Overview

Your company website is the single most important marketing tool you have, yet most companies miss the opportunity to put their best foot forward online. Creating or redesigning a great website is not a simple undertaking, and to do it right you need to work with an agency that not only understands all the complex technical and creative issues, but which also understands how to best present your business to the world.

Our websites are always designed for humans first and search engines second. When clients are impressed with your website, they will view your company positively. More important than just traffic is converting that traffic into engagement, leads, and customers. Every site we build has analytics to view your web site statistics including the number of visitors, how they found your site, and what pages were viewed. A clean design that coincides with your branding, enjoyable user experience, well written content, and search engine ranking, are key aspects of the web sites we build.

We recommend WordPress as the Content Management System, or CMS for the site. The CMS is the backend or interface where we (or you) can manage the site to make changes, add content or review reports. WordPress is easy to use, scalable, and integrates with most Social Media and Blogging platforms. WordPress is well known for being one of the top CMS platforms in the world, used by fortune 500 companies such as Ford, Coca Cola, and Samsung.

Our Process

The key difference between Cantrell Media and other development companies is that we manage our projects with a cyclical process rather than a linear process. Over the course of developing your website we will review the design and functionality with you at each stage; allowing for revisions and improvements. This will give you the chance to make changes, and will help us optimize the site to ensure the best possible user experience.

Site Development Includes:

• Strategy, planning and design
• Hosting setup and configuration
• Design, Development, Configuration
• WordPress content management system
• Google analytics setup, integration
• SEO optimized site map
• Contact us / Lead capture form
• Google map integration on contact page
• SEO plug-in
• WordPress training
• Phone and Email support 30 days post-launch

Graphic design may not be rocket science, but it’s not child’s play either. Today a company’s branding, logo, and website has become more important than ever. For many companies It has become their primary source of communication with their client base, partners and investors. In the case of e-commerce or web-based businesses, their online presence IS the company’s identity and storefront.

Graphic design is an important PART of any Branding Strategy, and requires a true understanding of the corporate goals, and is in line with the image they are trying to portray. Accordingly, our process for graphic design and brand development is fairly unique and slightly more complex than most traditional agencies.

Our Process:

1. Discover

After reviewing your Brand, and Brand Strategy, we will begin working on incorporating that pertinent information into the flow chart of development. We want to make sure we are capturing the essence of not only the vision of your design, but also capturing the attention of your target audience. We want a design and message that not only looks good but also lets people know who you are and what you stand for.

2. Design

This is where things really get fun. Being a 15 year veteran web master, I myself have been thru all the development roles and can personally brand your website they way you want, being attentive to a pixel perfect aesthetic design and layout.

3. Create

Once you have chosen a design style that you like, we want you to try it on for size! We will prepare mock ups of your design so you can see how it will look when used in an live environment. Depending on your project this may include mock ups of business cards, letterhead, websites, coffee mugs, t-shirts, or even a vehicle. We want you to see what your design will look like in action to make sure you are happy with the way it looks, and it represents your brand correctly.

4. Review

Now that you have had a chance to review the design work, and see the mock ups we take the time to go over everything with you one more time. We want to make sure that we have hit all of the goals of the project, and you are completely happy with the design. If you’re not 100% sure, or want some outside opinions feel free to take your time. You may even want to take a survey or have people vote on what design they like best. If you would like we can help with this process. And if for any reason you want any changes, tweaks, or even a re-design we will go back to the drawing board.

5. Launch

The design is approved and now it’s time to put it into the production environment, or what we call Launch. This may be mean launching your website, or printing your business cards. Whatever it is we will move into action so you can kick back and celebrate your new design.

6. Grow

Most agencies stop at Step 5, the work is done, the design is launched what is there left to do? GROW! Whether it’s us touching base with you to see how the branding is working, or managing a full marketing campaign on your behalf, it is crucial to understand that branding is not something you do once and forget about. People change, the market changes, and yes your company will change over time. We want to stay in touch with you to make sure your brand is sending the message you want, and more importantly reaching your target audience. We are here to help you GROW!

For real life example of how our Branding and Design Process has benefited our clients, please take a look at our Online Portfolio.

Blog

A blog is an extension of your website updated with new and original content on a regular basis; a major component of SEO. A blog is where your company can “post” articles, product updates, news, events, or other multimedia materials such as presentations, pictures, audio and video. These posts not only help to establish you or your company as an expert in your given industry, it also helps to raise brand awareness. Blog posts are interactive, allowing visitors to engage with you and each other by leaving comments on your posts. This interactivity is what distinguishes blogs from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Blogging not only produces original content, it also builds social relationships with their readers and other bloggers.

We recommend WordPress as the Content Management System, or CMS for the the Blog. The CMS is the backend or interface where we (or you) will be able to manage all of your blog posts and comments. It is a powerful tool with robust features, yet simple to use. WordPress is not just any blogging software, it is one of the best in the industry used by all types of bloggers, from individuals to fortune 500 companies.

We believe creating an attractive blog design is just the beginning. The design must be both functional as well as visually appealing. It must be easy to navigate (for your blog visitors), and easy to use and update (for your benefit).

Blog Development Includes:

• Blog strategy, planning and design
• Hosting setup and configuration
• WordPress blog design and development (branded, your logo, etc)
• Installation and configuration of designed theme
• Setting title tags and descriptions
• Installation of email subscriber form
• Google Analytics setup, and integration
• Creation of a blog header from your artwork
• Search engine optimization and SEO plug-in
• WordPress training
• Phone and Email support

 Features

WordPress powers more than 34% of the web — a figure that rises every day. Everything from simple websites, to blogs, to complex portals and enterprise websites, and even applications, are built with WordPress.

