So You Need a Website? What to Do First.complicated website. Keep your website small and simple if...
Transcript of So You Need a Website? What to Do First.complicated website. Keep your website small and simple if...
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So You Need a Website? What to Do First.Questions to Ask, Decisions to Make
Andrew works as our Preflight
Engineer, Graphic Designer,
Web Designer, and all-around
computer guru. He has won
several academic and design
awards during his career. He
knows how to make effective
designs that call out to
customers.
About the Author:Andrew OsbOrne
Table of Contents:
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Turnkey “Website In a Box” Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Template Based Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Professional Web Developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
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Today a website is a massively important part of any business.
Some companies treat them as an afterthought and put little
time or thought into them. Often these are the same companies
who complain that websites are pointless because they never
get any benefit from theirs. Others treat them as a serious
undertaking, and spend a great deal of time and market
research and consult with experts to make sure their website is
as good as it can be. They are the ones who reap the massive
rewards that a great website can provide.
As with most major projects, nothing is more important than
the first few decisions you make. From the onset you need to
decide how your website will be built and what tools you will
use because this will determine where you go next. This is the
most important decision that will determine more than anything
what your website will be like.
Introduction
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I like to compare building a website to constructing a building.
In that analogy, choosing how your website will be constructed
is like choosing if you want to use brick, wood, or concrete
to build your building. If all you need is a simple little shed
then wood may be just fine... but if you require a skyscraper
you’ll never get there building out of wood. Likewise if you try
building a website using the wrong tools, you won’t be pleased
with the results.
There are 3 primary paths you can take. You can use “do-it-
yourself” turn-key solutions like Squarespace, Wix, and similar
services; you can use pre-designed templates that you install
yourself into a system like Wordpress or Joomla; or you can
hire a professional web developer to design and code a custom
solution for you. It’s not possible to know which one will work
for you until you understand what each is capable of so let’s
dive right in.
Introduction
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Turnkey “Website In a Box Solutions”
The most well known option in this category is probably
Squarespace. You may even have seen their ad in the Super Bowl
this past year. Popular alternative options include Wix, Weebly and
others. League Athletics, popular among sports teams, also falls into
this category. These are services that let you pay a fee to use their
website builder tools.
Here is how they work: You pick a template from a selection of
options and then you use tools on their website to add content into
the template you have selected. Finally you can publish the finished
site. It is made to be as simple and quick as possible.
This sounds great, and if you need a website finished today then
maybe it is what you need, but there are some pros and cons to
consider:
Pros:
• Fast and easy
• No design skills required
• Hard to break, minimal technical skill required.
Cons:
• Feature poor: if it isn’t included in their built-in options then there is
no way to add it. No custom development is allowed.
• Little control: You get what their template gives you with extremely
minimal options to adjust formatting or layout.
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Turnkey “Website In a Box Solutions”
• Poorly optimized: Websites built this way are made as a bunch
of independent sections like building blocks, made to be slotted
in or out. This is what makes them easy to construct but also
requires massive amounts of duplicate code that will slow down a
complicated website. Keep your website small and simple if using a
tool like this.
• Extremely image reliant: The samples on most of these sites look
amazing, but take a closer look. Most of them look wonderful
because of amazing photography, but they have little else to stand
on. Remove the images and the templates are just bare skeletons.
If you don’t have access to world-class photography then don’t
expect your site to look as good as their examples.
Who is this solution best for: There are two things that these kind
of solutions do remarkably well: fast and simple. If you need a website
quick, and if you don’t have the technical skills required to setup your
own template site, then this may be the solution for you. However,
in most situations a website built with one of these solutions will not
function to its full potential. It may be a good idea to use a service like
this to get a temporary site built quick to make-do until you can get
a long-term solution put together. We don’t recommend you rely on
these tools for long.
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Template Based Website
Templates are a popular option for many business owners. They
require some technical skill to setup, and still have some of the same
cons as turnkey solutions. However, they do offer a lot more control
for people willing to push through the technical headaches involved.
To set up a template-based website, the first step is to decide
what Content Management System (CMS) you will use for your
website. This is a very involved topic in its own right, but watch
our blog for a post coming soon discussing this very topic. You will
also need to purchase a hosting account from a hosting company,
and a domain name from a domain registrar. You will need to
set up the domain forwarding from the registrar to your hosting
provider, and then install and configure the CMS onto your hosting
account. Confusing? Unfortunately yes, it is a fairly involved
process and we’re not done yet.
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Template Based Website
After all that you can go to a template site like themeforest.net, or
similar, and find a template for your CMS of choice. Once you find
one you like you can buy it. You can then install and use the template
inside of the CMS and start adding your content. You will likely
find you can only add basic photos and text. To add any advanced
features like forms, slideshows, search, etc. you will also have to find,
purchase and install extra modules for the CMS you chose to add extra
functionality to your site.
