When we first started our business back in 2001, we outsourced much of our development to other firms, so we have been on the other side of the table. We experienced frustration first hand, by the lack of urgency and care that most web development companies had when it came to our issues. We can now say that 100% of our development is done in-house. This approach gives us total control over your project quality and timeline. At Foremost Media, your problems are truly our problems. You won't get stall tactics and canned answers from our support staff. Instead, we strive to understand your issues and provide clear and concise feedback. Support that's much more than just a canned or quick response which usually just prompts more questions. If you've been dealing with poor support from your current website design company, then you know what we mean. If this is your first development project, then please choose us! We will make every effort to ensure that you won't experience that type of frustration.
Foremost Media approaches most new web development projects with a five phase approach, which has proven to generate positive results for our clients in the past.
Phase 1 - Discovery and Interview
In this phase, our goal is to really understand your needs and objectives for the project. Our team will meet with all project stake holders to discuss your target market, competition, and goals for the web development project. During that meeting our experienced project team will help to identify all the different elements that need to be accomplished during the project from graphic design to testing and then final delivery.
Phase 2 - Solution Proposal
From this meeting, we will meet with our team members and develop a solution proposal that clearly lays out all the elements that need to be developed to accomplish your goals, approximate timelines, and costs for development. All of these details are compiled into a customized report, giving you a high-level look at the proposed project for approval before the actual build begins. This phase ensures that the deliverables are in line with your goals and objectives. Often this phase will also include the development of a site map and wire frames as well.
Phase 3 - Graphic Design Mock Ups
During the graphic design phase, our graphics team will convert your approved site map and wire frame documents into a graphical mock up for discussion with your team. Our team will clearly define the look and feel to provide a consistent representation of your company’s image and brand position. Our professional graphic artists will lay out your website based on your logo, marketing materials, and input from you. We will get into details such as how the navigation will look and function. During this phase, your team will have the opportunity to make revisions to the website look and feel until satisfied. The deliverables for this phase are typically flat mock ups of what the site will look like via online links for your approval.
Phase 4 - Project Build
During the build phase, our development team will take the approved graphic design, site map, and wire frames and actually write the code needed to deliver you a functional website. Web design best practices such as cross browser compatibility, optimized code for good performance, clear navigation, and minimal load times will be a constant focus during the build process. During the build phase, our clients will have a link to view and provide feedback on the site as the build progresses.
Phase 5 - Testing and Launch
One of the most important steps in any web development project is testing. Our team will run internal tests on site performance, security, and both mobile device and web browser compatibility. We will also encourage your team to perform tests on the website. Once testing is complete, we will work with your team to place the site live on the internet and implement analytics in order to track the success of the site moving forward.
After Launch
After launch we will regularly evaluate your site and make recommendations that will keep you in the forefront of technology, informed of developments in your market and ahead of the competition. Our organization believes in developing strong and lasting relationships with our clientele. Foremost Media offers 24/7 support for critical site issues. The dedicated support department at Foremost Media uses a powerful ticket-management platform that allows us to centralize all support conversations and issues in one area, so regardless of who you spoke to in the past or how you chose to communicate with us, anyone in our office from finance or sales to the CEO can quickly review the status of your issue and account history. From emails to phone calls or live chat, you need to have the right tools in place to keep track of everything so that nothing falls through the cracks.
Janesville offers a lot of benefits for a business like ours. The location is one major factor. Janesville is within two hours of Chicago, one hour of Madison and one and a half hours of Milwaukee, allowing us easy access to our clients in these cities, as well as easy access to major airports. The cost of living and cost of our office overhead is very reasonable in Janesville when compared to a major city like Chicago or New York, which helps to make us more price competitive and profitable. Janesville is very close to UW Whitewater which has one of the best Computer Science programs in the country. This offers us a great supply of young talent on a regular basis. If you are looking for a Midwest location for your business, consider Janesville. It's a great town to live in and a great place to have a business.
The answer to this question is a bit confusing and can even depend on what you sell and where. Our e-commerce stores handle many different tax scenarios. Your best bet is to contact your accountant. Once you determine the appropriate tax collection requirements for your products and services, then we can configure your shopping cart to collect the proper taxes. Here is a short answer we received when we posed that question to a Wisconsin Revenue Tax Specialist:
Although the sale of tangible personal property is subject to Wisconsin sales or use tax, there is no provision in the law that deems digitized downloads of books to be tangible personal property. Assuming that you do not provide your customer with any tangible personal property, (i.e., you do not send a hard copy of the book, diskette, tape, or other tangible personal property), your sales of e-books, as described in your e-mail below, are not subject to Wisconsin sales or use tax.
The sale of tangible personal property is subject to Wisconsin sales tax, unless an exemption applies. Tangible personal property is defined to include computer software, except custom computer software, regardless of the form in which it is furnished to the customer. Therefore, the sale, lease, or license of computer hardware and computer software, (except custom computer software), is subject to Wisconsin sales or use tax.
The sale is considered to take place where the customer takes possession of the related property, (e.g., software). For example, if you provide software to your customer and you e-mail the software to his computer located in Wisconsin, you are furnishing taxable tangible personal property in Wisconsin, (taxable to Wisconsin). If you provide software to your customer and you e-mail the software to their computer located in Illinois, you are furnishing taxable software in Illinois (not taxable to Wisconsin).
Mike O'Connor Revenue Tax Specialist Technical Assistance Unit - Business
Web hosting is a service that allows your company to publish a website on the internet. A web hosting company like Foremost Media provides the server hardware and internet connection technologies to house or "Host" your website so it can be viewed on the Internet.
When an online visitor views your website through a search or by typing in your domain name on their local computer they are connected to our web server and your webpage is served to them over the internet to their browsfer. Our website hosting also includes off-site backups of your website in case of a disaster or server issue as well as site monitoring and many security features on both our network and hosting server to keep your site safe and secure from hackers. Hosting fees typically are charged to a customer monthly or annually. You can learn more about Foremost Media Web Hosting Here