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You can throw up a very simple HTML Web site in a weekend if you
have some Web site development experience, have finalized your content
and have determined your site goals. If you're just starting out
or your Web site doesn't seem to be helping your business, consider
following the process outlined below. Larger sites will go more
in-depth, whereas smaller sites might briefly touch upon certain
sections.
Are you hosting your site in house or through a hosting company?
What type of hosting environment will you be using? Knowing this
will help determine what kind of functionality you can use on
your Web site. Or if you don't have a hosting environment in mind
yet, first determine the goals for your site, then talk to your
Web developer to determine the best hosting environment for your
site. Site hosting prices can vary greatly, so do your homework.
If you're outsourcing, make sure you're going with a reliable
company that has at least a 99% up-time guarantee and 24 hour
support. Visit sites like TopHosts.com
or CNet
for hosting company ratings. Contact
me about discounted hosting.
Determine your audience(s), site goals, maintenance plan, what
your competitors are/aren't doing, what Web sites you like/dislike,
etc.
With target audience(s) in mind, 'chunk' your content into user-friendly
sections for your site. Will you thread your users through a path
on your site or offer them multiple points of access to get whatever
they might be looking for?
Do you have a logo? Company/organization colors? Color preferences?
A page layout preference? Will you keep it simple or add something
like Flash animation? You don't need to have a big budget to buy
quality photos. Visit DreamsTime.com:
Quite possibly the most difficult (and time consuming!) component
during a Web site project. You know what you want to put online,
but may need to write it. Get started on this as soon as you have finalized
the site architecture.
Are you using HTML? A content management system? A programming
language like PHP, ASP, Perl or Java? This is when you will build templates for your site. Be sure to comment your code (or have
your developer comment it). It will help those who handle your site updates in the future.
Thoroughly test your site on IE, Firefox and Netscape. If available, test
on a slow (dial-up) modem. If possible, have more than one or
two people test the site, and even consider hiring a usability
expert to test the site on your customers or site prospects to
see if there are any flaws that could be easily fixed (or fixed
at a later date). I highly recommend viewing your site on both a Mac and PC before launching.
You've launched, now get the word out. Put together a quarterly
online marketing program. Search engines take anywhere from two
days to six months to start indexing your site, so get on this right
away and revisit it every quarter. Keep visitors coming back by
offering an engaging and useful (not sales-related) e-newsletter.
Site content needs to remain fresh. Regularly update your homepage
and key areas of your site. Obviously your company information
page won't change too often, but your news releases or events
area should. If you don't want to focus on site updates in-house
(especially if you're a small company or organization), you may
consider outsourcing it. You can send the content to a Web developer
who will make sure the site is updated on time. If you want to
have control over your site updates, but aren't sure how to do
them, consider hiring someone to train you (like your Web developer)
or take a class at the local community college or university.
Do you need help creating a Web site? If you want to outsource it, contact me to discuss how I can work with you to get it done or learn more about me first. If you want to do it yourself, check out the resources.
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