How the website design process works
About to design a website for your company? Congratulations! The Internet reaches over 800 million possible customers all over the world. And website costs are minimal compared to ROI. Online retail sales alone are projected to exceed $269 billion in 2005.
So how do you begin? First choose a website designer who not only offers pleasing designs, but also understands how to market your site to the search engines—your site is only effective if it can be found by searchers. Ask the designer for samples of their sites to review the look and feel. Also ask for ranking reports so you can see how their sites rank on search engines.
When you choose a designer, here are some of the steps you and your designer will take in the process of creating your website.
Research Keywords
The key to capturing customers on the Internet is to first research your industry. Determine the aspects of your business in which you can capitalize. A good place to start is analyzing keywords (search words). Concentrate on keywords that people are actually searching. In addition, focus on keywords that are less competitive in the market. For example, the words, “website design” are typed in by searchers approximately 15 times a day, but those words compete with 8,800,000 other listings. With prominent search engine optimization you could possibly compete for those terms, but with a more focused phrase you could have higher rankings and more searchers. In this example, if you instead chose the words, “website designers for small business,” you have access to 47 customers a day with only 720 competitors.
Learn more about how you and your website designer choose these search terms by visiting our search engine optimization page.
Record your design and page ideas
Do you want your site to have your corporate colors or a color that attracts searchers? Do you prefer the navigation bar on the left? When searching the Internet yourself, bookmark or print sites that grab your attention. What do you like about them? What don’t you like? Also note pages you want on your site, such as a services listing, driving directions, customer testimonials, job openings, chat room or event calendar. Are you selling a product or service? Selling online is called electronic commerce (e-commerce).
Choose a domain name
A domain name is the address of your website, such as www.bluesailmarketing.com. When choosing a domain name, remember the importance of step #1 and consider a name that includes keywords.
Since the Internet has been around awhile, your preferred name may already be taken - even if a website doesn’t appear when you type in the url. Website designers have access to a domain search program that determines if a domain is purchased and offers other available domains with similar words. This program also will purchase your chosen domain.
Choose a web hosting company
A web host holds your website on their server. Your website designer will choose a web hosting company based on the needs of your site—size, traffic potential and budget.
Review the design
Your website designer will show you a one-page design concept that incorporates your ideas along with aspects needed to satisfy the search engines. At this time, you will review the site’s navigation structure, colors and pictures. Since this design is the frame of your site, make sure you are content with it before moving to the next step.
The design process also includes photos. Photos help visualize your message and attracts searchers to your site. If you have photos of your building, products or people, this can help save on cost and time. Show your pictures to your designer so he or she can evaluate the resolution and necessity. If you don’t have photos, your designer can supply you with stock photos to purchase or help you set up a photo shoot to take photos at your location.
Write copy
Content or copy is one of the most important elements of a website. Informative and authoritative content or text utilizing keywords appropriately is a major factor in determining ranking on the search engines.
You can choose to write copy for your site or have your designer write it. If you choose to write the copy yourself to save money, consider having your designer edit the content for search engine viability. Also, editing the content carefully before your designer programs the site will help you save on maintenance costs.
Develop, test and upload the site
At the development stage, your designer will incorporate your design and copy into a programming code called HTML, a form that transfers information to the Web. The designer also will write meta tags, the information you see when you do a search on a search engine.
When the development is complete, your designer will perform tests on the site and then give you a final review online on a beta site. When reviewing, check the text, pictures and overall functionality. If you have an e-commerce site, purchase a few products to test the shopping cart. It also may help to have a friend review your site from a customer’s perspective. Once you have approved the site, your designer will upload your site to your domain (ex: www.bluesailmarketing.com) on the Internet.
Market the site
Market your site to your customers and potential customers through email, newsletters and/or mailings. And most importantly, market your site to the search engines, such as including your site on major directories, such as dmoz.org. Initially, we suggest patience. If a search engine optimizer designed your site, your site may have high rankings without any additional cost. But this still takes time. A search engine or directory can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months (and sometimes longer) to index or find your site. If after 3 months, search engines have not indexed your site or if you prefer higher rankings, investigate ongoing search engine optimization. Or if you want more immediate results, discuss sponsored or paid listings on search engines. Search engine optimization should be an ongoing process for your site to maintain your rankings as your listing could change weekly, daily or even hourly.
Analyze results
Through a logs and stats program, a website designer will give you reports on what keywords are effective and how many visitors are coming to your site. Analyzing these results can help you and your designer make appropriate changes to increase traffic and sales.
Start a website for your company
If you want a website for your business, call Blue Sail Marketing, LLC. We are designers and certified search engine optimizers that will help you get your website noticed. E-mail or call us today at 262-567-5662.