Frequently Asked Questions

Visit our contact page.

We prefer that you fill out the provided form.

We do have a phone number that you can reach us at but if you do this, please note:

• You must leave a voice message for us to respond.
• We do not receive text messages through this number.

Not really, no.

We require a verbal discussion (sometimes multiple discussions) with a potential client so that we can get a basic understanding of what a project entails. We’ll need to go over timelines, deadlines, schedule conflicts, budgets, and expectations. There is almost always more to a project than the client realizes.

We then need to assess if this project / client is the right fit for us, and vice versa. If so, then we can supply a rough guesstimate with a rough breakdown of costs and project sections.

We mean this in a very abstract manner.

We specifically mention “Small Business” because we want to be clear:
We are a viable solution for those that are just “starting out”, run a small owner operated business, or need help with simple projects.

We really care, respect, and enjoy working with & helping good people with their visions and ideas – however small.

That being said, we work with all sizes of businesses when our services fit their needs.

When we encounter projects that go beyond the scope of our services, we will always recommend a good advertising / marketing agency.

No.

Slick Demon Creative Works is based out of Ferndale, MI and we provide our services remotely.

If you are within our vicinity, we may be able to visit you, if you desire.

That’s difficult to know without more information.

We require a verbal discussion (sometimes multiple discussions) with a potential client so that we can get a basic understanding of what a project entails. We’ll need to go over timelines, deadlines, schedule conflicts, budgets, and expectations. There is almost always more to a project than the client realizes.

We have a “Base Website Project” on our pricing page – this is where we start all of our web projects, and it may very well cover all of your needs. These costs increase based on the complexity of your project and the amount of time spent on your project.

This depends on the project.

Basic web projects usually take a few days to a week to complete – relative to our agreed upon start date, and only if we have received all the information and assets that we require from you.

As a project’s complexity grows, so does the amount of time it will take to complete.

We will give you a timeline once we have a decent understanding of your project, and we will do our very best to meet or exceed that deadline. Timelines for complex projects can be difficult to accurately estimate because unknowable situations and changes often occur during development – which can lead to delays.

In most situations, no – unless you ask for one.

We design as we go, as we learn more about you and your project through the development process. We have to “take-in” your information and test ideas and concepts – design and layout can be majorly affected by the organization of your data.

We’ve found that providing design concepts so early in the “client / project discovery” often ends up being a massive misrepresentation of the final product.

As we develop, we share screenshots and information with you. When we get to certain points, we’ll have live screen share meetings and can even give you access to live demos in some situations.

All this is not to say we can’t or won’t provide you a mock-up. You’ll just need to specifically request one, and understand that it will take more time, more cost, and will most likely be vastly different than the final product.

Anything and everything!

We ask that you step back, use some common sense, and think about what you think we’ll need to complete your project.

Of course we will do our best to supply you with some sort of list of needs, but in the end this is your project, your industry – we may not know what questions to even ask.

Common things to consider:

• Images
• Branding information
  • Logos
  • Colors
  • Fonts
• Written content (copy)
• Contact information
  • Addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Hours of operation
• Social media accounts
• Data lists (examples below)
  • Products
  • Employees / staff
• Domain Information
  • Domain name
  • Domain Registrar (company where you bought your domain name)
  • Login information

Yes – through the service Google Workspace.

Google Workspace plans provide custom professional emails for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets.

Google Workspace has a bit of a learning curve to setup and manage – because it’s a full featured, professional suite of business tools & services.

Most clients also ask us to manage their account as well, and we may be be able to do so in some situations.

Absolutely.

A business profile helps turn people who find you on Google Search and Maps into new customers. Personalize your profile with photos, offers, posts, and more.

First off, let’s get the ugly, blunt wording out of the way:
We reserve the right to discontinue services once an invoice is past due.

Alright, now that’s been said, we are very understanding of people’s financial situations. The best thing for everyone is communication. Let us know what’s happening, what your plans are, how we can help, etc.

It’s important for you to understand that we incur actual costs to keep your project live and updated. When we are not paid, we don’t just lose profit, we lose actual cash.

So yes, we will shutdown your website, but only after all other options have been exhausted, and only after you have been respectfully warned.

Not in a “turn key” way, let’s explain.

Although the main foundation of our sites is built upon the open source WordPress CMS, we use our own proprietary framework for extra functionality, design, layout, and more. Our framework is compiled as a WordPress “theme” and is provided as part of your monthly costs.

We also integrate our framework with many specific premium plugins that we provide to you as part of your monthly costs, so you will lose access to these once our relationship is terminated.

You and / or your new web developer will receive a compressed file containing the following:

• The MySql Database
• The full WordPress file / directory structure
• File / media uploads
• Non-premium plugins
• A list of the premium plugins (in case you wish to purchase these yourself)

We will not include our framework (theme). It will be up to your new developer to use a theme of their choosing, and to re-develop and re-design your website. This may very well include complex customizations and functionality that we had developed.

We’ll harbor no ill-will…

• We can / will keep your website live until your new developer has completed your new site.
• We will do everything within our power / within reason to help with the transition.
• We have no problem discussing things with your new developer, within reason.

