When most business owners realize they need a website, the first thing that comes to mind is the design of the site. They will then hire a “Website Designer” to come up with some vision of the look and feel of the company’s website. This process could drag out for a while, depending on the owner of the company and how solid a picture they have of their prospective website. The web designer then creates a layout, some graphics, and ultimately some files to be uploaded to a server that in turn are displayed in the browser.
A few months later, the boss wants to make a change, or add some pages to the company website. The company now has to re-engage the designer to make these changes. In some scenarios, the designer is no longer available and they have to contract with someone else to make changes. This process repeats itself for every change the boss wants made.
My advice would be to hire someone to plan out the implementation of the website first. In this planning phase, your needs are assessed and documented, internal resources are identified, and plans are made for the ongoing maintenance of the website. Questions that can be asked during this phase are:
- Do you have someone in the company that can make edits to the website?
- How many products / services do you plan to put on the website?
- Are you accepting credit cards for online sales?
- Will you need user account management, login, profiles, or other social networking features?
There are many more questions that need answering but these are just a few to get you thinking about your website as more than just a pretty face. Thinking of your website’s design first fails to address these and other issues that will come up.
One of my services is Website Planning and Implementation. Once contracted, I will go through a series of questions with you and your team to develop a solid plan that will address all of the crucial issues in getting your website designed, implemented, and maintained. Whether it is a brand new website or a redesign, the issues are the same. If it is a redesign project, you will have likely experienced first-hand the issues I am talking about, so you can see the value in this planning phase.
Click here to contact me regarding website planning services and I will be glad to give you a free estimate.