I spoke on the phone with a client today who is ready to proceed with a Web site project for their business. Their company is growing rapidly and they know they need to expand their presence to the World Wide Web. They already have a domain name registered and want us to create a clean, professional Web site for them. The problem is they have no clue on how to get started.
Getting Started: An Outline

The first suggestion I always make to our clients that have no idea where to begin is to create an outline. An outline is an invaluable tool that can help you figure out exactly what to put on your Web site and where. Your top level items can serve as the main pages featured on your Web site, while the second-tier items are sub-level links that will appear on each main page (figure 1).

A well-constructed outline limits what and what is not considered a top level category. The same holds true for a Web site. You don’t want all of your links to be placed on the home page. You want your pages and information to be organized in a way that your audience is able to easily and quickly find what they are looking for.  You want your broadest categories to be links on your home page, to which your audience can then navigate downward to find the exact bit of information of interest to them.

Write Your Text

You have created your outline and you now understand how your Web site will be structured. What’s next? Writing the text for each page of course! Your primary concern should be making your text clear and to the point. Your audience is not going to spend minutes, even seconds reading every bit of text. Break your text up into sections, divided by clearly defined sub-heads. This way if your Web page requires scrolling, the viewer is still able to quickly glimpse at what is contained within the text.

The More Content the Better!

Providing us with as much information and content as you can about your company and/or product is always the best way to go. The more we know about who you are and what you are trying to accomplish, the more successful we will be in creating a Web site that truly represents you. The other day I had a client send me their company logo and a whole CD full of photographs and promotional materials to use when designing their Web site. This is extermely helpful from a design standpoint in that I am now able to pick and choose visual elements from the library of material thay have provided me with.

Let Us Do the Rest

Knowing what you want to say on your Web site and how it should be organized is half the battle. Once you have figured that out, we take it from there and use your thoughts and words to create a visually stunning, accessible and professional Web site.

I hope this article will help you get started on that Web site project you have been putting off indefintely. Call or e-mail us and we’ll be happy to guide you through the process from start to finish!

Getting a Web site up and running online is not always the easiest task to undertake. With technological advancements that progress nearly every day, it is easy to get lost in the jumble of new terms, and forget about the true purpose of your Web site (whatever that may be). Here are a few tips that can help you when you are researching, planning, and preparing to launch your personal or company Web site.Be Prepared
Knowing exactly what you want from your site is vital in developing a useful business application or promotion tool. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know details such as the color scheme, how many pages it will have, what technology it will be based on (that is our job), but you should definitely have an idea of details such as:

• target audience
• purpose and how it will help
• major sections of the site (do you need a contact page, a portfolio or photo gallery, a members section)
• your priorities such as schedule, cost, features
• potential growth (also known as scalability)

Having a clear concept of how your site will function in the end will assist you in making decisions for aspects of your site along the way.

Keep Your Expectations In Check
A common goal is to be listed a the top of the search engine listings with a certain search term; which is most commonly a very general term such as “movies”. The idea to be listed at the top of one or more of a search engine with a new site, few visitors, and for a general term only sets a bar that is extremely high to achieve. Some companies even make promises of such achievements, but in reality nobody can attain those results without very deep pockets. Yes, you can pay for higher listings in the sponsored ad spaces (which is a very good way to promote your site), but to be listed at the top for free with a popular search time such as “movies” off the bat is very unlikely.

Over time however as your traffic increases, you start receiving more visitors, and your site is monitored to target more specific search results, having your site at the top of the list might not be so far off. Until then however, focus on more specific search engine queries based on your specific business model, your location, or how your site is different than others. Instead of movies, maybe your site is for movies of baby ducks. So target that in your site’s content rather than general “movie” terms.

Just Because Its Trendy Doesn’t Mean You Should Use It
Every time a new trend comes along everyone wants to be a part of it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a trend. However, don’t get caught up in the hype - always remember the primary objective of your site, and how it relates to the core of your business. A newer trend is AJAX and everyone wants a piece of it in their site. It is a great technology that just hit it mainstream in the past two years, but a lot of sites have fallen victim to poor use of it. Broken back-buttons, disabled bookmarks, browser incompatibilities, and even usability roadblocks are some of the down-sides of a poorly developed AJAX application. However, if done properly and used in a situation that can truly provide a better user experience, then it is always an indiscreet way to say “we are a cutting edge company”.

Blogs are another such beast that have been used to death in many situations that proved not to be beneficial to the company. While they can be an incredible promotional tool (especially if a story is featured on social sites such as digg, stumbleupon, reddit, or any other aggregators) the main issue where blogs will hurt a company is when they are not updated consistently. If a visitor lands on your site and is researching your company, and they find a blog that has a last post date of a year ago, what does that say about your company? Are you lazy? Did you give up? My suggestion is to first, make sure you really enjoy writing up the articles, otherwise you won’t make it past week one. Secondly, post on a consistent schedule. Even if it is once a month, as long as you are posting that article each month then your subscribers will know you’re keeping up with it. And last (but far from least), really think about if it fits your business model to even have a blog!

Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to try new things out on your site, but do remember that your primary purpose in running a business is to bring in revenue and increase profits. If it isn’t working after a certain period of time, it may be time to reconsider if it is worth your resources. Hopefully these tips will help some of you when you begin thinking about the next step in your development process. If you have any questions or need any help with the process, be sure to drop the Riddle Brothers a line and we’ll be glad to help out.