complete a job on a tight deadline. Full payment is due upfront to begin production on a rush design.
Please note, SEO-friendly copywriting is not available for a quick turnaround.
No, logos are not included with a website design, but they are available as an À La Carte option for an additional fee.
We will be glad to choose a nice font for your business name to be displayed on your website for no additional cost, or if you already have a logo, we can place it on your website as well.
Logos start at $120 and can go up to $1000+. Logos are a completely different design process and can take anywhere from 2-3 hours for a simple logo and all the way up to 15-20 hours for a very detailed logo.
Yes, we recommend WordPress or SquareSpace for all of our websites clients because they are both wonderful platforms with endless customization and ideal for self managing.
We offer a WordPress or SquareSpace Basics Tutorial & Guide for all website designs/redesigns or website packages. For redesigns, we only offer the complimentary tutorial & guide if you are moving your website from WordPress to SquareSpace or from SquareSpace to WordPress.
We can also create Shopify websites and would be glad to design your website in other platforms if you prefer, but we do not offer a complimentary tutorial & guide for other platforms. To learn more about other platforms, we highly recommend a customized lesson plan.
All WordPress & SquareSpace website clients will be provided with a complimentary Basics Tutorial that will teach you how to add or remove text from any page on your website.
For clients that are not very tech savvy and still require some additional assistance with making text changes, we can make those changes for you at an additional cost.
Please note that if you would like us to make text changes on your website, you must provide a document detailing all the changes you need made. We unfortunately are not able to to take text changes over the phone but if you have accessibility challenges, we recommend you create your change document with a voice to text program. If you need us to help you transcribe any changes, that will result in an additional cost to cover our time.
No, we do not offer any monthly management plans at this time. All of our prices that we provide and quote are one-time prices.
As mentioned above, if you have updates or revisions you’d like to make to your website after we completed your design, we offer update services at a small hourly fee.
No, once we complete your website, you will own the design and the content. We do not offer any monthly management plans at this time.
Please be aware you will be billed monthly or annually for your hosting plan and domain name. We do not offer hosting support and it is your financial responsibility to manage your hosting plan and all costs associated.
Your satisfaction is our top priority. Before proceeding with your new website design, we will show you a draft of your website layout & design elements and require your approval to move forward. Once you sign off on the layout and design, we will proceed with the final design. We offer two set of revisions at no additional cost if you are unhappy with what we have produced for you, but please note, if you choose to move forward with a completely new design after previously signing off on a final design, further costs will be incurred.
In order for the revisions process to go smoothly, we will ask that you provide clear and concise instructions to avoid any miscommunications and to ensure we can complete the revisions in a timely manner for you as well as for us. If communication issues occur during revisions, we will make sure to get back on track so we remain productive during the project.
We will start the process with a design consultation. Once you have decided to acquire our services, we will request the required 50 percent non-refundable deposit to begin work on your project. For any project under $200, we will request the full payment. We will ask you to fill out a questionnaire, where we will learn all about your business and services/products you provide to your clients. We encourage you to provide examples of materials you like (logos, brochures, business cards, flyers, etc.) as well as provide colors, fonts, styles, etc, that you enjoy or would like to incorporate into your design. The questionnaire must be completed in order for us to begin production.
Our designer will then provide you with 1-3 sketches/layouts based on your questionnaire responses. You will then choose a concept and we will proceed with developing the final design. Two rounds of revisions are included in your quote, but any changes needed after two rounds of revisions are exhausted will be billed by the hour. Once all revisions have been applied, we will provide you with a proof and await your final approval.
When you approve the product, we will send you the final invoice. Please note, the remainder of your balance must be received before we will release the completed product and all the necessary file formats for print and/or web.
Two rounds of revisions are included in your quote, but any changes needed after two rounds of revisions are exhausted will be billed by the hour.
Please note, a new design, additions of new artwork, or a change in color palette AFTER your have approved the logo design are NOT considered revisions and will incur additional costs.
