The first step in designing a successful website is to gather as much information as possible from our client with a clear goal in mind. There are many things that need to be taken into consideration during this planning and information gathering stage as it requires a firm understanding of the client’s business situation and objectives. Questions we ask include:
- What are the end goals for and business logic behind the website?
- How can the website be utilized to help the client achieve those goals?
- What is the purpose of the website?
- Is the website to provide information, promote a service or sell a product?
- What does the client hope for to accomplish by building this website?
- What is the profile of the specific target audience?
- What kind of information will the audience be looking for on the website?
With the asset gathering completed, now is time to formulate a development and deployment plan. At this point the sitemap is developed and the wireframe sketched out.
The sitemap is a structured hierarchy list of all the content areas of a website. This provides a guide to what content will be on the website, and available to what level. It is essential to develop a consistent, and easy to understand navigational system. The end-user of the website must be kept in mind since they are the ones who will be using it. A good user interface creates an easy to navigate website, and generally increases visitor retention.
During the planning phase, our developer will help decide what technologies should be used, including server side software and Content Management System (CMS) of choice.
Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of the website. The target audience is one of the key factors taken into consideration. As part of the design phase, it is also important to incorporate elements to strengthen the identity of our client.
Our designer will create prototype designs for the website. This is typically a screen shot of what the final design will look like. In this phase, solid client communications is crucial to ensure that the final website will match desired objectives. We feel it is important to work closely with our clients in the exchanging of ideas, until the final design is worked out.
The developmental stage is the point where the website itself is created. At this time, all graphic elements from the prototype are then used to create the actual, functional site.
This is typically done by first developing the home page, followed by a “shell” for the interior pages. The shell serves as a template for the content pages of the website, as it contains the main navigational structure for the website. Once the shell has been created, we take the content and distribute it throughout the website, in the appropriate areas.
Elements such as the CMS interactive contact forms, or e-commerce shopping carts are implemented and made functional during this phase, as well.
On the technical front, a successful website requires an understanding of both the front-end and back-end development. Writing valid HTML / CSS code that comply with current web standards and hosting requirements, which maximizes functionality, as well as accessibility for as large an audience as possible.
We attend to the final details and test the website for compliant functionality. Testing will include ensuring complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well as testing for last minute compatibility issues, ensuring that the website is optimized to be viewed properly in the most recent browser versions.
We are well versed in current standards for website design and coding. As part of testing, we ensure that all of the code validates. Valid code means that the website meets the current web development standards; this is essential when checking for issues such as cross-browser compatibility.
We will make recommendations for our clients as to where they can host their website which makes the most sense based upon their needs since not all hosting packages provide the necessary resources required for some sites.
Once these accounts have been setup, and the website uploaded to the server, we put the website through one last run-through. This is just precautionary, to confirm that all files have been uploaded correctly, and that the website continues to be fully functional.
Other final details include post marketing services for SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEM and its subset of SEO are a combination of both technical and traditional marketing processes which help a website to become found in the search engines. A steady stream of qualified visitors to a website will generally increase conversions and proactively meet the objectives of driving sales.
