How to Design a Website

Everyone wants a website whether as a means of delivering information, a stylish alternative to a phonebook listing or a simple vanity project. Hey, it's true. So, in order to get your glamorous website up and running in no time, here are a few suggestions that will help you really figure out exactly what you want from your website and how you want to go about designing it.

First of all, think about what you want your website to do. Chances are you are interested in driving referrals and business contacts, in many cases, to an actual physical address. It may be a way to provide information or to showcase your portfolio or to even share your latest family pictures and video. Here, we will be focusing on not so much the means of driving a product as the website development itself. So, once you know what you want your website to do, you ought to have a better understanding what design features are going to be most important.

We would also sugggest consulting with a professional media company if you have never commissioned a website or are redesigning things. Even if you have rudimentary HTML coding skills, you may still want to get in contact with a consultant. There are many new technologies that you may not have been cognizant about which a consultant can introduce you. Many of these technologies will help you do more with your website with less maintenance and more targeted promotional focus.

Look at other websites. Get an idea of the things you do like and the things you do not like. Show this to your media consultant. He will be able to look at the code and start to get a better idea what you are going for with your site. Look at things you need in particluar: Contact form? Calendar? Photo gallery? Portfolio? Finding and accurately conveying what you want to your web designer will not only save you money, but ultimately have your site finished earlier and in a more polished state.

Once you have laid out exactly what you need of your website, make sure you get a quote that sounds reasonable with line-items and milestones built in. This will help you see where your money is going and what sort of time/timeliness for which the designer will be held accountable. This will help quite a bit during the actual design process and will act to keep your designer on target, on time and within budget.

Once your bright, shiny, new website is done - done, as in signed-off by you in person - make sure that you have a training or maintenance plan in place. Most new website design technologies involves an administrative area where you can add new content to your site without knowledge of HTML or other coding languages. Still, an administrative area is about as good as diddly squat if you don't know how to use it. Plus, without training, you are more likely to flip a switch that may really mess up your site. Then, your designer is going to have to recontract, and you will be spending uneccesarily. Nobody wants that.

So, now you have your website, know how to use it and the referrals are steadily coming your way. What now? This is merely the start of the many ways you are going to develop your web presence. Through the use of blogs, video, social-networking and email campaigns in conjunction with print ads, radio and innovative promotional methods that go beyond the typical song-and-dance of print brochures and radio advertising. For more information and ways you can rise in rank on Google.com and beyond, please refer to our simple guide to SEO tricks that will help you.