Frequently Asked Questions

Our company is fun, unique, memorable and a tad quirky. That is what the name and image of RedBottle attempts to convey.

The RedBottle team is a group of programmers, designers, and marketing professionals collaborating in the Rochester, New York area. Each member of the RedBottle team brings a unique skill set to the group, and various team members are assigned to each project based on the client’s needs. The current RedBottle staff is united by the simple goal to make web design better, easier, and more effective, all while exceeding the client’s expectations. RedBottle Design, LLC was formed in 2007 and by coincidence is owned and operated by alumni of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. The original founders hoped to draw on their diverse and complementary IT experiences to address a growing problem in the field of web design: a lack of communication between web designers and programmers that often leads to disjointed or ineffective websites. RedBottle’s team approach bypasses this issue, and the consistent result is an elegant, conceptual, and effective web presence for our clients.

The RedBottle team draws on diverse experiences and background to offer a range of web-related services to our clients. Please see our services section for more details.

RedBottle Design is based in Rochester, New York, but we will happily work with clients across the country. We have experience offering remote coding, design and consulting services to clients in other states, and even other countries.

RedBottle Design is based in Rochester, New York, but we will happily work with clients across the country. We have experience offering remote coding, design and consulting services to clients in other states, and even other countries.

Yes, RedBottle warrantees its work for 90 days per the terms in our contract.

Given the option, nothing beats an in person meeting. However, our process and tools also work great remotely. We will be happy to meet with you however you prefer.

A RedBottle representative will contact you to schedule time to complete a project kickoff meeting. Together will determine if we are a good fit for each other. If so, we will begin our process starting with a vision and scope.

As the client, you are primarily responsible for helping the RedBottle team to generate/organize/collect content and images for your website. Because we will most likely not be experts in the subject matter of your site, it is important that you work closely with the team to ensure that the information presented on your site is accurate. In addition, you will be responsible for attending scheduled project meetings and reviewing, providing feedback, and “signing off” on various aspects of the project at different points. Our designers and programmers are highly trained and very proficient in collaborating with you and your business. We will work with you to define objectives and attempt to achieve your business’s goal.

Honestly, we don’t know yet. Our experienced designers make use of an iterative design process. They will work with you to define certain goals you wish your audience to walk take away from your site. Typically it will take about three iterations before we create something that you truly love.

There are three main documents: 1) The Vision and Scope (V&S) which attempts to answer the question, “who are we building this for and why?,” 2) the Contract, which sets forth explications of both RedBottle and you, and 3) the Software requirements and Specifications (SRS) which explains how users will interact with the system and what the system will do in response.
All of these documents will available to you through our collaboration system called Inside Access.

As part of your contract with RedBottle, each client is given access to a unique online “resources space” on Inside Access with digital copies of all documents and correspondence relating to the project. To visit your project’s online space on Inside Access, any of the following URLs will lead you to a login screen:

• access.redbottledesing.com
• center.redbottledesign.com
• collaborate.redbottledesign.com
• connect.redbottledesign.com
• grandcentral.redbottledesign.com
• inside.redbottledesign.com
• support.redbottledesign.com

Once prompted, enter your username and password (these resources were first given to you with your client contract) to sign in. Contact your project leader if you have any difficulty signing in to Inside Access.

The RedBottle team has built in client correspondence throughout the various stages of the project, ensuring that you will be appraised of your project’s progress throughout. Depending on the specific RedBottle team member, correspondence could come in the form of a phone call, email, or post on Inside Access. If you have a specific vision of how and when you would like to touch base with RedBottle, please notify us at the beginning of your project and we will do our best to accommodate your correspondence needs.

In fact, it is highly unusual for someone to like the initial design. Typically, we will use a method called iterative design. Your designer will work with you to help set business goals and create design that attempts to achieve that goal. Based on the feedback you provide, the designer will work to come up with a new design that you love. Typically, this process takes about three iterations.

Yes, by default RedBottle will help optimize your site for search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. However, many search engines will not release the method by which they determine rankings. Therefore, we cannot guarantee a particular ranking. Your project manger can explain this in greater detail and discuss some things you can do to get better results.

RedBottle may use your project in our portfolio. However, we will not advertise your site for you.

Yes, an experienced project manager will work with you to help define your project’s vision and scope. Next, we will work with you to divide the project into phased releases that meets your schedule and requirements.

No, we are neither lawyers nor accountants therefore we are not able to help you with any state or federal paperwork.

