You have questions – We have answers
The following are the questions we are asked most frequently. If you have a question that you don’t see answered here, please feel free to contact us
Is your company local, do you outsource?
Local is relative when you’re dealing with the web, but if you mean are we located in the US – then the answer is yes. We are in Southern California, and every member of the One Lily staff lives right here in the US. We do outsource some of our projects to other independent contractors, but again – these are all folks living in the US as well. We do not outsource any work overseas, as we believe in keeping it local so it directly benefits our economy.
What is your hourly rate?
Our hourly design rate is $120. However, we rarely quote by the hour, and instead quote by the project, which typically means you get to engage us at a lower rate than our standard hourly rate. We have been doing this long enough that we have a pretty fail safe quoting system in place, and that makes quoting a website very easy.
Do you have a real office that I could visit?
Our team is spread out from the East Coast to the West Coast, with most of us working from our home offices. So no, we don’t have an actual office you can visit. But we travel a lot – so don’t be surprised if you get a phone call one evening asking you to come out for dinner if we end up in your neighborhood.
What is different about hiring you, then someone that says they can build the same site for $500?
In this industry, you get what you pay for. We would never say that a $500 website won’t be beautiful, because we’ve seen many that are. But there is just so much more to a successful website than just it’s looks. And unfortunately, those that can quote out a $500 website are usually not veterans in this industry, and there are just some things that a new designer can’t/doesn’t know about what it takes to create a truly successful website. With over a decade of experience, we’ve just about seen it all. We know what it takes to build a successful site for our clients, and it’s certainly more than just looks. Our experience makes us a team player for your company, and offers attention and experience that you simply can’t get with an inexperienced web designer.
What makes you special?
We have won over 30 awards for our work, including being named one of the 2010 Top Mom-Owned Businesses in the Nation, we were a 2010 Stevies American Business Award Finalist, a 2010 Gold Hermes Creative Award winner, a 2010 Aster Award winner, a 2009 Silver Davey Creativity Award winner, and Angela (our Founder) was named 2009/2010 VIP Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women.
Not only have we been recognized for our designs, most importantly, our clients are successful because of the work we have done for them. We treat every project as if it is our own, and our clients reap the reward for this type of attitude. We have a true passion for seeing that our clients have successful web presences, and we are there for every step of the process. We aren’t done just because the site launches, we continue to remain involved with our clients projects for as long as they run their companies.
How long does it take to build a website?
Our typical turn around time is 6-8 weeks. We can move faster when the client has all the deliverables ready as we need them, but the majority of the time the client is also working on different aspects of their website at the same time. We tell every client that the turn around time really depends on them – we can move faster or slower – depending on how quickly the client moves on their homework.
Who owns the website once it is complete?
The client owns the copyright to everything we’re able to transfer copyright to. Obviously if we use a third party program for the clients’ website, like stock imagery, calendars, shopping cart software, etc – we ourselves don’t own the copyright to those and can therefore not give the client rights to those for ownership..
What type of payment options do you accept?
We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Checks. We take tips in chocolate or flowers!
What type of payment terms do you offer?
You have 3 options for payment. The industry standard is to bill in thirds. Meaning we require 1/3 of the project price to start, 1/3 of the project price at concept approval, and the final 1/3 of the project price is due prior to launching the website. Alternatively, you may pay the entire project up front – and receive a 5% discount off the total project price. For projects over $3,000 we also can extend monthly billing terms. For this, we require $2,000 up front, and then the balance is split over 6 equal monthly payments. (We charge no interest, no finance fees, nothing extra). The 6 monthly payments must be setup on automated billing, due on the 1st of each month.
Do you require a contract?
We do require your signature on our web design contract. This is for protection for the both of us, and is also our belief that any reputable company out there will require a contract before engagement. Our contract is pretty straight forward, but if you prefer to have your own attorney review it, please feel free to do so.
How long are your contracts valid?
Our contracts are written for 6 month periods. While we do everything on our part to finish your project before contract expiration, there are times when projects go beyond the 6 month term, most often due to the clients still working on their deliverables. Should a project need to continue beyond the 6 month term, a client may renew their contract for 20% of the project fee and the contract will be extended for 3 additional months. We only allow contracts to be extended twice, meaning that if your project is not complete within 12 months, the project is canceled, with no refund.
