As businesses start to struggle due to the recession, they must ask themselves “Am I getting the most out of my website, is my website really working for me or against me?”
In this 2 part article we’ll aim to give you some advice on how to achieve the above and help you navigate the tricky path of getting a website and making it work for you like a hard working employee.
So firstly make sure that your website is built properly. You must either be clear about what you need or be willing to spend time planning the site with a reputable web agency such as us.
The planning stage is the most important. Once site building starts any changes can cause serious functionality problems, delay the launch and of course increase the costs.
Web design companies such as us have a responsibility to educate clients because many don’t understand how a website works and don’t consider the complex array of mechanics that can occur in the back end of the site. A client must be prepared and willing to learn for this process to be effective and of course for the website to be a success for them. This is why from the outset we provide a project planner document that allows people to work through and think through a series of questions that helps us assess their needs.
So many times we are approached to quote for a website and people have no plan, no business plan even, have no post launch marketing plan and on top of all this they want it tomorrow! Of course a good website design company would be so busy that it can’t deliver website design projects at the drop of a hat.
Depending on the size of your project and requirements you will need to leave at least 6 weeks from paying a deposit till the launch of the site. Longer if you need to plan press releases and other launch PR.
Remember you need to allow time for the quoting, organising the deposit, the design process including your requested revisions, then the build process, organising your copy/copywriter, organsing product photography, testing period, last minute revisions and additions and then any final launch snags.
We live in a world where everything is ‘instant’ but for a good website that will work it’s no that instant so plan plan plan is the key.
Also, know when to stop planning and start building. Websites have an infinite range of possibilities but, if you keep changing things you could have the world’s best website that no-one will ever see.
In the next part of this article we’ll look at the design and build stage and how these things need consideration to make your website work harder for you.
Posted on June 1st, 2009