Once we hear from you via phone or the contact form on our website, the team at RedBottle can begin to schedule meetings with you. However, your project with RedBottle Design does not officially begin until you sign a contract and we receive your initial deposit. From there, you will be provided with a project timeline that will outline all of the important dates and deadlines for your project. It's common to have initial discussions about the project a few weeks before the majority of work begins, to allow you time to gather/generate content.

Our design and development process varies tremendously depending on the size, complexity, your deadlines and amount of design required for your project. Your project manager can help explain this more. Generally, most of our websites take less than a month. However, larger projects have taken up to a year or more.

The talented team at RedBottle is happy to help with many of the needs that relate to your business. From a graphic design standpoint, we are experts at preparing systems of promotional pieces for print, including but not limited to business cards, internal and external documents, brochures, forms, posters, tickets, and even total brand identity development for your company logo. From a marketing standpoint, we can help you revitalize your slogan or overall look, formulate a unique online and print marketing campaign for your business, and assist in building your brand. These services can be added to your existing project at any time, and will be billed on an hourly basis. Please note, however, that adding project components may impact your overall project timeline.

RedBottle’s services are competitively priced. Because every project is different, we cannot provide a price estimate until we discuss your project’s specific details. We base our project price quote on how much time we estimate it will take to complete your project. There are no hidden fees or big surprises, as we carefully formulate our price quote after we've discussed the specifics of your project. RedBottle Design can provide a quote based on either total-project or hourly pricing.

The RedBottle staff will gladly work with you to create a phased development plan for your web or branding project: a timeline that establishes which components of the site will be developed first, second, third, and so-on, and at what speed. This timeline can be split into various phases of development, spread over a timeframe that is most agreeable to the client’s budget.

Prices are determined based on a variety of factors including: components that already exist, complexity, degree of uncertainty and timetable for completion. If you have specific price requirements your project manager can try to tune the scope of your project accordingly.

RedBottle accepts payment by cash, check, credit card (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express), and cashier’s check. Please send checks made payable to RedBottle Design to 300 Hylan Drive, Suite 15, Rochester, NY 14623.

Payments are typically made at the beginning and end of the project, however incremental payments and additional payments may be required in some circumstances:

• A deposit and signed contract are required at the commencement of the project. The deposit is usually one-third to one-half of the total amount established in the contract.
• Incremental payments can be established for larger projects or longer time frames, as defined by the contract.
• The final outstanding balance will be due upon completion of the project. The final project files will be provided to the client (or uploaded online) as soon as the final balance has been paid in full.
• Additional work (including design work) that is not included in the original contract will be added to the total balance.

RedBottle typically collects a deposit for 30% of the predicted project cost. The deposit is credited back to you at the completion of the project or on your final invoice.

Yes, you will need to buy a domain name. RedBottle can obtain a domain on your behalf or assist in the transfer of a domain from an existing registrar. Typically domains cost $15 per year and $15 to transfer.

Yes. After the site is completed, we will provide you with a quote for ongoing support and maintenance of your website through RedBottle Design. This maintenance plan will include a hosting agreement to keep your website online, as well as service and maintenance contract in the event of unseen circumstances or problems that need to be corrected over time. If you would like to make additional changes or additions to your website, we suggest that you consider a phased development approach (see What if I’m on a tight budget?).

RedBottle offers a wide range of support services from quick questions to full platform updates and performance tuning. We offer support via phone 1 (855) 444 Cork, email support@redbottledesign.com, desktop sharing and personal visits. In addition, RedBottle warrantees its work for 90 days per the terms in our contract. Generally RedBottle will not maintain websites we did not create. However, Drupal Dream can perform many a wide range of maintenance related tasks for Drupal sites.

Absolutely! Because keeping your website’s content fresh and up-to-date is an important part of managing your site, RedBottle can assist you with all of your content updating needs. We appreciate ongoing relationships with our clients, and are happy to execute updates for an hourly fee. Even better, RedBottle can set up a content management system so that you can easily update content yourself, even if you don't know any HTML. Ask us for more details.

A website is a living breathing piece of functional art. The Drupal content management system permits you to modify almost all of the text and graphical content on your site without needing to contact us. If you find you require a new feature Drupal will serve as a strong foundation to future expansion.

Search engine ranking is a long-term strategy that requires research, planning, and elbow grease. Several factors impact your ranking: the number of sites that link to your site directly, the number of key words inside the page content, the specifically designated key words and descriptions of each page (also called META data), the amount of time that your site has been online, and the amount of money that you are willing to invest in search engine optimization through advertising. If you wish to improve your search engine ranking, the team at RedBottle can work with you to create a long-term strategy.