WordPress combines simplicity for users and publishers with under-the-hood complexity for developers. This makes it flexible while still being easy-to-use. The following is a list of some of the features that come as standard with WordPress; however, there are literally thousands of plugins that extend what WordPress does, so the actual functionality is nearly limitless. You are also free to do whatever you like with the WordPress code, extend it or modify in any way or use it for commercial projects without any licensing fees. That is the beauty of free software, free refers not only to price but also the freedom to have complete control over it.

Here are some of the features that we think that you’ll love.

• Simplicity
  Simplicity makes it possible for you to get online and get publishing, quickly. Nothing should get in the way of you getting your website up and your content out there. WordPress is built to make that happen.
• Flexibility
  With WordPress, you can create any type of website you want: a personal blog or website, a photoblog, a business website, a professional portfolio, a government website, a magazine or news website, an online community, even a network of websites. You can make your website beautiful with themes, and extend it with plugins. You can even build your very own application.
• Publish with Ease
  If you’ve ever created a document, you’re already a whizz at creating content with WordPress. You can create Posts and Pages, format them easily, insert media, and with the click of a button your content is live and on the web.
• Publishing Tools
  WordPress makes it easy for you to manage your content. Create drafts, schedule publication, and look at your post revisions. Make your content public or private, and secure posts and pages with a password.
• User Management
  Not everyone requires the same access to your website. Administrators manage the site, editors work with content, authors and contributors write that content, and subscribers have a profile that they can manage. This lets you have a variety of contributors to your website, and let others simply be part of your community.
• Media Management
  They say a picture says a thousand words, which is why it’s important for you to be able to quickly and easily upload images and media to WordPress. Drag and drop your media into the uploader to add it to your website. Add alt text and captions, and insert images and galleries into your content. We’ve even added a few image editing tools you can have fun with.
• Full Standards Compliance
  Every piece of WordPress generated code is in full compliance with the standards set by the W3C. This means that your website will work in today’s browser, while maintaining forward compatibility with the next generation of browser. Your website is a beautiful thing, now and in the future.
• Easy Theme System
  WordPress comes bundled with three default themes, but if they aren’t for you there’s a theme directory with thousands of themes for you to create a beautiful website. None of those to your taste? Upload your own theme with the click of a button. It only takes a few seconds for you to give your website a complete makeover.
• Extend with Plugins
  WordPress comes packed with a lot of features for every user. For every feature that’s not in WordPress core, there’s a plugin directory with thousands of plugins. Add complex galleries, social networking, forums, social media widgets, spam protection, calendars, fine-tune controls for search engine optimization, and forms.
• Built-in Comments
  Your blog is your home, and comments provide a space for your friends and followers to engage with your content. WordPress’s comment tools give you everything you need to be a forum for discussion and to moderate that discussion.
• Search Engine Optimized
  WordPress is optimized for search engines right out of the box. For more fine-grained SEO control, there are plenty of SEO pluginsto take care of that for you.
• Use WordPress in Your Language
  WordPress is available in more than 70 languages. If you or the person you’re building the website for would prefer to use WordPress in a language other than English, that’s easy to do.
• Easy Installation and Upgrades
  WordPress has always been easy to install and upgrade. Plenty of web hosts offer one-click WordPress installersthat let you install WordPress with, well, just one click! Or, if you’re happy using an FTP program, you can create a database, upload WordPress using FTP, and run the installer.
• Importers
  Using blog or website software that you aren’t happy with? Running your blog on a hosted service that’s about to shut down? WordPress comes with importers for Blogger, LiveJournal, Movable Type, TypePad, Tumblr, and WordPress. If you’re ready to make the move, we’ve made it easy for you.
• Own Your Data
  Hosted services come and go. If you’ve ever used a service that disappeared, you know how traumatic that can be. If you’ve ever seen adverts appear on your website, you’ve probably been pretty annoyed. Using WordPress means no one has access to your content. Own your data, all of it — your website, your content, your data.
• Freedom
  WordPress is licensed under the GPL which was created to protect your freedoms. You are free to use WordPress in any way you choose: install it, use it, modify it, distribute it. Software freedom is the foundation that WordPress is built on.
• Community
  As the most popular open source CMS on the web, WordPress has a vibrant and supportive community. Ask a question on the support forumsand get help from a volunteer, attend a WordCamp or Meetup to learn more about WordPress, read blogs posts and tutorials about WordPress. Community is at the heart of WordPress, making it what it is today.
• Contribute
  You can be WordPress too! Help to build WordPress, answer questions on the support forums, write documentation, translate WordPress into your language, speak at a WordCamp, write about WordPress on your blog. Whatever your skill, we’d love to have you!

Developer Features

For developers, we’ve got lots of goodies packed under the hood that you can use to extend WordPress in whatever direction takes your fancy.

• Plugin System
  The WordPress APIsmake it possible for you to create plugins to extend WordPress. WordPress’s extensibility lies in the thousands of hooks at your disposal. Once you’ve created your plugin, we’ve even got a plugin repository for you to host it on.
• Theme System
  Create WordPress themes for clients, other WordPress users, or yourself. WordPress provides the extensibility to create themesas simple or as complex as you wish. If you want to give your theme away for free you can give it to users in the theme repository.
• Application Framework
  If you want to build an application, WordPress can help with that too. WordPress provides a lot of the features under the hood that your app will need: translations, user management, HTTP requests, databases, URL routing and much, much more. You can also use our REST APIto interact with it.
• Custom Content Types
  WordPress comes with default content types, but for more flexibility you can add a few lines of code to create your own custom post types, taxonomies, and metadata. Take WordPress in whatever direction you wish.