When planning a website, there are many phases of the project that need to be considered. The different phases are dictated by the size and complexity of the website. Less complex websites don’t require as much detailed work as large, complex websites. The real difference between a website that is successful and one that isn’t is planning. Having the experience and expertise is critical. Here are the basic steps to a project for a complex website.
- Requirements Gathering:
Being organized right from the beginning gives a site a lot better chance of being successful. Great websites don’t just appear and it takes more than just a great idea. There are many elements that are needed before. Here are a few questions that need to be asked to help figure out what will be needed for the actual website.- What are the goals of the website?
- Who is the audience of the website?
- What message will the site send?
- How does the website fit into your client’s business plan?
- What achievements will make the website successful in the client’s eye and the eyes of the client’s audience?
- Who is your client’s competition? How do their websites compare to the message and desired results of your client? Can you identify their strengths and improve on them? Can you identify their weaknesses and offset them with your client’s strengths.
- How will you measure performance, # of visits, # of requests for information, other?
- What information will your website collect or disseminate?
- What is the budget?
- What is the deadline?
- Assets Gathering
Having a great looking website with cool bells and whistles isn’t enough. As the saying goes, content is king. With that in mind, what will be on your website and how will that be displayed on the site. Here are some questions that will help guide the gathering of assets to fill the website with content.- Where is the copy or text for the website coming from?
- Who is providing the images and internal graphics such as icons and who owns the rights to those images? If not in the public domain, has permission been granted to use the items?
- What is the domain name?
- Where will the site be hosted? Will redundant hosting be required?
- Are all branding and marketing material to be used for the website available and in the right file format?
- Is SEO part of the project? If so what keywords will be used?
- Will Social Media be a part of the website? If so are existing accounts available on the popular social media sites, if not who will create them? How will access be granted across multiple sites, SSO from the client’s site, or third party such as Yahoo or Google?
- Information Architecture: What is this anyway? You probably know what “information” is and you may have an understanding of “architecture”. But, what do they have to do with designing a Web site.Simply stated, information architecture is the way various pieces and forms of information is are grouped, coupled with the navigation methods and terminology used within the website. Once all the planning is complete and all the assets have been collected it’s time to plan the site and organize the various functionality and interactivity of the website. This part of the process includes creating wireframes of pages, and how pages will connect and interact with each other. Here are some points to be considered during this step.
- Create a site map.
- Define the elements on the home page and their purpose.
- Determine the navigation hierarchy.
- Define how the users will navigate the site. Remember what may be an intuitive means of navigation for the designer may be totally counter intuitive to the average user.
- Determine if there will there be a site-wide search option and how should it work and what type of results should it provide.
- Determine the need for different types of pages for either presenting or collecting different types of information.
- Define some common tasks and test how they work.
- Design:
Now that all the planning is done and all the information about the site has been gathered, it’s time to start the design process. This is where designers get to be a bit creative in how they deliver the message for the client while giving the audience the information that they need. It’s important to ensure that all designs are approved by the client before proceeding to the development phase.Remember that it’s much easier to change things in the design phase than to change them in the development phase. Here are a few points to be covered in the design process.- What color palette should be used for the design?
- What design style is wanted or required?
- What style of typography should be used?
- What type of content should featured on the site (text, video/audio or a combination of content)?
- Development:
Once the design is completed and has received final approval, the development can begin. This portion of the project is where all the code is written, and the functionality is put into place. This is a short list of tasks done during development.- Set up appropriate accounts with the hosting service.
- Establish a workbench site and a released version site.
- Establish version controlling on both sites.
- Set up database and ensure access to server is possible.
- Convert design into sliced pieces for html/css.
- Write all code to ensure functionality and usability of websites meet requirements.
- Ensure all development is validated and fully tested in a prototype copy located within the workbench site.
- Testing:
After the site has been coded, then it is time to see if everything looks and works the way it is expected to.In order to do this there are a number of tests that need to be performed. Here is a sample list of some basic tests that need to be run.- Has all textual content been run through both a spelling and a grammar checker?
- Is the layout and content formatted correctly?
- Does the site perform all the functions that were outlined in the information architecture phase?
- Do all the links work?Do all the forms and input devices work?
- Are all database functions performing?
- Does the website work across all major browsers and browser versions?
- View site in a number of browsers and window sizes to ensure the overall composition is maintained.
- Test accessibility to ensure it can be viewed by various users (handicapped users, smart phone users etc.).
- Check all content for errors or issues.
- Launch:
After all the testing is complete, and all issues have been resolved, it’s time to launch the website. This is usually as simple as changing the DNS information for the domain name. This process can take up to 24 hours to take effect, so keep that in mind when planning your launch date. After the site has been launched, it’s time to spread the word about the site. - Advertise:
Ok so all that hard work has paid off and the site is done and live. Now what is the plan to get traffic to the website? Here are a few ideas on ways to generate traffic and interest in the new site.- Social Media is a great way to advertise and build interest. Utilize things like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linked In to let people know about the new website.
- Complete Search Engine Optimization with keywords.
- Google Adwords can be an inexpensive way to advertise, and allows options for budgets of different sizes.
- Having a blog is a great way to build up a following of your audience and provide news and information on a regular basis.
- Maintain:
Websites are never really done. After they are launched, they need to be updated regularly to ensure you have the right message for your audience. Make sure to work on new content for the site in the form of new graphics, news and offerings just to name a few. Depending on your content, message and audience, you can do other creative things to entice people to visit the site regularly. Things like blogs, polls, contests and discounts are good ways to encourage people to keep coming back.Have you ever visited a site only to find that either some of the links or the content is out of date? Did the frustrate you or cause you to think less of the site’s owner?An important maintenance element is maintaining the currency of the site’s information and links. Remove obsolete information in a timely manner. If the information may have continued value to some customer, establish an archive section on the site.
