Strategic Planning For Your New Website
Creating a unique website that will attract customers and earn you a progressive reward in not a joke, a website is not easy to develop but it can be done. It requires strategic planning and there are numerous steps involved in the web site design and development process. From gathering initial information, to the creation of your web site, and finally the maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current.
Here are some of the steps given below by iHired Graphics Studio - Houston Webmaster Design - that you can follow to set up a good website. This is the website process that we generally follow...
We start the process by having you fill out the website planning document or a one on one consultation meeting to assess your requirements. At this stage we are gathering information about your company, services, audience, competitors, purpose, site goals and more.
Website Design Proposal
We will review and consider the information we have and what we know about your website requirements and draw up a brief project proposal and quote for your approval.
Agreements and Deposits
If our proposal for your website development is accepted, we will require a 50% deposit.
Domain Name Registration and Hosting
If you have chosen a domain name to register for your website, we will register it at this time. If
you have already registered your domain name please supply us with the login details. We will provide the hosting for your website.
Collecting Your Materials
Start collecting materials for your website. Things like, brochures, company introduction,
testimonials, service outlines, business cards, and photos of your business, products, completed jobs, work being done etc. If you’re selling products, we will probably need photos, product weight, and cost. So long as it is all well described and organized, the more information and materials you provide, the quicker your project will be completed and the better the overall result.
Sites concept and sample layout
We will put together a website concept image for your company to critique and discuss. If you have requested a logo design, this usually comes before anything else. At this point we’re trying to narrow down exactly what you’re looking for in terms of design and layout not the content. Your feedback is essential in the web design process and is welcome at any time.
Working with Materials
Resizing photos, photo optimization, color sampling (for those who want to match a corporate
color to their site design), product weight and pictures, and similar tasks are all done during this
phase of the web design process.
Establishing Website Design
Based on your feedback and approval of the design we will create the framework for your website which is typically like a template for the homepage and other pages. At this point we will typically have your website on the web so that it can get discovered by search engines in the coming months so that there is minimal delay in your search engine placement.
Content
Starting with your home page, we will start building your website. After the home page is completed and approved, we will move on and start placing content into other pages of your website.
Web Site Completion
You can now start advertising your website, tell friends and business acquaintances, and publish print material with your website address. This is when the remaining 50% of your website cost will be invoiced and due.
Initial Website Maintenance
You will receive free minor website maintenance for the first 30 days after the website goes live,
including updating links and making minor changes to a sentence or paragraph. This does not include drastic maintenance such as removing nearly all the text from a page and replacing it with new text. Plus if you have some minor difficulties in using a content management system then we will assist with that too.
Search Engine Optimization and Marketing
As part of building your website we will do some basic search engine optimization. If being at the top of a search engine’s results list is important to the success of your business we can provide you with a program of ongoing search engine marketing. If you would like to start this process we will provide you with a quote and explanation of what is included for your review. This is an optional service.
Depending on the keywords that you want to rank for and how many competitors you have you may find you pick up some great positions simply as a result of building your new website.
Website Maintenance
Keeping website content fresh and updated can assist in improving your search engine rankings and informing potential clients of new products or services. We offer several website maintenance plans that will help to minimize your on-going maintenance costs or you can make the updates with the content management system yourself.
