Before you contact some web designers to get a quote, you will save yourself time, money and trouble by first sitting down and thinking about what you actually need. The more you can “nail down” your requirements, the more likely you are to get a better price, and not be surprised by getting a bill for extras at the end of the project.
First, think about what you want from your website:
Do you want to sell products online, using a shopping cart and some method of accepting payments?
Do you want your site to be a “static” online brochure, showcasing your products or services?
Do you want your site to generate leads & enquiries for you to follow up directly?
Is your site primarily aimed at providing information for existing customers?
Is your site going to be a useable, interactive service e.g. searchable property database?
Now consider how many pages you will need. Web designers will use this as an important factor when quoting you; if you initially ask for too few, you may get a bill for extras. Ask for too many and you may be paying more than you need to.
Think about the titles of the pages you need (as they appear in the site navigation) As a minimum, you will probably need “Home”, “About Us” and “Contact Us”. Now give some consideration to the design of the site. Do you have a colour scheme in mind? Do you want some Flash animation? What sort of imagery do you want used? TO get some ideas, surf the Net and note down any websites you find that you like the look of, and give the URL to web designers. This will help them get an idea of what you like.
You should also consider which technical issues are important to you.
Does you site need to be:
* Fast Loading? If your target market are home users, a large proportion may still be on slower dial up internet connections.
* Graphically Intensive? Perhaps you need to appeal to corporate users, by employing a strong, professional design.
* Optimised for a particular screen resolution? Do you want the site to look best on 1024 x 768 resolution screens, or perhaps your target market is more likely to have older PC’s with screen settings such as 800x600.
* Updated yourself? If you regularly need to change the text/images of your site, you may need to ask for a quote for a Content Management System (CMS). Ask fort his to be identified as an optional cost, so you can judge if it is cost effective for you. Alternatively, you could purchase web editing software (such as Macromedia Contribute) though you will need to make your web designer aware that this is what you will be doing.
* Aimed at specific end users? Perhaps your target market are printers or music industry professionals, who tend to use Apple Mac computers. If so, make your web designer aware of it – many designers do not pay much attention to checking web sites run correctly on Macs.
By taking a little time to consider the needs of your website, you will help your web designer immensely, getting the site you want at a cost effective price.
More Articles: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PlrArticleCollecton-imtiaztips / Visit: ImtiazTips for more information about web design.[The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES.]
Showing posts with label development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label development. Show all posts
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Comprehensive Web Design Checklist
Your Web site needs to do more than make your company look good. It has to support your overall business operations - customer service, sales and marketing and collaboration. Whether you're planning an intranet or Internet site, don't start before you check your strategy against this comprehensive checklist.
The following checklist and the associated answers will facilitate the analysis process ofr designing and building the website that allows your company to turn the corner.
1. Where did you hear about us?
2. Do you have a domain name? If not, do you have ideas on one? If so, what is it?
3. What is your company name? Do you want to use the entire name on the site, logo, and graphics?
4. Do you have special features in mind like ECommerce shopping cart, BLOG, RSS, Forms with emails, EZine, Newsletter signup, autoresponders, advertising landing/call-to-action pages, etc.?
5. Who is your intended audience? Are they regional, industry specific, company size specific, etc.?
6. Do you intend to provide a call to action - make a sale, call in to your office, fill out a form, etc?
7. Describe your ideal client and the specific attributes that we'll be targeting in the website.
8. What are your website expectations, main emphasis and primary goals - increased sales, increased leads, etc.?
9. What separates your company from your competition and what do you expect will draw clients to the website?
10. How do you plan to market the website?11. What company properties do you want to emphasize on the website?
12. Do you already have a logo and other graphics to be used? If not, do you want to have one created?
13. Have you identified a tagline? That would be something like "Just do it", "Reach out and touch someone", etc.
14. What keywords do you want to be found by in the search engines?
15.Please provide a list of websites that you like and don't like. Why do you or do you not like these sites?
16. Please provide a list of competitors websites.
17. Do you have ideas of the colors to be used, and colors you don't like? Please provide example sites.
18. Do you have an intended website screen size - 1024x768, 800x600, or stretch to the entire width of the screen?
19. If the site isn't the entire width of the screen do you have a preference for left or center alignment?
20. Do you have a horizontal or left-side vertical preference for the main navigation?
21. Please provide the main pages you need in the website.
22. Have you created the copy text for any of your pages?
23. Do you have existing business cards or other printed material we need to match?
24. Are you leaning towards custom drawn artwork or photographs?
Once we start designing the website we'll need the following (Note that this information will be kept in strict confidence):a. FTP access information - username and passwordb. Hosting company and their tech support phone number
More Articles: – http://feeds.feedburner.com/PlrArticleCollecton-imtiaztips / Visit: ImtiazTips for more information about web design.[The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES.]
The following checklist and the associated answers will facilitate the analysis process ofr designing and building the website that allows your company to turn the corner.
1. Where did you hear about us?
2. Do you have a domain name? If not, do you have ideas on one? If so, what is it?
3. What is your company name? Do you want to use the entire name on the site, logo, and graphics?
4. Do you have special features in mind like ECommerce shopping cart, BLOG, RSS, Forms with emails, EZine, Newsletter signup, autoresponders, advertising landing/call-to-action pages, etc.?
