Website design Sunshine Coast to Melbourne, working remotely with a website designer

Over the past decade the internet has dramatically changed the way a lot of business people work, where they work and how they do it. For a lot of business people working remotely poses very few real obstacles and often nearly every part of a small business can be run from the a home office.

Website design is one of the best examples of collaborating with clients without meeting face to face yet still working effectively.


Sometimes a business owner who works online, such as a web developer, freelance writer or even a online store owner will choose to work from home, as the cost of a office is just another unnecessary overhead. There’s absolutely no problem working from home, some of the best business have started from garages. I run my Sunshine Coast website design business from home right here in Queensland and often work remotely.

Website Design Sunshine Coast - Working Remote

We have developed the following steps to make sure everything runs smoothly when we are designing a new website, logo or just communicating with other freelancers on website projects.

Here are the steps we take to insure there are never any communication breakdowns:

1.  Introduction

The first aim is a introduction to help understand each other, start building a relationship and trust.

Firstly we’ll have a simple phone call to discuss the ins and outs of the project, sometime we even have a skype meeting which is a great way to meet and builds trust a lot quicker. If we are engaged with a remote client for a website design and we are on the Sunshine Coast the video conference is a great way to kick things off, it reminds clients that we are professionals and do this for a living.

The first meeting we will probe and brainstorm with the client to gather further information and look at possible solutions for their design needs. If the client and ourselves are short on time we will often send out a website design or branding questionnaire for the client to fill out, it will have targeted questions on there and often requires our clients to do some home work to help us figure out what kind of logo or website they require.

2. Good contracts

At thinkLuke, we have a fair and understanding contract for our website design and branding / logo design packages. We often break down the prices into 3-4 payments, allowing the client time to spread out payments. We do this to help smaller businesses with budgets and it also covers us for our work. We generally require 30% deposit up front for website design services for our Sunshine Coast clients, we offer the same for remote clients. After we present some work and final website design concepts are approved we invoice again and so on, we have outlines milestones payments.

For our website design and logo design work we have a simple proposal which includes:

  • A detailed scope of work. What we are planning to provide you and what you are paying for. We also provide you with what isn’t included and what is an additional cost incase you require more services.
  • A list of Milestones and payments times. We work in stages and our collaborative client approach requires the client sign off on our work, these signify a milestone met and often payment is then required for thinkLuke to proceed.
  • Revision limits. I know it sucks for clients! But we do limit our revisions and frankly we do not provide many revisions. Generally the clients we get love us already for the work we do and we communicate so effectively we always get the concepts right.
  • Payment terms. This one is a no-brainer! Some payment up front and the rest in increments as we proceed.

Do you want an example? AIGA provides a Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services that you can customize for your needs.

3.  Deadlines

This is important for both sides. For the yourself (the client) it is good to have a expected date of completion, why? Because often when you engage a website designer or start a branding project you will have your own tasks to complete such as: compiling content or researching ideas for concepts.

Deadlines are important for both sides, we need deadlines to keep ourselves on track!

We often set a deadline for when we require content, that way if we do not receive timely feedback we cannot be help responsible for a overdue project. We believe the deadlines are a great way to stay informed and on track for our projects and it is also a subtle way of asking for (and getting) respect.

4.  Communicate Clearly And frequently

The interactions you have with your clients are incredibly important and even more so when you are not meeting face to face. Our correspondence while working remotely is generally very straight forward as most of the words written can be amplified due to limited communication. Its best to save the drive humor until you meet and get to know each other better, however I am an advocate for a 🙂 (smiley face).

Keeping the emails concise is important, however do not inundate your client with mindless banter and a constant bombardment of emails. One long email is perfectly fine if it is necessary to write an essay, however most people prefer short sharp messages. Its good to communicate just enough to make your client is aware of the current progress, you’ll be amazed how 2 mins of conversation can clear up any problems.

5. Use online software!

There is a plethora of online tools for client collaboration. We use basecamp everyday and all our clients love it. It is simple and easy to use and even allows our clients to add tasks, comments, documents and images. As a Website Design Sunshine Coast company we work with a lot of client from Rockhampton, Brisbane and Queensland wide. We also collaborate with freelancers in Canada and Romania, we also have a few clients in Melbourne and Adelaide, some we have never meet in real life!

If we follow these 5 steps you’ll be well on your way to successfully working remotely!

What are some of the challenges you have experienced when working with a client remotely? Please share your comments below…

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