A Web Site!

So you decided you need a web site or you want to update your site. Where do you go from here?

Your web site is a reflection of what your business is, and how you do business.

People have many perceptions of web sites and the development of web sites. Choosing a professional to design your site will more than likely bring the results you hope to achieve. And you may need more than one person.

The scope and goals for your web site need to be set in place. They are the foundation of the web site.

Next, development strategies are set in place. This clarifies what needs to be done and which specialties need to be involved.

The hardest part, but the most important part, is defining the content. What needs to be on the web site, what are the goals, who is the content for, what response do you want from your customers, and how will you bring your customers back time and again.

The content helps to define structures that help to define how the navigation works. Navigation that works for your customers!

Web sites are not linear in nature, finding information within a web site is not similar to a table of contents, or an index. Web sites that fail typically are based on a "drill down" philosophy or based on business organizational structures.

The content and navigation will make or break a web site!

Speeding through this design process will only bring you and your customers heartache later.

With these aspects under our belt it is now time to work on the web page layouts and design.

Once the layouts and design are completed it may take one or more people knowledgeable in graphics design, Flash, javascript, HTML, XHTML, CSS and several different types of scripting to make the site functional. If the site requires a database then that needs to be designed and implemented as well.

Back to the graphical design and feel of the web site for a minute - There are two main ways to develop your web site, use a pre-existing generic page template or develop a custom site that will showcase your business.

If you choose to use a generic template you can use can use a major Internet search engines to help you find a template or a web site provider that has built in templates and web page editors to make what you want.

But do you want to provide your potential customers with a generic look, and feel?

Or do want addresses the specific needs of your organization and customers, and set a strong visual example of what you offer.

A custom site can be anything from a single page to many pages, but it will reflect what you want. And will be representative of your organization.

In either case you may find information on this web site helpful.

Here are a few of the first steps you can take before seeking out a designer.

What are your expectations of the web site?

Do you want to:

• Actively sell over the interment
• Provide information
• Manage inventory
• Communicate with other offices of your organization

What colors do you like?

Write down addresses of web sites you like?

This is just the beginning. Download our Microsoft Word questionnaire to help guide you.

By having answered the questions you will save your chosen developer and you a lot of time.

If you are a small or new organization contact us and we'll walk you through the process, finding the right solution for you.

Using Microsoft Word to develop web pages - you might want to read this!