HANG YOUR SHINGLE STUDIO

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À la carte services

Coaching (per hour)

Branding consultation (two hours)

Website design & build

Marketing consultation (two hours)

$200

$400

$2200

$400

Hang Your Shingle total package*

*Package includes a free hour of coaching and video updates tutorial

$3200

Coaching (two hours)
We will discuss what you hope to achieve from this new venture, including questions around why you’re doing this now, with whom you would most like to work, what unites the services you’d like to offer, and more. We will emerge with enough clarity to move to the next step.

Branding consultation (two hours)
We will meet twice for an hour to discuss how we're going to present your brand. In the first meeting, we will brainstorm copy and visuals and general strategy. In the second meeting, I'll come with more concrete suggestions like possible logos (if appropriate), a palette, a landing page prototype, or other assets for us to discuss. 

Website design & build (two to four weeks)
Once I have the materials I'd need from you, I'll build the website (process described below), which usually takes two to four weeks.

Marketing consultation (two hours)
Once the website is built, we will meet twice for an hour (or once for two hours, whatever seems best) to discuss strategy to share your work with the world (my logline :-). We can go over possibilities for social media, newsletter content, ads, networking, etc.

Website Design Process and Checklist

Clients usually show me some sites they like (or tell me what they like about the previous sites I've designed). Once I have a sense of how you might like the site to look in terms of design and layout, I usually design a prototype landing page and menu structure for us to discuss. Then you could provide feedback like Can we add a page for press and reviews? Can we use this color instead of that? Could we use a font that is more ___? Could the images be placed in a different layout? I'll do what I can within the confines of the platform we're using, but I can also make CSS code adjustments in many cases.

It would be helpful as I get started to have any media you'd like to use. Here's a list of some possible items to gather in preparation (some might be applicable to your site, others not):

  • Bio

  • Headshot(s)

  • Book cover image (many authors get assets from their publishing house/publicist such as the layers used and the fonts)

  • Any other favorite fonts or colors?

  • Any photos, video, or audio you'll want to include, either your own or that you like from Unsplash or RawPixel

  • List of online publications (maybe broken down into categories of top, middle, and bottom in terms of how you'd much importance you'd like to give them)

  • Book covers, descriptions, blurbs, and reviews (often conveniently gathered at Amazon/Bookshop)

  • The bookstores you'd like to link to for book purchase and the links to your book specifically

  • Any professional links or descriptions (teaching, training, etc.)

  • Services breakdown (teaching, editing, etc.)

  • Testimonials

  • News

  • Events

  • Newsletter sign up form details

  • Contact form details (email address you prefer for website correspondence)

  • Links to social media

  • Promotional pop-up text

  • FAQ

Once the design is settled, I'd finish filling in the text, images, etc. Then you could give feedback again on what's there, I'd make adjustments and finalize built-in social media and SEO settings, and then we'd transfer or connect the domain. That will require some cooperation on your end for billing, etc. (I'll send you detailed instructions.) At some point, also, you'd need to get set up with Squarespace, but as a member of their Circle team, I can get a six-month trial period (which you won't need but otherwise it's only two weeks) and 20% off your first annual hosting subscription.

Clients often ask about updates to the site after it's complete, and if you think you need it, I can offer you an hour-long tutorial in doing your own updates for $150 or a video walkthrough recording of me making updates that you can watch and keep for $100. Otherwise, you can use the many helpful videos Squarespace has available. If you'd prefer to have me do the updates later as they come up, there are two options: 1) as needed at $150 per hour or 2) if you anticipate frequent developments or regular new clips, you can arrange a monthly retainer of $100 for up to one hour of updates per month with additional hours billed at $150. 

In terms of timing for the completion of the website, it usually takes 2-4 weeks for everything, depending on how complex the site is and if you have the content ready to go. From the time the site goes live, it usually takes another 2-4 weeks for the search spiders to crawl through and move you up the search return queue. If you have any other questions, please let me know.