Web developer in Princeton: practice sites that say plainly what you do
For an advisory practice, my first three pages as a web developer in Princeton set out the services, name the credentials and show who's on the team. Every claim on them is one a client can check.
Overview
Saying how many of you there are
If there are two of you, the site says two, and names who handles each kind of work.
A client reading it then knows who'll be on their engagement, which is part of what they're hiring you for. A practice of forty says forty, and the team page shows how the work is split.
I agree a bolder look with you at the start, if you'd like one. Say so early.
What gets built here
What an advisory firm website states
These four go on the site before anything else is written. I'll draft each one with you, from documents you already hold.
- 01Credentials by name — the qualification, the professional body, the published work, each with the year it was awarded.
- 02Scope of work as a document — what an engagement includes, written so a client could hold you to it.
- 03The size of the practice — the real headcount, and each person's part in the work.
- 04What you decline — the work you turn away, so a client sees where your limits are.
What moves the number
How much there is to write
The page count follows the practice: its areas, its people and what it is published.
- 01Engagements described by type, or named with the client's permission
- 02How many credentials and publications the site lists
- 03Photographs of the team, or names and roles only
- 04The number of practice areas that need their own page
- 05Articles or a newsletter from the current site worth carrying across
- 06A biography page for each person, or one for the whole practice
Qualifications for the call
A list of your qualifications and memberships, each beside the body that awarded it, gives our call its starting point. If it's easier, pictures of the certificates work too.
What a scope from me looks like
The scope for an advisory firm
Included
- A written scope: every page and feature as its own line, agreed before work starts
- Design to build, reviewed on a staging URL that stays open the whole project
- Mobile first — checked on a real phone
- Domain, hosting and every account created in your name from day one
- A team page with each person's role
- Basic on-page SEO: titles, descriptions, headings, sitemap, Search Console connected
- A runbook at handover: how to edit it, what renews and when
Phase two
- Short case notes, once clients agree to how their engagements are described
- Ongoing SEO once the site has traffic to read
- A maintenance plan once the site is live
- Logo and brand design, quoted separately from the build
Not doing
- Guaranteed rankings
- Naming a client who hasn't agreed to it
No engagement is shown as an example until it is agreed in writing, along with the words used to describe it.
Where this comes from
The record, and how the work is shown to you
The count since 2017 is 900+ projects completed, including 600+ projects for US clients.
Kolkata, India is my base, and a staging link shows every page while it is built. The team works on your schedule, in your time zone.
Nearby
Research pages and long written scopes
Cambridge MA takes up research pages for labs and instrument makers; New York takes up a scope agreed one line at a time.
FAQ
On naming clients and claiming leadership
The contact page names a person, not a department.
Should a practice describe itself as leading in its field?
- A practice can call itself a leader in its field when a named ranking or appointment backs the word, shown beside it with its source. Without one, I write the fact the claim was reaching for, such as the body that accredits you or the years you have practised.
Can a professional practice website work without naming clients?
- A professional practice website works without client names. A confidential client is described by its sector, and the work is set out in the same detail a named engagement would get. The description covers the sector, the size of organisation and the question it brought.
How small can a practice site be?
- A firm's site can be complete at a handful of pages. Each service gets one, the people get one, and nothing else is added until there's something real to put on it. A handful of pages also keeps the job of updating them small.
Who'll be building the site?
- I lead every build and write its scope. Three developers, a designer and three SEO specialists in the Kolkata, India office, plus around six people working remotely, share the rest of the work. The designer lays the page out so the credentials are the first thing a client reads.
How are partners and associates shown on the team page?
- Partners and associates each get a short biography with their qualifications and the work they lead. Anyone who'd rather not be photographed is shown by name and role only, and the team page still reads well without a picture. Each biography is written from the person's own CV and checked by them before launch.
Can the site carry articles or a newsletter?
- Articles can go on the site once there are a few to publish, each dated and signed by its author. A newsletter sign-up is not a big addition, and the scope lists it as its own line.
Next step
Three engagements to start from
Two engagements you're proud of, and one you'd turn down now, give the site its examples and its limits. Those three are worth thinking about before we speak.
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