What if I want to cancel my contract?
Per our contract, if you cancel within the first month you are still responsible for 20% of the project fee. Should you cancel within the first 2 months, you are responsible for 50% of the project fee. Should you find it necessary to cancel up to 4 month after engagement, you are still responsible for 80% of the project fee. If you cancel 4-6 months into the project, you are still responsible for 90% of the project fee. If you hit the 6 month mark, and choose to not renew the contract, you are responsible for 100% of the project fee. If you go past the 6 months and decide to renew your project 1 or 2 times, and then cancel the project, you are still responsible for the entire project fee. Also – projects are not allowed to be “put on hold” in order to allow more time for completion.
Are your sites built off templates, or are they all custom work?
95% of our websites are 100% custom sites. We occasionally are hired to customize a clients’ existing template, so those sites are of course not custom websites.
Do you have referrals for other companies I may need to work with during this process? (Copywriters, Newsletters, Audio/Video, etc)
We certainly do. You can visit our resources page for referrals to other companies that we have had first hand experience with. We don’t refer to other companies unless we ourselves have had the opportunity to work with them directly, thus ensuring we recommend only reputable companies.
Do you offer a CMS (Content Management System)?
We absolutely do! We can build your website in traditional html (using Dreamweaver), or you can choose to have your website built out in WordPress. WordPress (originally a blogging software), is one of the most powerful and user friendly content management systems we have ever used. In fact – this website is built out completely in WordPress. Building your website out in WordPress will give you the ability to make basic updates yourself.
Do I update my site, or do I need to hire someone to do that for me?
The choice is yours. If you know Dreamweaver and have us build the site out in that software, we can send you the files once complete and you can take it over from there. Or, if we build the site out in WordPress, we can show you how to make basic updates on your own.
If you are like most of our clients, and do not want to deal with managing your own website, we offer several different options for maintaining the site for you.
Do you provide stock images for my site, or should I provide them to you?
We prefer that you allow us to purchase stock images for you – since we are designing the website we want to make sure the images chosen are within the aesthetic feel of the site design. However, if you have images already that you have already used for other purposes, and want them incorporated into your website, please feel free to send them to use for evaluation.
PLEASE NOTE: It is a violation of copyright to take images off the web, off other websites, without the express permission of the image owner. If you are on a website and see an image you like, and you save that image for later use without asking direct permission for use, you could be fined and/or sued for violating their copyright. Therefore, we require some sort of proof that you have permission to use any and all images you provide to us (other than photos you have taken of yourself of course). Also according to our contract, you guarantee that you have permission and if you give us images that you falsely represented you have the right to use, One Lily is not responsible should you get into any type of trouble. We reserve the right to refuse to remove any image added to your website if we feel that the image is in violation of copyright.
Who writes the content for my website.
Since nobody knows your business as well as you do – you are responsible for your content. If you are not a writer, or do not have the time or desire to write your own content, then we strongly recommend you work with a copywriter. As mentioned above regarding stock images, content is not a free for all, just as images aren’t. You cannot copy content off anyone’s website for your own use, your copy MUST BE YOUR OWN. There are programs in place now that make it very easy for site owners to tell if anyone is using their content (like www.copyscape.com), so if you are thinking about using someone else’s content, think again. The fine for copyright infringement can range in the thousands, to tens of thousands or more. We have seen this first hand as clients try to pass off content as their own when it is not.
Once we start the project, are their any hidden charges?
The answer to that question is most often no, but there are a few times with it’s a yes. For 99% of projects, what we quote is what you pay. In rare instances, there are sometimes additional fees. For instance, if we quoted you a site with no ecommerce and you change your mind and want to add a shopping cart, then yes – there is an additional fee. But unless the scope of the project changed, then there are never any additional fees (other than registration of your domain name, and of course the maintenance contract upon completion should you decide to have us maintain your website). You may have fees to third parties (newsletters system, audio software, etc), but nothing additional to us unless we discuss it with you first!
We have won many awards and honors
for our design work, the below list
represents a few of those.
