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The Website Design Process
Phase One: Gather Information
The first step in designing a successful
website (or printed piece) is to gather
information. Many things need to be taken
into consideration when we design the look
of your site, so we first ask a lot of
questions to help us understand your
business and your needs in a web site.
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Certain things to consider are: |
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What is the real purpose of the
site?
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What do you hope to accomplish
by building this web site?
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Who is the target audience?
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What kind of information will
the target audience be looking
for on your site?
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Phase Two: Planning
Using the information gathered from phase
one we put together a plan for the web site.
Here we develop a site map - a list of all
main (topic) areas of the site, as well as
sub topics (if applicable). This is also the
point where we decide what technologies
should be implemented - interactive forms,
e-commerce, etc.
Phase Three: Design
Drawing from the information gathered up to
this point, we determine the look and feel
of the site. Target audience is one of the
key factors taken into consideration. We
also incorporate elements such as the
company logo or colors to help strengthen
the identity of your company in the site.
Phase Four: Development
This is where the web site itself is
created. We take all of the individual
graphic elements from the prototype and use
them to create the actual, functional site.
We also take your content and distribute it
throughout the site, in the appropriate
areas. During this process we work closely
with our clients to insure that the message
stays on target.
Phase Five: Testing and Delivery
At this point, we test things such as the
complete functionality of forms, any
compatibility issues (viewing differences
between different browsers), making sure all
submit forms work as planned, databases
function properly, and, if applicable, make
sure all e-commerce settings function
properly.
After launching the site, we again test the
site's functionality in live operation.
This marks the official launch of your site,
as it is now viewable to the public.
If contracted, this is the point when we
optimize the site for search engine
positioning (either organic or
pay-per-click), and submit the site to major
selected search engines.
Phase Six: Maintenance
The development of your site is not
necessarily done, however. We offer
maintenance packages at reduced rates, based
on how often you anticipate making changes
or additions to your site, as well as
ongoing search engine optimization
monitoring and maintenance.
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