Introduction
Just why do you want a website?
Basically, it is a sales and marketing exercise, selling a commercial product or just an idea or philosophy. The website I build for you will work. With your help in layout and design, I can make it beautiful. It will attract and keep those who visit your website.
It is important that your website is neither a simple on-line brochure nor so complicated that it is just too hard. Your website is an extension of what you do and think and the home page or landing page needs to satisfy what your visitor wants. Unless your home page answers the questions and satisfies the immediate needs of a potential customer, he or she will move on to the next website. You have 10 seconds to hold their attention and 20 seconds to create their interest.
I can provide advice on the best way to present your information. I have many success stories where my clients have told how their new website has improved their business compared to their old one.
Concept
The world is all about telling stories and those stories make your website interesting. My job is to translate your story into a website that will entrance your visitors. Don’t kid yourself that you are not selling something just because you are not taking a payment. You will still be selling a story or a product. You need to ask yourself these three questions, because these are the questions your visitors will be asking themselves either consciously or subconsciously:
- What are you selling?
- Who are you selling it to?
- How are you selling it?
My most successful website has been where I converted a website with an artistically beautiful but meaningless home page into one that directly answered those questions. The owners more than doubled their business in a year. When I first helped them they had 6 apartments for rental. They have now moved on to a more sophisticated web developer and a much larger business.
Content
The basic process of creating a website occurs this way. You provide the images, text and multimedia content for the web site. I make the framework for the delivery of your ideas and imagery and translate it onto the web. The better the images and how they reflect what you do and the relevance of the text all adds to the user experience. The content should follow Google’s quality guidelines. Content that follows these guidelines will provide 90% of search engine optimisation requirements.
Website Types
These days I do make simple websites using PHP and HTML. However, it is simpler to use WordPress. Around 30% of all websites use WordPress and around 60% use WordPress for content management systems. I use the Genesis Framework and themes from Studiopress.
Security
It would be embarrassing to have your website taken over by email spam bots or by Jihadists spreading their message. The code I write for forms and databases uses PHP security. WordPress installations follow these basic security measures. The reasons why it is good sense to protect content managed websites, even low traffic websites, can be found in this article on WordPress security.
Revisions and maintenance
Visitors assess you on the look of your website. Does it need a facelift, update or maintenance? Does it still reflect what you do? Is it being effective?
I can re-image and reconstruct your web site to give it a more contemporary feel. I can also update your images, text, coding and restructure the site so that the web site is easier to use and provides a better vehicle for your message.
Timeframes
Timeframes vary according to work load and are estimates only. Setup starts when I have received all of the website information and images and takes two weeks. Construction to first draft takes a further two weeks. Final text proofing takes 1 week. Then there is the transfer to a live website. Each stage will start when the stage payment is made. These stages are shown in the client’s Checklist.
What To Do
My role in your website is about guidance, context and feedback. Your role is to provide a budget, content, desired functionality and how you would like the layout and design. Between us, we can provide a successful website based on my experience and your experience, content and images. I will take the individual pieces of information you give me and turn it into a cohesive whole that will meet the needs of the modern web.
So, we can talk about what you need to provide and what I need to do. If you provide me with how much you are prepared to spend, the information you have and how you would like it to look, I can tell you what is possible for the budget you have, make a sketch or a layout framework for you to look at, tell you what else is needed, optimise images for the internet and we can modify the layout once or maybe twice to make a publishable website.
Whether you are planning your first web site or just require a little bit of help improving an existing website, email or give me a call on 02 8090 0576.