KeyCreative FAQs

A custom website is one that isn't "cookie-cut" or bought from a third-party source.  We pride ourselves in creating our websites in-house; we don't copy and paste site designs and change little tidbits of it out, instead, we explore the current branding of your company and the important parts of your current site to form a website that pushes both the fun and functional aspects to the forefront.

This depends on several factors: whether the client is actively participating with feedback and discussion, whether our first design pitch is acceptable to you, and whether the payments for milestone completions are received.  On average, our sites are ready and live within 6 to 8 weeks.  If everything goes smoothly, then it can take as little as 4 to 5 weeks.

Please visit the Get a Quote page to view average pricing for our services.

We typically give three big revisions to nail the design, but not before reading your branding guides and vision for the site in order to minimalize that process.  There is a pattern to our site structure that satisfies the vast majority of our clients, but if you would like to submit or have us create a wireframe mockup before we paint our design, let us know!

We use ExpressionEngine for it's security, reliability, and flexibility.  ExpressionEngine is a powerful content management system that will allow you to post news, events, photo galleries, etc. with ease.  Notable companies that use EE as their CMS include Apple, Sony, Disney, Nike, Ford, and Cisco.

No, we strictly do web design and development.  However, our sites are SEO-friendly in that you will be able to control the content within the meta tags and the title of the page, but again, we leave that kind of marketing up to you or another party to actively optimize.

We do not provide an e-commerce solution, however, we can link to a third-party e-commerce solution for you from your new website.  We recommend http://www.shopify.com/

Unfortunately, this has proven to be a hassle for both the clients and ourselves as we often do not have full control over the other hoster's system.  We have our own packages we deploy on our servers to kickstart development and our own hosting environment that we are very confident in providing great uptime and security – We only host new sites developed by us on our servers.

Key Creative charges $29.00 a month for hosting, beginning when your website goes live. Payable monthly with a credit card on file or for 12 months in advance by check.

We will notify you that we didn't receive your bill by email/phone and will allow you to explain your situation.  If you do not respond within a reasonable timeframe, we will temporarily suspend your site until the bill is paid.  Further work on the site will also be rejected until all payments are caught up.

Draw it!  Some things are easier explained through drawings or diagrams.  We've had clients draw their ideal design layout with colors and we have helped them actualize it into a fully functioning site.

We use responsive or adaptive technology for our sites, and either are an optional extra but highly recommended.  We typically use responsive technology when the site design can be easily rearranged to fit the screen (more of a block style design where parts of your page can easily stack upon each other vertically as you shrink the window).  The more fun or unique your site design is, the more we'll push for an adaptive solution due to the difficulties of rearranging elements of different shapes and sizes to fit nicely on all screens.

We provide an unlimited amount of slots for you to add a slide into, but we recommend 5 at max – 3 is even better – due to the load times and visibility of the latter slides (most people will see one or two before scrolling down).  We provide one free custom slide that we can design for you (we'd recommend a marketing slide for a recurring programs like Summer Camps, etc.).  It will cost an additional $125 per slide designed by us; you are of course free to create your own and add it in as well.

Yes, but your site will likely be using an adaptive solution depending on the complexity of the design.

Responsive:

When you shrink your window horizontally on a responsive website (like this site), you will see your site transform before your eyes to always fit within the screen so that horizontal scrollbars do not appear.  The site will always fit the window.

• Pros:  Always fits the website within the window.
• Cons:  While it fits the website within the window, it does it forcibly to where some elements may be hanging or misaligned briefly.
• Example:  http://www.proswimacademy.com/

Adaptive

Uses a script to sniff what device you are using and redirects you to the mobile template if appropriate.  If it detects you are on a desktop PC, it will serve the desktop template.  If it detects you are on an iPhone/Android device, it will serve up the mobile template.  The website will NOT transform before your eyes to always fit within your window/screen, it serves either or.

• Pros:  Guarantees a certain view for mobile and desktop.  Designs can be more "loose" and fun because they don't have to accomodate the bunching/stacking that responsive websites do when the window is shrunk horizontally.
• Cons:  Does not effectively take up the full real estate of all devices or shrink to fit within a smaller tablet, for instance.
• Example:  http://kidsfirstsports.com

Note:  With either solution you will only have to manage content once and it will be seen on all devices.  We recommend adaptive for the more fun/playful sites, and responsive for sites that are more "blocky" or structured in feel.