Web Design Process

The Web Design Process

So you're thinking about building a new web site, or maybe redesigning an existing one.  Confused about what it takes to build a successful web site?  Well there are a few key steps that you will need to consider before beginning?  The following steps are not necessarily difficult but they are an important part of the web building process to make sure you get it right the first time.  Too often costly mistakes are made which could have easily been avoided if properly prepared for a head of time.

You see, at Franklyn's Bay we do a lot more than just design websites.  We help create sustainable businesses.

The web building process begins with me taking time to learn about your business and your goals both online and offline.  This part of the process helps me understand what your goals are and how a web site can help you achieve them.  In addition I will ask you about your competition and what their website addresses are.  Also, I will ask you for examples of web sites that you like, and why you like them.

I can't stress enough how important it is for myself or any other web designer to thoroughly understand your business and your objectives.  The reason for this is simply to save you from costly mistakes, and with that in mind your web designer needs to clearly understand the ultimate goal you want to achieve with your new web site.
 

After my first consultation with you, I will run analytics on your competitor’s web sites and do additional research on your industry.  As a matter of practice I always visit your main competitor’s web sites to find their strengths and weaknesses.  With the information from both the interview and my research, I can then come up with a practical list of elements which should appear on your website.  The list will cover a basic list of all the main sections in the site, as well as all the subsections. For example: index page, Contact, Services, about us, and Products.  Often within each section will be a number of subsections or categories.

At this stage of the web building process your input is critical, after all who knows more about your business then you!  I will then go over the layout and elements to be found on your website.  Answering any and all questions about the layout and looking forward to any recommendations and or guidance to help improve your website.  What we're striving to do is to create a web site that will grow along with your business.  It must be flexible enough to allow additional information and elements to be added in the future if necessary.  After all, you want your site to be well designed so we can accommodate any future industry or search engine optimization needs.

Now, just a few words about search engine optimization. SEO needs to be built into the website.  It encompasses everything from the layout of the webpage, the type of code it's built from, the way the pages link together and the content found on the pages.  There is other off site factors you have to worry about as well, which we will cover later.

At Franklyn’s Bay search engine optimization is ‘not a sideline’ it's been ‘our core business’ since 1996.
Most web site design companies view search engine optimization as just something they need to do to sell their website design services.  Often, months after the website has been designed and delivered to you, you'll find that you're not being found on the search engines.  This is because the web site was not properly optimized during the building process so that the search engines could actually index you.  When you contact the web site Design Company they will simply explain to you that the search engines have changed their algorithms, and your web site now needs additional work so it can be found by the search engines. 

My simple question is, why did they not know that the changes to the search engines were coming and simply adjust for the new changes during the web design process?  The answer is simple; their core business is building web sites not search engine optimization.  SEO requires constant attention to what's going on with a search engines.  Every website that wants to continue to rank well for the search engines will need constant minor adjustments to stay on the top of the search engines.  The reason for this is simple, search engines make minor adjustments to their algorithms and your competitors make improvements to their web sites.  These two factors are the main reason you constantly have to pay attention to where you’re ranking on the search engines and make adjustments to stay competitive.
We will continue to support search engine optimization needs long after the web site design process is over.  Once again our core business is search engine optimization, and we love it!

Please feel free to contact me today for any of your marketing needs Office: 386-951-5179 Cell: 321-527-8714

Web Design Process | Web Building Process