Step 1 : Identify your website requirements
If you were buying a new kitchen, you would need to have made some initial decisions before asking for an estimate, like, what size the room is, what equipment do you want, the finishes, the ease of accessibility for installers, etc, etc. With a website, you need to consider what you want the website to do and what information it will contain. Ask yourself the following questions:
Why do you need a website?
This simple question will help you get your ideas and reasoning clear in your mind. Some of the reasons you may need a website are:
- for a 24/7 presence
- to save on office space and sell online
- to have an online brochure to advertise your work and client testimonials
- to show off your knowledge and expertise and encourage customer contact
- to collect data about clients and potential clients
Thinking about your reasons will help you plan your requirements. The simple question is: how will a website help you improve some aspect of your work and how will it save or generate you and your business money?
What do you want your website to achieve?
Give careful thought to what it is you want your website to do for you and for your website visitors. You may not want to do everything at first, but you need to have an overall plan, so that what is created in the early stages will support things you might add later. Planning for the future is a important consideration; not planning may cost your more in the long run as your website may need a total re-design if you want to add further menus, forms or pages, at a later date.
Who is going to keep your website up-to-date?
Having a website with out-of-date information, or a link to a website that does not exist anymore is worse than having no website at all. Think about the impression a customer will get from your business, or you, if your website is poorly maintained or unavailable. Do you want to be able to easily update the website yourself or pay someone to do it? Decide if you want maintenance and support as part of your package, or do you feel confident taking hold of the reigns once the website is built by asking for a CMS ?
Step 2 : Research your competitors websites
A good web developer will look at your needs, look at your content and consider your potential audience. You can help me by looking at websites on the web and make a note of those that you like and even those that you don’t like. Look at competitors websites and even just those wesites you really like or don’t like. Make notes as to what features you would like too.
Step 3 : Gather information and images for your website
Gather, leaflets, booklets, brochures, logos, photos. These will all help the design process. Electronic copies are also preferable to hard copies. Having all this information at hand gives the web developer a better means of picturing the whole structure of your website while creating web design ideas.
Step 4 : Think about websites colour schemes and design
An appropriate colour scheme will give the website a sense of visual identity that is in keeping with the purpose of the site. If there are any existing design cues already in place e.g. a company logo or colour scheme this is good starting point. Think about what kind of style you want for your site, classic, modern, simple, trendy, etc. What image do you want the website to portray of your company, if you are selling modern art you will want a modern, simple trendy design for example. Let your web designer know what colours exist in your branding, but still let your web designer ultimately guide you with the web design, after all they are the expert and know what works!
Step 5 : What pages will your website need?
How many web pages do you want? What will be on them? How they will link together? We like to think of this as laying the foundations – it will form the basis of all work coming up. This ensures the website has a logical structure from the outset and reflects the goals and objectives of the website.
Step 6 : Think about your websites domain name
You will definitely need a domain name or ‘web address’ for your website, so get thinking about what you would like it to be. Do you want it to simply be your company name, or is that already taken? Do you want to go for something totally unique, different, catchy? Do you want a .co.uk domain name or a .com or even both? There is some useful advice about domain names in on our domain names page. Remember you can have multiple domain names which all point to the same site, BUT you will always have one main domain so choose carefully and try to include keywords for your business / industry.
Step 7 : Think about your websites keywords and key phrases
When you use a search engine such as google, you type in keywords or a short key phrase to find what you want. For example if you are an electrician you would want to try get your website on the first page of google for keywords and phrases such as “emergency electrician”, “approved electrician”, “local electrician”, etc. These are keywords or key phrases. Think about what your customer is likely to type into google to find you and let us know what these word are. Of course we would probably come up with a similar list of words to you, but its always good for you to think about this before hand.
Please note although your website will have been added to the search engines such as google, we cannot make any guarantees when or where it will appear. This process is down to the search engines and we can only do our best to get you a good search engine placement. You can read more about SEO here.
STEP 8 : Call for your free web design consultation
I ALWAYS offer a FREE, no-obligation web design consultation to discuss your website requirements. I will not baffle you with geeky web language, after all no matter what some website developers say, it is not rocket science! I will recommend website solutions and offer a free quote for my web services!
This initial discussion can be via e-mail, or over the telephone (no mobiles please), even msn or skype if you like – whatever is best for you! In fact I can offer you a free online website quote if you prefer, simply go to our online website quote form. You will get a full quote from me within 48 hrs, with no obligation. I will provide you with a fixed quote for the work on the website (as long as you provide enough information). This means you will know the full final cost upfront with no hidden extras.
STEP 9 : The web design example
After listening to your requirements and gathering any information, ideas and images from you, I will create a mock-up of your website. This is usually not a functional website, it will be a static image showing the key design elements, including: the colour scheme, navigation elements, header graphics, text and image placement and page footers. I will then review the web design with you, finalising the layout to suit your needs.
We allow you to see how your website will look in these early stages of the web design process to ensure there are no last minute shocks when the site is finished and ready for launching.
If you are unhappy with my prototype design you are free to walk away without paying me anything, although we should be able to change the design to suit your requirements with a complete review and always aim to please our customers, so if the design is not what you expected tell us why and we are sure we can change it to suit.
STEP 10 : Website design and web development
When you are happy with your the mock-up web design I will start the real web design process, adding all of your information/pictures/media to the site to complete the design. To speed up the process make sure you have a good idea of what your content will be. We do not mind offering to help with website copy text but if you want to write the site yourself its a good idea to have something ready by this stage if its a static site that you are purchasing (CMS sites can be updated later yourself). At this point I will purchase your domain name. This is the only money I will need from you before completion of the project and is covered by the very small initial deposit made by yourself to cover such costs.
I will set up a development website for you to see your site all the way through the web design process, 24hrs a day. You can simply go to the link I will provide and see how your site is progressing.
We welcome your feedback during this stage – if you have any changes to suggest regarding the website layout, or if there is something about the web design you do not like, it is wise to tell us at this point so we can make adjustments.
We will be happy to make changes at your reasonable request until you are satisfied with the layout. By reasonable request we do mean reasonable. We cannot offer you an unlimited number of design changes, as the site would never be finished! Two or three alterations are sensible during this period.
STEP 11 : Website go live!
As soon as the website is finished I will link the website to your chosen domain name, set up e-mail addresses and put your finished site online for the whole world to see! Once your website is live and payment has been received I will hand over all user names, passwords, and files necessary to run and maintain your site.
Step 12 : Search Engine Submission
Following it’s launch, we will submit your site for inclusion into free directories and to the major search engines.
Please note that market leader Google operate a system where they automatically delay inclusion of new sites into their listings for anything between 1 week and six months (at the time of writing). It is known as “sand boxing”. They do this to avoid listing sites which come and go within this period. If a site is still around after this time, they consider it worth listing. Your site may well be sand boxed initially so please be patient whilst this process comes to a conclusion. On the other hand I have never know it take longer than 2 weeks for any of my sites to get picked up by google.
Now that you are familiar with the design process, what are you waiting for GIVE US A CALL on 0113 2797731 for a free consultation or simply fill out our free online website quote to get a price now!
Loading ...