Web development, design, and site optimization

For the past 2 months I have been working within the Custom Web Design industry, getting my first tastes of dealing directly with end customers in getting their custom designed online presence. Wow, what a roller coaster ride! But that is a post for another day.

There are many elements to getting a website online. Basically though you can break things down into 3 stages. This is what you can expect when working with my company and likely many others out there.

1. Comp/Mock-up stage: This is where we play with various ideas taken form the customer input and our own and come up with a Photoshop-made mock-up. Depending on the complexity, turn-around time on this is anywhere between 1 and 2 days.

2. Content gathering and site build: This is where we move ahead on an approved comp and build the website. We also look to the client to feed us as much content as possible. The site build takes anywhere from 5-7 business days. Getting content takes anywhere from hours to months :).

3. Site publish and ongoing maintenance: The website is published live with no less than 75% of the content. The site is then only requiring random maintenance on a monthly basis, content changes mostly. Clients can contact us pretty frequently on a monthly basis, any changes that are requested will be applied within 1 to 3 business days depending on complexity and how much is already on our plate.

My target for all my clients from start to finish is 30 to 45 days for the entire build cycle. That is from our first call to the site being online.

A non ecommerce website will costs you $785.00 up front and then $99.00 per month. Ecommerce cost you $985.00 up front and then $195.00 monthly. The monthly fee on both packages takes care of your website, hosting, domain name, privacy protection, and up to 10 email accounts.

A good read from a fellow blogger and professional in the web design industry. His post touches on how many times clients will cite big companies who seem to go against the rules yet are successful.

You aren’t Google.

You’re not Apple either.

As a small to medium-sized enterprise there is much that we can learn from those at the top of the business world. But, this doesn’t mean that you should copy what these companies are doing online simply because they’re good at what they do.

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve heard the marketing directors of client organizations, or even my agency superiors at former employers say “Why can’t we just have a blank white page with a search box in the middle? It works perfectly! Look how many people visit Google!” (this also tends to be the same argument many people have for Google having such a cruddy logo, but I digress…) Or, “How come we can’t have a huge graphic in the middle of the page and four graphic boxes beneath it? Apple does it and they are the best in the world!”

I recommend you continue reading this article.

In a past article I wrote about some Website Usability Basics. Touching on some of the things you need to pay attention to in order to improve your website’s  effectiveness. Today I want to continue on that theme by discussing a common error businesses make in building their websites. The error? They try and make their website presence look and flow the same as their brochures or other print materials.

This is a big no-no. The average user spends 30 seconds (that may be a high estimate) on a website if he/she is even looking for a service or product you provide (less time if they are not or don’t know what you do). You should not greet them with massive banners, logo, images, etc that act as nothing more that visual spacers. They want the content without scrolling to the right or down the page.

In print, you are limited by the size of your paper or the medium you printed on. Generally you want to fill out the entire print out and make it look really snazzy with graphics and backgrounds. On the web, unfortunately there really is no real guide. You may build your site for 1024×78 or higher, but your clients may all be using 800×600 or even lower on a mobile device. You may build your site for the masses who have access to cable or dsl, but your clients may all be dial-up.

People want to read and view things on the web differently than they do offline. There are few who would argue that point. So why try mimicking your off-line content style with your online? You can still build a website that maintains your brand’s overall look and feel, just ask yourself when in the designing process “why am I putting this online?”. If the only answer is because its in my brochure or it matches my brochure, then likely you don’t need it. Scrap it.