TEN STEPS TO SUCCESS

1. Prospective new client contacts TFO with any questions about services, graphic designs, etc.
2. Prospective client fills out our Online Setup Form, which provides TFO with the minimum required information to begin, as well as indicates that the prospective client has read, understands, and agrees with TFO's Terms of Use policy.
3. Once TFO receives the online setup information, we will get back to you with an estimated date when your "beta" site will be ready for your review. Usually this is less than 2 weeks, depending on previously scheduled projects. If you have any special deadlines or events which hinge on your new web presence, please let us know.
   1. TFO will initiate the domain name transfer (or purchase your desired name). Often this can take up to 2 weeks to process, so it's important to do this right away. The client will need to participate in this process, how much depends on if the domain has correct contact information associated with it.
   2. At the same, TFO will email you a spreadsheet for you to fill out with all current & desired email addresses, aliases, and admin users. We will use this to duplicate all email accounts on our mail server.
   3. If your organization is not currently set up to accept credit cards, and you indicated you want to be able to do so, we will email you the contact information for a processor which has exceptionally low rates and fees for nonprofits. You will want to start that process at this time. TFO does not process credit cards for you, your relationship with a credit card processor is between you and the processor.
4. TFO builds out the Beta site based on the clients selected graphic design. We recommend one that we provide, however in some cases we can utilize your current design, although it will have to be totally re-worked, and will not be exactly as it is now. All sites are built to comply with current HTML and Accessibility standards. All the sites we build will typically rate much better on search engines, and thus website traffic will normally double to triple in the first 3 months. Content will be pulled from your current site and entered into the new site if you indicate that the information there is current.
5. A temporary link to your new site will be emailed to you for you and your team to review. You can begin emailing TFO site changes via email, or print, hand update, and fax to us. You are also welcome to log into the admin area and begin making edits right away. This phase requires the most time of your team, and it's the most important phase as well. We can add, remove, rename and update all pages as desired. During this phase, if we don't hear from you for a while, we may check in with you to see if there is anything we can do to faciliate this phase. If all edits are not completed 30 days after this step begins due to your team not sending edits, you will be invoiced at the 30 day mark. We have had sites live in 5 days, others in 90 days. How long this takes will depend on your team's participation.
6. You will now need to add the 'new' email accounts to your office computers. We have a tool specifically designed to walk you through this process with screen shots for all of the most popular email programs. You may also need to change one setting on your 'old' email account. Doing this step will ensure that you will not have any lost emails or down time at all. We are here to assist during this as well in the event you need any assistance via email or phone.
7. Once the site is edited and your team approves the site & you have added the new email accounts as necessary, we update the DNS, and make the site live. Usually this happens within 24-72 hours of the DNS change. During this time, some people may see your old site, others will see your new site.
8. Your new site is now live. You will receive an invoice via email for the setup fees & monthly package price up to the next April or October 1st (our usual billing cycles). The inital invoice is due within 2 weeks of the site going live. Invoices are normally emailed 45 days before their due date April 1st & October 1st.
9. To wrap up, 5-7 days after your new site was made live, you can safely contact your previous website & email services host, and cancel your service with them. Virtually all hosts will refund any funds you have paid in advance.
10. Your team is now responsible for all site updates and changes. If you need assistance using any of the administrative tools, we are happy to walk you thru those. This is true at any time in the future as well. There are a few things your team does not have access to update, the primary navigation, and adding or deleting actual web pages. We are happy to do these for you at no additional cost (with only a few exceptions).