Once two rounds of revisions have been applied and any additional revisions have been applied, we will provide you with a final proof and await your final approval.
No, all of our projects are done in house by our designers. Please note we do not do any printing, but we can refer you to a reputable printing company and you will be financially responsible for any printing costs.
Visual branding refers to the visual aspects of your business. Examples of visual aspects are your logo, colors, fonts, graphics, styles or any other visual element that you use to promote your brand. It’s important that your visual branding is consistent.
A consistent visual identity is crucial to the success of your business, as this plays an important part of attracting a target audience. Consistent branding is simple: a business needs to use the same colors, same feel, same look, and a prominent logo on everything they put out, digital or printed.
Consistent branding helps an audience get to know your business and also gets you instant recognition when potential customers see what you are putting out. Branding should be consistent across all of your websites, social media platforms, business cards, banners, and even right down to your email signatures. You will appear unorganized and unprofessional if your branding is scattered and mixed.
Sometimes a business will make the decision to re-brand any current branding. Re-branding means that a business is creating a new visual identity, so all the existing visual branding such as your logo, colors, and messaging is being updated to your new vision.
There are many reasons why a company may decide to re-brand, but it is crucial that once you are ready to launch your new brand, you have a strategy in hand. Be sure your new visual identity is clear and that all of your marketing materials are ready to be launched at the same time as to not confuse your current audience.
À La Digital Design knows just what you need. A mini makeover for your visual branding is known in the industry as a brand refresh.
A brand refresh is a small undertaking in comparison to a re-branding. Examples of a refresh are updates to your colors, fonts, or an update to a logo.
The benefits of a refresh are you won’t lose any of your recognition with your current audience but at the same time it also appeals to a broader, changing audience. A refresh can aid in keeping your business relevant and can transform outdated branding.
Yes, you can hire us to write one page or all pages of your website. Our head designer holds a degree in Journalism from Indiana University and has a decades of experience in web copywriting and SEO writing.
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Search engines have bots that scan websites and index them into their search results. The better SEO ranking your website has, the higher you will show up in a search engine, which means more people and potential clients may visit your website.
Are you wondering if you need SEO for your website? Yes, we highly recommend you do. Why? To have more visibility on the web and to appeal to a larger audience.
We will start the process by setting up a copywriting and SEO brainstorming session and consultation to learn about your content needs. After your consultation if you decide to acquire our services, you will be invoiced and owe a deposit (50 percent of project cost) to get your project on the calendar and get started. After our consultation, we will send you a questionnaire to fill out so we can learn about your brand, your business, and your industry. Please note that we can not begin production until this questionnaire has been completed.
Then À La Digital Design will begin to develop your SEO strategy based on information you provided via the questionnaire as well as specialized research we conduct to compile a list of keywords that pertain to your industry. Please note that we are not able to provide any SEO-content to current content because for an effective SEO strategy, we have to create brand new content for you website.
No, we do not offer any monthly SEO plans. We are a small business with a small staff dedicated to website and graphic design.
Although we don’t offer monthly plans for our SEO clients, we will gladly reassess and bring your SEO up to industry standards 2-3 times a year if needed for a small fee, just contact us.
À La Digital Design does not offer SEO writing for any existing writing, because our SEO strategies are developed from scratch and difficult to create for content we did not write. For any pages that require optimization, we will create brand new, unique and compelling SEO content.
Sorry, but we are unable to complete SEO copywriting in a quick turnaround.
If you have a WordPress, SquareSpace, Shopify or your site is hosted on a similar website platform, yes, we will happily install the content on your website. We will require your permission to access the website editor in order to upload all the content onto your site.
Please note, if your site is not WordPress, SquareSpace, or a similar platform, or it is a coded website, we will not be able to install the content. It is the client’s responsibility to have the content uploaded. You will need to contact your web designer or the persons responsible for managing your website.