We begin onboarding by setting up our project management tool, which includes organizing the scope, schedule, and invoices. At the same time, we start getting our team up to speed by reviewing the proposal and conducting research to better understand your goals and value proposition.
Before the project team is assigned, we often have the content audit completed. This audit guides our decisions regarding sitemap, existing page rank preservation, and conversion strategy. Initially, the workbook is cumbersome, but it will soon become your best friend. Want to dive in on sitemap planning early? Just let your PM know.
We organize resources based on availability so they can be fully committed to your project and your goals.
You’ll start meeting some team members very soon. You’ll meet several Orbiteers along the way
For the team to fully understand the project at hand, our team needs to understand your industry, what your competitors are doing, and what your audience needs are. So, in addition to reviewing your questionnaire and discussing your project with you, we’re taking time to do some qualitative research to help guide our recommendations.
One of the reasons the content audit is so useful is that we pull real data from your Google Tools. This is why it is important to give us access to your Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google Search Console at the very start of the project. Can’t figure out how to give us access?
For the project to be successful, we need to understand your brand. Your brand includes all of the following: logo, color palette, messaging, tone of voice, writing guidelines, images, graphics, etc. If we haven’t done so already, we’ll provide you with a link to our Google Drive where you can upload all of these brand assets to help us get underway smoothly and without delays.
Your timely completion of the questionnaires helps our team get up to speed on the project, helps guide our follow-up questions, and helps us prepare for our next meetings with you.
A crucial part of Orbit’s research effort is to conduct 30-minute interviews with key members of your team to help us gain valuable insights that will help shape your new website’s copy and overall direction. Please refer to your proposal for the number of interviews and start planning for who you’d like to include in this part of the process. Check out this guide for what to expect and how to best plan for stakeholder interviews
So what’s next?
Each phase includes several steps that span a duration identified in your proposal. We use an agile process that allows steps to overlap, shortening the duration. Each step requires several deliverables. Deliverables come from us, and deliverables from you. Here’s a breakdown of the four phases:
Throughout the project, we’ll be sharing links similar to this one. These links are a great resource for learning about our deliverables and processes.
You can even share the links with your colleagues to get them up to speed on a deliverable we’ve shared or are about to share with you.
Next steps
We’re off and running! Right now, we’re working on getting the team assigned and starting our audits and research. And we’re here for you: just reach out if you have any questions.