Pros:
• Variety: There are hundreds if not thousands of templates available
to choose from.
• Moderate Feature Versatility: While you can’t do anything and
everything, you have a lot more advanced options to choose from
with a templated site than you do with a turnkey solution.
Cons:
• Complicated: You really need to be extremely comfortable with
computers and willing to get into at least moderately complicated
systems to be able to set up a templated site yourself.
• Time Consuming: Expect to spend a lot of time working through
all of the setup. It could easily be a couple of days work or more
depending on the size of the website.
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Template Based Website
• Buggy: You have to take code from many, many different authors
and combine them together. This often leads to conflicts and bugs
that can cripple your site and may be incredibly difficult to hunt
down. One person made your CMS, another programmed the
template, and 6 other people made all the different widgets on your
site. Small wonder not everything works as intended all the time.
• Little to no Support: Often makers of templates do not offer
technical support, especially if you have done any customizing. If
something goes wrong you are probably on your own.
• Overwhelming: When leaving the “safe” confines of a turnkey
solution, you may realize just how intimidating a website can be. It
is easy to get lost in the hundreds of different layouts available and
the dozens of advanced features... some useless, some outdated,
some vital and some unnecessary. Without any professional
guidance into this wilderness it is easy to lose your way and end up
with a mess.
Who is this solution best for: Highly technical people with a lot of
time to fight through all the options and inevitable snags, hiccups and
errors. People who use this option also have to have no problem self-
teaching themselves how to manage complicated software.
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Professional Web Development
Hiring a professional web developer is usually the best approach. A
skilled web developer knows what features your website will need to
best complement your business and speak to your audience. They will
also offer you a wealth of guidance in all areas of your website project.
Typically, the process would begin with a meeting between you
and the web developer. They will likely come prepared with a list of
questions about your business, your target audience and what you
hope to achieve with the website. They will also likely ask you if there
are any websites that you particularly like. The intention isn’t to copy
or steal, but seeing what you like and don’t like will help guide the
creative process. The developer will also outline what is expected of
you. Often you will be asked to provide basic content and maybe some
pictures, but the developer will likely act as editor to make sure the
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Professional Web Development
content is written suitably for internet publication. He may also source
some stock images for the website if needed.
Most likely the next thing you see from the developer will be a set of
line drawings called “wireframes.” These are basically quick sketches
that show the basic layout of the site the developer will create for you.
They are meant to lock down generalities like, “is the menu on the top
or the side?”, “does this page have a sidebar or not, if so then where?”
and other basic questions.
After you approve a wireframe, the next step will be for the developer
to create a “comp” for you to approve. A comp is basically a picture
of what the site will look like. Usually comps aren’t made to be
functional. None of the links or navigation will work but otherwise
it will look almost exactly like the finished site. This is the time to
request any changes to the design of the site. Content can be flexible
but the design needs to be locked down at this stage.
After the comp is approved the developer will get busy on the main
work of building the site. This process can take some time depending on
the complexity of the coding required. Once it is finished you should be
given a chance to tour your new site before it is live to the world.
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Professional Web Development
Pros:
• Professional Guidance: A professional developer will help you every
step of the way to make sure your new website is as good as
possible. You don’t have to worry about not knowing what to do,
they will help you.
• Confidence: You can know your website is in good hands and it is
being done right.
• Unique Design: No more fear of getting lost in the crowd or having
a competitor make their site with a template just like yours.
• Versatility: Because the website is being custom developed just for
you, you don’t have to worry about sticking to a limited feature set.
While more complicated features may increase the price, anything
you need should be possible.
• Compatibility: A web developer will make sure your site works great
on old browsers, new browsers, desktops, tablets, phones, etc.
• Support: If something does go wrong, you have direct access to
someone who can fix it.
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Professional Web Development
Cons:
• Price: It’s impossible to say how much custom development will
cost as the price will vary widely depending on what you need.
However the old adage, “You get what you pay for” applies to
website design.
• Time: If time is critical, a good web developer can expedite the
process to meet your deadline within reason. However, good work
takes time and ideally you should allow at least a couple of weeks
from start to finish for the website to be completed.
Who is this solution best for: It is hard to think of a time when
talking to a professional isn’t the best idea. Even if you have only a
shoestring budget and a couple of days to get it done, a pro can likely
help by offering guidance if nothing else. A professional can save you
a ton of time and headaches.
Before a pro was called. After a pro was called.
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Be Better, Do More
Clarke, Inc is the hub for managing the creation, distribution
and management of marketing media.
If you liked this eBook, we highly recommend you check out our
book on How to Choose an Inbound and Outbound Marketing Services Provider, available at the link below for FREE!
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Mobile Marketing world, give us a call at (434) 847-5561.
About Us
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Learn all you need to know about the benefits of working with a Marketing Media Services Provider, and how to pick the best one to suit your company.
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