Are You Happy With Your Web Site?
by Ronnie Henrick
If you would describe your company's website as 'not so great', find that your site visitors 'click and leave' or that your site is uninviting and hard to navigate, it's time to consider a website update.
Web Site Development Is A Process
Generally, most people aren't aware of the very involved process of web site development. The beginning of a web project calls for a great deal of information gathering, including:
- Color preferences, branding on the site, navigation and content. Server information, collection of pertinent prior web site files.
- A discussion of team member preferences. A timeline specifying steps, and routing structure.
- A kick-off meeting and continuous team meetings throughout the project. These meetings are key to keeping everyone involved in the project aware of its status. That allows everyone the ability to handle something when it happens rather than going back later.
Based on the outline of content for the site, a navigation chart showing the hierarchy gets created. This will show each level of the proposed site and its linking structure. A functional specification also gets created which dictates specific functionality of any dynamic tools requested on the site. Examples of this are a Product Search Tool or a Rep Locator. The nav chart and functional spec will be presented to the client for approval. Once these things are finalized and development can begin, the client can look forward to the review process where they get to see their web site in process.
With tracking code such as Google Analytics or WebTrax placed on the site, the performance of the site can be followed from the day of launch. Maintaining and updating keywords for best results is all part of web site optimization practices that should also be done to keep your site ranking at the top of the search engines. There are many sites that are beautifully designed, yet do not produce good search results. It doesn't really matter how great your web design is if you're not achieving the search results you want. At the same time, if you're achieving good search results, and your site design leaves something to be desired, you may be getting the 'click and leave' customer.
In the end, with a great team effort, the final product should be a web site that visitors feel is engaging and captivating and that produces the expected results. Remember that losing a visitor may mean you're losing a prospective customer!
So, if you're happy with your web site then you're ahead of the game. Send me a link, I'd love to check it out.
But if you're not, take a moment to email me or call at 215-947-2080 x19. I'd love to come and talk to you!