Process: Define What You Need
Long before you think about the images and colors of your future web site; prior to writing your content and making your web site "work"; and further still before you launch and market your web site, you must plan.
Web site planning is really the most important step in web site design. Detailed planning helps work out issues that inevitably surface throughout the development path. It's easy to jump right into expectations for how the web site's graphics should look, but this approach overlooks an important group of people—your potential clients.
Most web sites fail because either 1) the producers don't have a clear vision for the web site, or 2) the web site continually adds content, features, and gimmicks yet never reaches completion. This is more commonly known as scope creep. Defining goals and a strategic plan to develop your web site will help you avoid these problems, and are imperative to its success.
Define your goals
What determines your web site's success for your company? It's up to you: it could be acquiring new business, providing information to current clients, establishing your reputation, or something completely different. Whatever your goals for your web site are, it's important to know them before we begin the next steps. Since everyone's goals are different, we'll work with you personally to determine the purpose and vision for your web site.
Develop a plan
Once the goals are defined and in place, we can move on to designing a strategy to fulfill those goals. This can include developing content for your web site, marketing your web site online, or creating a contact management program for you, among other things. We believe that this plan and its underlying goals are so important to the success of your web site that we present it for you as a deliverable for the project.
Gather your resources
You may already have information that can be helpful in creating your new web site, whether it's articles you've written, client testimonials or content from a previous web site. These resources will be compiled for use in the future stages of development and can help avoid other services that incur additional cost.
Services in this stage of development
Next up » Our process, stage 2: Information and graphic design