The Design Process and Website Longetivity:
Content Maintenance and Technical Support

Web Sites enable your business to have an attractive presence on the Internet where information (on products and services for example) are available 24 hours a day.

The finished web site is the result of close interaction between us and our clients. We actively use client's feedback as the yardstick to meet and exceed their expectations of the new site's functions and purpose as defined and agreed on as our deliverables.

Here is the simplified design process and guidelines employed in building your website which may be decided on in the initial client meetings and discussions. The questions we ask below will help you to understand: what viewers and visitors appreciate as a great user experience, the hidden administrative and financial costs that the website owner should be aware of and what is needed on the backend to support this going forward.:
 
 
  • Prerequisites (as determined by your budget)

    • - Do you have a domain name in mind and is it available or is the name already registered?
    - Do have a webhost (to store your website's files)?
     - Do you have a preferred webhost/webhosting company?
    - Do you need to change webshosts (domain name will to "point" to the new webhost IP address)?
    - For rebranding purposes, do you need to shorten your current domain name (and reserve a new one)?
    - dedicated or shared webhosting (their features are similar however there is difference in cost and control)
    - copyright considerations: use of royalty free elements (images, music, video) vs commercial licensing
    - ecommerce considerations (how are you going to accept online payments and refund them if needed)
    - bandwidth considetaions (webhost's ability to NOT crash under load and requires top tier dedicated web$ervers)
    - subscriptions considerations (site must provide an easy way to opt out of mailing lists, subscriptions, etc.) - software compatibility considerations
      (some web hosted apps require specific PHP, MariaDB, MySQL versions so may not run where it is currently hosted)

     

  • Most sites fall into one of the following roles:

    Advertising for sales, information dissemination, data collection, outreach, complimentary online presence, etc..
     

    Key Questions to Ask - Beginning with the End in Mind
    - As a client, what are your expectations that are to be realistically matched as the project's deliverables?
    - What is the ultimate purpose of your site?
    - First time web site or site overhaul or upgrade?
      (site visitors may need to be informed of updates if site needs to remain live and will need to updated "on the go".)
    - Who are the intended audience or targeted users?
    - Do you anticipate or have online competitors?
      (key content may need to safe-guarded)
    - Does the success of your site depend heavily on social media?
      (also consider social media business pages & profiles )
    - Do you have a hard deadline for a launch date and time?
    - Can deadlines be softened with a beta launch?
      (new site features implemented at set intervals)

    Future Planning:
    - Where the site is currently being hosted (or preferred to be hosted), will it support a future version of that site in terms of features & visitor traffic?
    - Are your budget and deadline(s) fixed:
      Does your budget accomodate unforeseen increased domain name and webhosting price due to inflation, etc.?
    - Who will be updating content:
      Outside of a retainer, are timely maintenance support and content updates provided for?

    View a sample Web Site Design Proposal | Sample Web Site Design Contract

  • Site Structure & Navigation

    This is usually determined by the site's content, projected size, user interactivity, hosting platform & intended features.
    - Use of breadcrumbs Improves user experience
      visitors always know where they are on the site in relation to other pages
    - Naming schemes and conventions (to simply search engine indexing for SEO)
    - Directory Structure for backend element categorization.
    - where applicable or appropriate: use of subdomains to segment and easily identify site features & functions
       e.g. portal.yourname.com or store.yourcompany.com

     
     
  • Visual Design & Layout ("Look n Feel")

    Sites can be built from scratch, employed a templated layout or using the two, made to have the look and feel of other comparable sites you wish to use as your reference model.

    See "Template Creation" under "Site Developement" below: a draft homepage and one (1) subpage design are planned out, built and continually improved for obtaining feedback and arriving at an agreed / finalized template for the rest of the site..

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  • Core Site Development Terms

    Template Creation:
    Based on the prior phases, a draft design is built for obtaining feedback and arriving at an agreed template for the rest of the site.

    Draft Site Accessibility:
    As a form of realtime testing it will hosted at a location that is acessible via the Internet for tweaking optimimal access and loading times.

    SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
    Ensuring a search engine friendly site for quick page indexing.
    Tweaking meta tags for better search engine optimization (tags match content)

    Quality Assurance:
    Continuous cycle of approving & retesting improvements in draft design and or information flows
    Correction of Grammar, spelling, formatting errors, etc..

     
     
  • Testing Site Features for early identification of and correction of potential issues

    - Responsiveness (does the site scale to fit the screen of smaller devices?)
    - Cross Browser compatibility (plugins, layout, color, etc.. at different resolutions)
    - Home Page load times
    - File Download and audio/video streaming times
    - User accounts login and registration testing
    - Site Navigation, broken links, etc..
    - plugin and widget testing for troublefree information feeds/flows

     
     
  • Delivery, Launch & Social Media Networking Considerations

    - Upload to production platform (webhost) & provide link to download backup on settlement of fees
    - Do you have a Logo for easy brand identication?
    - Prominant use of graphic logo on all pages, email communication, graphic ads
    - Use of domain name email for branding (sales@yourname.com instead of salesinfo_468mp@mailprovider.net)
    - Submission to alternative search engines & list directors
    - Links and Banner Ad Exchanges for increased visitor traffic
    - Paid/"Sponsored" search listings & Google ads & Adwords, etc.

    - Do you have a social media presence (like FaceBook, Instagram, X, etc..)?
      if yes, Social Media network integration via plugins and widgets
    - Who updates your social media pages?

     
     
  • Current and Future Maintenance and Content Updates

    - Re-Tweaking meta tags so that site continues to be found easily
    - How are planned web server maintenace downtime and unforeseen issues handled?
      (notices on site, emails to the website owner and other administrators)
    - How are addition to Terms of Service handled (notices on site, emails to subscribers, etc..?)
    - Agreement on Updates Schedule: content format(s), update requests and confirmation of completion (by email)   

    View our Web Site Packages