Developing a Web Site
The First Step
1) What is the goal of your web site?
- This is a very important step in the process of developing your web site.
- It is from this step that you will decide the overall concept for your web site.
- Is it to sell products?
- Is it to provide a higher level of service to your customers ?
- Is it to provide an economical yet professional “brochure” of your company?
- Find new customers and increase my database of contacts?
- Expand your business into other areas of the world?
2) Who is your customer?
- Are they customers you already have a relationship with?
- What economic level of customer are you wanting to reach?
- Do you know what level of technology they have?
- Do you know what other web sites these customers use?
3) What is your competition doing on the internet?
Find out their web site address, either from advertising messages, a phone call or by using the search engines and spend some time visiting their site. This will give you some ideas as to what you will want to include in your web site and will give you the opportunity to identify what you can do to differentiate your business. Read industry and trade magazines to find out what your industry is doing on the internet. Make note of any opportunities that exist for you to link your web site.
Developing a Web Site:
The Next Step
A web site is comprised of several key elements:
Layout
The layout of the web site is determined by the purpose of the web site as well as the information and graphical elements required.
Pages
The number of pages will be determined by the amount of information to be covered. Its best to keep scrolling pages to a maximum of 3 screens, and it is sometimes best to break up sections to make the pages easier to navigate.
Text
This is the information on the web site. It is generally written by the client and provided on disc or emailed to us, but we can develop content based on information provided from the client.
Graphics
Most graphics start as images, which can be provided by the client or created by the designer from material submitted. This includes a company logo (which we can develop), pictures (which we can take), slides and any print material that you currently use to market your business – business cards, letterhead, mailers etc. Digital files of graphics are always welcome.
Navigation
This determines how visitors move through your web site. We like to keep all information only a click away and a maximum of 2 clicks down. The style of navigation will be determined based on type of material and style of web site.
Keywords
These are the words that search engines will look for so it is best to choose descriptive words that you feel people looking for your site would search on. These can be single words as well as phrases.
Page Titles
The title of your pages which appear at the top of the browser window. This text is read by search engines to help index your site and by . Some sites name individual pages, and others the business name. They must be descriptive of what is on the page, using as many keywords as possible in a “readable sentence”.
Site Description
A 25 word (200 character) sentence describing your web site using as many keywords as possible in a “readable sentence” This is the description that shows up when your site is found in a search engine. It is the key that will bring people into the site from the search engines.
Disclaimer
This is the legal notice at bottom of page. You can also include a copyright symbol here and year of site.
Flash Animation
Flash animation can be a great way to highlight the first page of your website, or specific product. It can also be over-used and takes away from the main message you are conveying to your viewer. Costs to develop Flash very depending on its size and detail. Please enquire and we can give you a quote.
Search Optimization
This is an ever changing process by which techniques are used to increase the ranking of your web site. It can very from simply paying a search engine for a guaranteed high rank to consistently updating links and following the updated rules of individual search engines.
Additions
We always like to stress that everything you want to do with your web site does not have to be what we start with. This may be due to your budget, a timing issue, or simply you just want to get something up right away and the rest can be developed later.