Free information on designing and developing a website for your small business with Look Lively website design, Christchurch, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK.
"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand."What's involved in web design?
You'll need to think about a few things to get the best out of your website.
Outlined below for your convenience are some of these elements.
The various factors of designing, developing and running a successful website can be confusing. Not to mention jargon
and acronym-riddled. This page is intended as a guide to help you understand the process.
If it all looks a little overwhelming, not to worry, Look Lively will ensure that all of these factors are in place. If you are unsure of anything, just ask - its what we're here for!
The website design and development process;
This can be visualised as split into phases listed below, although in practice they might not be so defined;
- Planning and design.
Together we establish how you see your website and your requirements of it; how it will look and feel, and how it will work.
- The actual coding.
The actual build of the underlying code structure of the website and laying onto it the visual aspects and the content.
Integration of any extra features such as databases.
You will be able to view progress as the website grows and to give feedback.
We only use valid, standards-compliant (X)HTML, CSS and PHP code, with accessibilty as a priority.
- Review and changes.
Websites evolve. You'll be able to watch the website progress. Ideas develop while your website is being built, you'll want changes and additions, it's all part of the job.
- Your website goes live!
Having registered your unique domain name, established any email addresses you require, and set-up appropriate hosting, your website is uploaded, goes live and starts working for you.
To fulfill its potential your website should be;
- easy to read
- easy to navigate
- quick to download
- visually consistent
- visually appealing
- representative of what you are doing
- easy to find
Considerations;
- who is your website aimed at - your target audience?
- what do you want them to know?
- what are you offering?
- what are your key ideas?
- what are your keywords?
How do you want your website to appear visually?
- colours?
- feel?
- layout?
- imagery?
- are there any other websites you particularly like that we could use for inspiration?
what will the actual content be?
- what do you want to say?
You will need to produce/write the wording (or copy). We will help you by reviewing/proofing this and recommending any appropriate changes. Try to work in your keywords as this will help with your search engine placing.
People often find this a difficult aspect of the creation of their website. We do offer a copy-writing service should you want us to do this for you.
Would you like to include any images?
Suitable images give greater depth and appeal to your website. You may have your own images which we can work into the website. Alternatively you may like to use purchased 'stock' images. We have accounts with a number of stock photography companies from whom we can choose appropriate images that can enhance your website.
How will the above content break down into clear individual web pages?
The structure is a very important part of your (and any) website which works using the menu system. The menu connects all the various pages and is at the heart of the website and so the design process. The menu allows it all to work, it must be built to be clear and simple to use. One of the first things we will do is to establish how your content will be categorised and divided down into pages on your website.
Do you have a registered domain name?
You will need one. All you need do is choose your name and Look Lively will do the rest.
Management of your website
Any website needs to be looked after - the busier it is, and the more it does for you and your visitors, the more tending it will need. Unless specifically agreed, the maintenance and running of your completed website will be your responsibility. If you want us to deal with the hassle of this we can do so for you.
Management includes such tasks as content updates, updating of links, monitoring of the server, renewal of the hosting, renewal of domain name and dealing with the technical issues that arise.
The first years management comes as part of the initial payment, then a single annual fee covers all of the above.
Hosting of your website
If we supply hosting, your website will be hosted on fast and secure unix/linux servers which are physically located in London and Leeds UK. They are mirrored which means that if one goes down another immediately takes its place and your website is very unlikely to ever be unavailable - our servers have a near 100% uptime record. Your website is backed-up both by ourselves at Look Lively and also on the servers. This means that any chance of data loss is, practically speaking, zero.
The servers also boast an anti-spam filter which will minimise the amount of spam reaching your computer.
You may already have a host for your website. We will need to assess your host to see if we can work with the system and features they employ. We are happy to use your existing host if they are compatible with the way we work. If not we may recommend that you transfer to our usual high-quality host. This often immediately saves our clients money and improves the functional capabilities of their website.
You will also be able to read very accurate analyses of the usage of your website so you will know in great detail information about visits to your site. This information includes; number of visits,number of unique visitors, browsers used, countries visited from, pages viewed, length of time visited and more. All statistics are broken down into daily, monthly and yearly graphs for easy digestion. These can be very useful to your business.
Search engines
It's no good having a website if no-one knows its there. One of the main ways people will find your website is by using search engines, like Google or Yahoo. The problem is that when someone is using a search engine to find a product or service you must be on the first couple of pages of results otherwise they are unlikely to find your site amongst the web pages of your competitors. As part of our standard work your site will be basically optimised as far as is possible to get you as far up the ratings lists as we can. If, however, a good placement is important to you, then we can take this up to next level, as it were. Please ask about SEO.
It's a complicated side of the business, not an exact science, and not possible to make any guarantees but Look Lively will do what we can to lay the foundations for a good rating. It will be up to you to advertise your site in any other way. If you have a website that is not appearing in the search engines, consider a website makeover.
Compatibility
It's impossible to know how your website visitor may be accessing your website.
They have different browsers, different screens, different screen settings, different operating systems and even different devices such as PDAs.
That means that your website will look different to each visitor.
The web designers constant challenge is to build websites that are compatible across the myriad of possible combinations.
W3C is working to improve this difficult situation but in the meantime websites must be made bearing this very important factor firmly in mind.
Look Lively tests all webpages before upload to ensure 100% standards-compliant code which helps to ensure that your visitors will be able to access your website in whatever manner they choose.
The web is evolving and web designers have to keep learning in order to keep up.