This depends on a few things.

We have a starting cost on our pricing page. This provides us with approximately 4 to 5 hours of time.

Logo design has to start in the brainstorming process – this is when create some hand drawn and / or digital sketches that we share with you to get your valuable feedback. Once we narrow in on a successful idea, we’ll perform a final illustration.

More often than not, we’ll need to perform “light branding” – starting from scratch when a client has no previous / pre-determined colors, style, logo, etc.

This process often takes longer than the initial 4 to 5 hours of time – but it really all depends on the project at hand.

We will always let you know along the way where we are on time and costs.

We primarily use Google Drive.

We’ll share a folder with you and provide you with instructions on how to access it. You’ll be able to view and download all of the files at your convenience.

If a project’s files are small enough, we may be able to email you your files, if you prefer.

If you use another service, we will do our best to accommodate.

Any format you want!

svg, png, jpg, etc.

We normally don’t provide the raw “artwork” file (.ai for Adobe Illustrator or .psd for Adobe Photoshop) unless you specifically require it, as this is usually unnecessary.

Here’s the deal – it’s important for you to understand what format to use, given the many circumstances you’ll encounter where you need to use your logo. Explaining this is beyond the scope of this FAQ, so we’ll go over this and answer any questions you have once we complete your logo.

Absolutely! In most cases, we encourage it.

Business cards and printed items come in many different sizes, shapes, coatings, and with premium features such as spot-UV, silk coating, rounded corners, painted edges, and more.

We’ll need to know what options you want before we begin designing, and so we’ll need to make sure that the printing company you choose offers the options that you desire.

We use a few different printing companies that we will recommend and order through, if you don’t have a preference.

This usually consists of your logo(s), fonts, and colors.

Sometimes, depending on the project, me may include more or less than this.

This will be provided to you in the form of a .pdf document.

• All major Credit Cards
• ACH bank transfer
• Checks
• Cash

Yes, most of the time we do require a down payment.

This down payment / deposit is non-refundable as it covers our time to get the foundations of your project started.

The amount depends on the project type and size, but usually it’s around 20% of the guestimate.

We frequently bypass the down payment when we do work for well established clients that have a good track record of payment, and this usually only applies to smaller projects.

We try to make this as simple as possible for both of us.

We send invoices via email:

• You can pay instantly online via all major credit cards
• You can pay instantly online via ACH (bank transfer)
• You can send us a check via snail mail
• You can pay us cash in person

For any monthly costs:

Monthly costs are “pre-paid” – example: an invoice sent and due on December 1st, covers December 1st thru December 31st.

You will be given the option to set up autopay so you won’t have to manually pay the invoice every month.

Alternatively, we can work around how you wish to pay – if you want to pay for 6 months or a year instead of receiving an invoice every month, no problem!

Please note that our monthly costs are non-refundable, and there is currently no discount for paying in advance for several months.

A note on the amount invoiced:

Credit card fees are out of control.

We remove the payment via credit card on invoices over $500. We ask that you pay these via ACH (bank transfer), check, or cash so we can avoid egregious credit card fees.

If you still, absolutely need to pay via credit card, we will add a 3.5% fee to cover the fees that we’ll incur.

So… we usually avoid this, but sometimes yes.

When we accept payments over time, we are taking on a real “risk” that a client may just shut-down, walk away, and just stop paying us for the work we’ve done. We’ve dealt with this very scenario before – agreed scheduled payments stop, and communication attempts are ignored.

It’s solely up to our discretion whether or not to accept payments over time for any given client / project.

Yes, eventually.

First off, we want you to know that we avoid price increases like the plague – until we exhaust all other options. We understand that there’s no better way to destroy a great relationship than to tell a client that they have to pony up more cash.

That being said, the rare price increase is inevitable – just like you, we have paid services & vendors that we rely on, and occasionally those costs increase.

We’ll always notify you well in advance, and we’ll make it clear so that you fully understand what’s going on.

First off, let’s get the ugly, blunt wording out of the way:
We reserve the right to discontinue services once an invoice is past due.

Alright, now that’s been said, we are very understanding of people’s financial situations. The best thing for everyone is communication. Let us know what’s happening, what your plans are, how we can help, etc.

It’s important for you to understand that we incur actual costs to keep your project live and updated. When we are not paid, we don’t just lose profit, we lose actual cash.

So yes, we will shutdown your website, but only after all other options have been exhausted, and only after you have been respectfully warned.

Limited, but kind of unlimited – let’s explain.

We try to keep our support limited to approximately 15 minutes per month without extra charges, unless more time is agreed upon.

Of course, we encourage our clients to contact us when they need to, and we don’t want them to feel burdened by a fear of getting charged to do so. We rarely charge for the occasions where our time involved goes a bit beyond our set limit.

You will always be notified in advance if we need to invoice you, and it is solely up to our discretion on when to do so.

Pretty much any way you wish.

• Email
• Phone
• Text Messaging
• Online Meetings

It mostly depends on the situation – whatever form of communication makes sense for the given circumstance.

We go over this with our new clients to find out what works best for everyone.

Talk to us.

This depends on the request and the amount of time required.

If we have the ability and resources to help, we will.