Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association (TCTGA) Request for Proposal - Website Redesign

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1 Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association (TCTGA) Request for Proposal - Website Redesign Project Background Information The Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association is a non-profit organization of over 120 Texas farmers that grow, sell and promote Texas grown Christmas trees. Several growers also harvest other crops (like pumpkins in October). We recently received a specialty crop block grant which is administered by the Texas Dept. of Agriculture to redesign our website. The URL of the site is: The website must be completed by September 5, This document is a Request for Proposal (RFP), soliciting proposals from web designers who would like to bid on this project. Purpose of Site The primary purpose of this website is to convince site visitors to purchase their Christmas tree from a Texas Christmas tree farm, to provide them with more information about the farms, and to help them easily and quickly find a farm in their area. Many of these visitors will be following a Facebook ad to the site, and may be unfamiliar with the concept of cutting their own tree. The site will also be promoted to teachers for their consideration of Christmas tree farms as a field trip destination. Additionally, the site needs to have a password protected members only area which will not be linked to the home page. Marketing and Design Main users of the site: potential farm customers and association members (members only password protected section) Want the web site to be easy to navigate for all levels of technology comfort (no fancy software like Flash needed to view web site) Home page should load in a maximum of 8-9 seconds on an average broadband connection. Some TCTGA members are on dial-up, so the members only section needs to be easily viewable at low speed connections. Design is less important than utility in this section. Design Considerations: The primary reasons for purchasing a tree from a tree farm are: o To make memories with family o To have the freshest tree possible o To spend time in the country The design of the site should appeal to those interests. We do not want a cartoonish site. We will consider designs which have Christmas elements and

2 those which have more of a nature theme or family theme. We are open to any of those. Upgrade the Find a Farm feature to look more modern. Also add search categories (trees, pumpkins, field trips, other) Would like to do a window on the home page that has several main stories/areas to highlight about the web site (similar to what you see on Yahoo.com) Things to highlight could include links to area of web site that feature: Facts about real trees, feature a farm, pumpkins, locate a farm, recycle info, education, kid s corner, etc. Would want to limit this to about 4-5 features and could rotate these over time. Incorporate the TCTGA logo on the home page, but it does not need to be a focal point. We are open to redesign of the logo if that would be helpful in integrating it with the new design of the site. Use the Go Texan logo on the home page Site must include a statement that the work was funded, in whole or in part, by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program as administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture. The size of the new site will be 5-10 pages larger than the current site. Search Engine Optimization Include Google Analytics into the web site. Include consult on SEO/SEM best practices for our site. Ongoing Site Maintenance Plans Design will include content management tools and instruction in their use Designer will provide advice on changes in or use of the website for one year following the completion of the site. Technical and Infrastructure Need website to be usable for all browsers and operating systems. Site should be easily viewable on mobile devices or a separate mobile site must be included See separate RFP for Webhosting if you would like to bid on that. Budget The budget for this project is up to $3, Proposal Deadline and Project Management We would like for the designer to submit a basic design that demonstrates his or her vision of a look for this site (this can just be a photoshop mockup or something similar). Please send this as an attachment along with the proposal or provide a link to it in your proposal. proposals to Katy.Walterscheidt@gmail.com. The subject line of the should be: Your Company Name (or your last name) Proposal. In other words, Smith Proposal or Web Designs R Us Proposal

3 Proposals must be received no later than Wednesday, June 22, A decision will be made and submitters notified by Monday, July 11, Outlines of information for each page will be provided to the designer by Monday, July 25, TCTGA will provide complete text for each web page by August 12, 2011 The web site must be complete no later than Monday, Sept 5, Main Point of Contact: Katy Walterscheidt (512) Katy.walterscheidt@gmail.com Back Up Contact: Leigh Ann Smith (281) info@theholidayacres.com Selection Process Members of the website committee of TCTGA will select the winning proposal and will notify all submitters of our decision by Monday, July 11, We will be looking for the designer who we believe can best help us to achieve our goals with this website. As an example, if one designer cannot provide SEO/SEM assistance, but understands our needs and has demonstrated the ability to design high quality web sites, he or she might be selected over someone who can provide all services, but whose design skills are more basic. Therefore, please be honest in your proposal about what services you can and cannot provide, as you will be contractually bound to provide the services to which you agree. Proposal Format Please cut and paste the information below into a new document. As briefly as possible, provide the following information in this order in your proposal. Company Name Name of contact person Address Phone # TCTGA WEB DESIGN PROPOSAL A. VENDOR PROFILE AND WEB STRATEGY

4 1. How many years have you been in the web design business? 2. Are you a private contractor or an employee of a web design company? 3. Does your company have a parent company? If so, what is it and how long has this relationship existed? 4. How many websites have you designed or re-designed? For whom? Please list the URL for any site you have designed or re-designed. 5. Have you attached a document showing your vision for the design of the site? If the design is viewable online instead, please include the URL here. 6. For the websites you have designed or completely re-designed, what were the biggest challenges and obstacles to completing the project? What decisions or steps aided in a successful website redesign? 7. Are the parameters for the re-design of the TCTGA website reasonable? Please describe problem areas you see in the information provided above. 8. Are you or your company involved now in any litigation with a customer or other entity? Within the past three (3) years? If yes, please describe briefly. B. DETAILS OF SPECIFIC FEATURES AND PLATFORMS 1. The website should be fully compatible with all commonly used Internet browsers and designed to function effectively with common versions of software and hardware. Describe how the technical platform you are proposing meets these requirements. 2. Describe your strategy for minimizing the time it takes for the home page to load. What length of load time do you believe is reasonable for a user with an average broadband connection? 3. Describe your plan for making the site friendly to mobile devices. 4. Describe the content management tool you would utilize. 5. Describe your ability and/or experience in incorporating video into a site. 6. Describe your expectation for the length of a joint beta testing period. 7. Describe the steps and details of an implementation plan that would allow you to begin work on this website on Monday, July 11th and have it completed by Monday, Sept. 5th. 8. Identify all individuals comprising your support team including their experience and what specific role each will take in completing the work. 9. Describe your familiarity with SEO/SEM and how you would be able to assist with this. 10. Describe how you would provide the ability to search, retrieve and display content and how you will allow users to do keyword searches. 11. Describe how you would allow users to download and/or print content. 12. Describe the type and level of support you will provide. 13. Describe the security levels and control you will create relating to access and permissions. C. FINANCIAL TERMS

5 Describe the financial terms and details you are proposing. NOTE: Complete financial terms must be included within the proposal, and should provide details of the expenses, costs, royalties and/or revenue being discussed as well as indication of what is/is not considered to be a part of the proposal. D. OTHER If there is other information regarding your proposal that you would like to provide and was not covered above, please describe that here.