Believe it or not, here, we can design a website in a day. In fact, in early 2022, we built an entire site in a day by customizing a Showit template for a copywriter, Samantha Hoilett.
If you’re curious about how we did this, you’re in luck. Throughout this post, we’ll be breaking down exactly what goes into our Showit template customization VIP days, which is one of our most popular services.
Here’s how we built a website in a day, featuring this awesome Showit website design for a copywriter!
Phase 1: Inquiry, Proposal, Contract & Invoice
Just like most other service providers, our process starts when someone fills out our contact form. It asks basic questions, like what service the inquirer is interested in, their name and email, and if they have anything else they’d like to add.
We like to make our process a breeze from start to finish, which is why we only have a few questions on our contact form. It creates a smaller barrier to entry and we can get to know the inquirer a bit better during the proposal process to see if we would be a good fit!
After we review the inquiry, we take the time to put together a custom proposal for the small business owner and include a link to book a call in case they want to chat first. We commonly get quite a few questions for our one day website service, which makes sense, because it is a fast turnaround.
Once the client decides they want to move forward, we send over a contract and invoice, and the project officially starts!
Phase 2: Project Prep (Using Our Fave Tool, Notion!)
Woohoo, it’s time to prep for the project! With a website in a day like this one for Samantha, it truly is even more important to prep for the project because we work on such a fast timeline once the day finally comes.
We set up a personal Notion board for our client where we can chat with them, assign tasks, give them a breakdown of the day, and overall just keep a hub of everything that has to do with the project.
This is also where we provide copy docs in case our clients need any help with their copy for their new website, but since Samantha is a copywriter, she had that covered!
The great thing about a website in a day is that the client knows ahead of time what template they want to be customized, so we can share pages from that template with them so they can see some pre-built sections. This helps them to then write the copy for their site, almost like a fill-in-the-blank, if they need it.
Everything in the Notion dashboard for project prep is due by the Wednesday before their website in a day is scheduled for. This gives the Inkpot Creative team ample time to go through and check everything over to make sure there’s nothing else we need before the project starts.
Phase 3: Time for the Website in a Day!
Woohoo, it’s officially the week of the website in a day! Historically, when we first offered this service, we actually used to do everything in a day… but we recently changed that up a bit.
The only thing we do outside of the day is a homepage design check-in so that our client doesn’t have to feel as pressured to provide feedback so quickly. We found that some of our clients felt that there wasn’t enough time to leave feedback, especially if they were also busy business owners, and we totally respect that!
So, we now send the website’s customized homepage on the Monday before their VIP day (which is always scheduled for a Wednesday). This means that they get about 24 hours to look through the homepage and leave feedback.
We truly value the homepage feedback because the client only gets a round of revisions on the homepage. Due to the fast nature of the service, the rest of the site is built based on their homepage feedback.
With Samantha’s site, we spent a lot of time analyzing her old website, to see what was working and what wasn’t working, and then we took her copy and brand assets to build a new homepage design that would help convert better.
The same day that the homepage is designed, we also connect the client’s domain to their new site because sometimes this can take a few days, especially if they have a blog they want migrated!
After the homepage is reviewed, it’s time to wait until Wednesday morning to start the VIP day! Here’s a breakdown of how the day goes:
- 1: Check in on the homepage feedback and implement the client’s requests
- 2: Begin designing the other pages on desktop, adding their copy and making the design cohesive with the home page
- 3: My team member, Jessie, goes through and mobile optimizes the whole site while I begin making the offboarding documents of launch graphics and any special tutorial videos
- 4: We do a team check-through of links, making sure everything looks good
- 5: The site is ready to launch!
You may be wondering… how do you keep stress down during your VIP day? Well, we’ve done this so many times that it truly feels like second nature. When you just start offering it, you’ll definitely feel the pressure, but it begins to feel thrilling after a while.
Seriously, we have our process so nailed down that we still enjoy a peaceful 1-hour lunch break during days where we design a full website.
Also, you by no means need a team member to help you with a VIP day service like this. I did this service all on my own without a team member’s help for so long until I later on added her just to make the day run even smoother!
Phase 4: Post-Launch Support & Offboarding
Once the site is officially done, we keep the under construction page up (in case the client wants to make any last minute changes) and we send an offboarding email to the client!
Of course, we are still there for them for the next 48 hours in case anything comes up. We know that Showit can have a learning curve if you’re new to it. Because of that, we also throw together any other tutorials that may be needed if a client has any other questions.
In the offboarding email, we also send over some fun launch graphic mockups for the client to share on social media. There’s also a testimonial request because we are constantly upgrading our client experience based on feedback.
Curious to see how Samantha’s website turned out? Here’s a before and after!
“Best investment of the year and it’s only March! I feel so much more confident in my online presence and feel more in control about first impressions beyond Instagram.” – Samantha
So, are you ready to get your own website done in a day? Click here to inquire now!
Check out some of our other posts:
- Rock-Inspired Website Template Customization
- A Colorful Photography Website Design
- Custom Showit Sales Page Design For A Creative Coach
- Showit vs WordPress: Which is better?
- Showit Wedding Planner Website Design for K. Cutright Wedding Coordination + Design
KP’s design journey began in book publishing, but she fell in love with the truly limitless possibilities that web design presents. Since then, she’s been helping photographers and creatives become the no-brainer option for their dream clients before they even get on a call.
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7/21/22
Published On:
Krystianna Pietrzak