5. Who is your intended audience? Are they regional, industry specific, company size specific, etc.?
6. Do you intend to provide a call to action - make a sale, call in to your office, fill out a form, etc?
7. Describe your ideal client and the specific attributes that we'll be targeting in the website.
8. What are your website expectations, main emphasis and primary goals - increased sales, increased leads, etc.?
9. What separates your company from your competition and what do you expect will draw clients to the website?
10. How do you plan to market the website?11. What company properties do you want to emphasize on the website?
12. Do you already have a logo and other graphics to be used? If not, do you want to have one created?
13. Have you identified a tagline? That would be something like "Just do it", "Reach out and touch someone", etc.
14. What keywords do you want to be found by in the search engines?
15.Please provide a list of websites that you like and don't like. Why do you or do you not like these sites?
16. Please provide a list of competitors websites.
17. Do you have ideas of the colors to be used, and colors you don't like? Please provide example sites.
18. Do you have an intended website screen size - 1024x768, 800x600, or stretch to the entire width of the screen?
19. If the site isn't the entire width of the screen do you have a preference for left or center alignment?
20. Do you have a horizontal or left-side vertical preference for the main navigation?
21. Please provide the main pages you need in the website.
22. Have you created the copy text for any of your pages?
23. Do you have existing business cards or other printed material we need to match?
24. Are you leaning towards custom drawn artwork or photographs?
Once we start designing the website we'll need the following (Note that this information will be kept in strict confidence):a. FTP access information - username and passwordb. Hosting company and their tech support phone number
More Articles: – http://feeds.feedburner.com/PlrArticleCollecton-imtiaztips / Visit: ImtiazTips for more information about web design.[The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES.]
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
A free website that helped your business in a measurable way was fairly simple.
If you run a portion of your business online, you know how hard it can be to get the right elements for a user friendly site. A few years ago when the World Wide Web was still new, establishing a free website that helped your business in a measurable way was fairly simple. You registered your domain name, went to a free hosting company, grabbed a simple five to twenty-five page template, and plugged in your company information. Denver database development was a burgeoning business back then. But in the last few years, being successful on the web has become more difficult.
As web users become more and more savvy and as websites become more and more sophisticated, the requirements for a good site have increased. What a consumer thought was usable and well designed five years ago has drastically changed. Today, your potential customers have some unspoken standards they expect to be met when they come to your site.
In order to live up to these standards, you are going to have to move beyond the web templates and perhaps beyond the relatively skilled web designer. Fortunately, as the needs of internet merchants have become more complex, the abilities of Denver database development teams have advanced as well. So when you need to move beyond the basics, look for database development, Denver or otherwise, that can sit down with you and analyze your needs.
The basis of database development is simply the integration of information into a software program that can store, sort, and display the information pieces on command. This software can take on a number of appearances though, depending on the needs of the site owner.
One of the most common database development projects is for product inventory. If you think of your favorite retail website, you can picture a fine example of this type of system. Products, or in some cases, services, are stored in the database and then displayed at the user’s command by either a click or a keyword search function. Then the database serves up some related items in the margins that this type of customer might also like. Sophisticated versions of an inventory software system can also maintain viewing histories for each user automatically, queuing up recent searches and items of interest when the user returns.
An effective inventory database will work seamlessly both with a precise search function and with a kink-free shopping cart. It is difficult for the average site owner to create and maintain a system of this level, so Denver database development is necessary to achieve a quality experience for new and returning customers.
Database development is not limited to inventory systems though. In fact, there are a number of uses for customized databases, including email lists culled from frequent visitors, client contact and shipping information, pricing charts and systems, as well as scheduling. If you offer your expertise on site at various locations, you can enlist the help of database developers to create a system that will allow you to plug in the dates and locations of your next appearances. Do the same with multiple store locations, maps, and personnel contact information.
[The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES.]
As web users become more and more savvy and as websites become more and more sophisticated, the requirements for a good site have increased. What a consumer thought was usable and well designed five years ago has drastically changed. Today, your potential customers have some unspoken standards they expect to be met when they come to your site.
In order to live up to these standards, you are going to have to move beyond the web templates and perhaps beyond the relatively skilled web designer. Fortunately, as the needs of internet merchants have become more complex, the abilities of Denver database development teams have advanced as well. So when you need to move beyond the basics, look for database development, Denver or otherwise, that can sit down with you and analyze your needs.
The basis of database development is simply the integration of information into a software program that can store, sort, and display the information pieces on command. This software can take on a number of appearances though, depending on the needs of the site owner.
One of the most common database development projects is for product inventory. If you think of your favorite retail website, you can picture a fine example of this type of system. Products, or in some cases, services, are stored in the database and then displayed at the user’s command by either a click or a keyword search function. Then the database serves up some related items in the margins that this type of customer might also like. Sophisticated versions of an inventory software system can also maintain viewing histories for each user automatically, queuing up recent searches and items of interest when the user returns.
An effective inventory database will work seamlessly both with a precise search function and with a kink-free shopping cart. It is difficult for the average site owner to create and maintain a system of this level, so Denver database development is necessary to achieve a quality experience for new and returning customers.
Database development is not limited to inventory systems though. In fact, there are a number of uses for customized databases, including email lists culled from frequent visitors, client contact and shipping information, pricing charts and systems, as well as scheduling. If you offer your expertise on site at various locations, you can enlist the help of database developers to create a system that will allow you to plug in the dates and locations of your next appearances. Do the same with multiple store locations, maps, and personnel contact information.
[The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)