Website Design Creation

Here at LOJO, when we’re about to start on a new web project, we typically set out to clarify five key areas before even starting:

-What is the purpose of your website?

-What are your plans for your site in the future?

-What sort of budget and resources will we be working with?

-Do you have a business continuity plan or other disaster recovery measures in place?

-Are you clear about all the terms, conditions, and inclusions in your service agreement?

1. What is the purpose of your website?

When embarking on the journey of developing a new website, the first question to consider is: what would you want your website to do? What objectives are you hoping to accomplish?

The answer to that question will play an active role in determining the type of site that should be built.

Here’s a great place to start: think of the final outcome of what you would like your ideal customer to end up doing once they have gone through your site.

You are a manufacturer of widgets that you have been selling through normal distribution channels, but you have now decided that you would try your hand at selling the product online directly to the end users this time.

With that in mind, you will most likely want to focus on the specifics of the products (the widgets you’ve created) and have all the standard features of an online store.

Selecting a robust e-commerce platform such as WooCommerce or Magento may then be a right place to start.

Do yourself a favor and figure out your website’s purpose. Note it down and keep it in mind as we move forward so we don’t lose sight of your objectives.

For further information on website platforms see the section on “A Closer Look a Popular Website Platforms.”

2. Plan for the future

Just because you have specific goals and objectives for your website today does not mean it will not evolve in the future.

Here’s a great place to start: think about what your company will be like in the next 5 years. With that in mind, what changes to your website would you be anticipating by then based on your goals?

So for now, while you can start off your site with just the basics, you now have a roadmap or a timeline on how your website will evolve over the next several months (or few years).

You can map out those added functions and correlate them to functionality/design that would later need to be implemented on the website.

Go ahead and incorporate as many of those functionalities and designs as you can into your roadmap now. Having a vision by laying out a path for how your website might grow allows you to prioritize for what you need right now and plan for what you will need later on.

Doing so allows you to prepare for future content, functionality, and purpose. By having a roadmap, you also manage your costs better, keeping only the essentials for now, while allocating funds for future spending later.

Let’s say you are starting your online presence, and the main point of the website right now is to gain credibility and show your client that you are a legitimate business.

Perhaps in 6 months, things might be going well for you and your business, so now you’re thinking of moving towards a more national audience. By this time, you figure you should be ready to sell your products to that broader audience via your website.

With that in mind, it would be wise to plan out that growth move in advance of building your website. You want to be sure an e-commerce component is either already installed of at least has the capability of being added to your website’s growing platform.

You have been looking at website design for a while, and you really like the layout of a single page site, one where a reader only has to keep scrolling down to find various sections of content.

However, your company has a lot of services and keeps adding more content on a consistent basis. You obviously would like to cover all of these services on your website.

Planning ahead of how to best handle navigation is critical. Ensuring proper navigation is in place avoids the reader having to scroll down past information that may be irrelevant to them to find what they are looking for.

Remember: you can think of your business website as a living thing that has the power to change and evolve over time, just as your brand and your business objectives change as well.

Make sure from the outset that your site is able to scale accordingly so it can accommodate your future plans and more as you move forward.

3. Create and work within your budget

The cost of creating a website is not the only expense to consider.

If your website is your online office, you’ll also have to think about keeping the lights on, maintenance, security, and a number of other continuous functions and services that should be accounted for.

Ideally, the cash you have on-hand should be reserved for not only necessary operation needs such as hosting or domain registration, but also activities that can lead to a return on your overall investment such as marketing and promoting the website.

For this reason, creating a budget of all your business website’s expenditures should give you a better perspective. A budget will also allow you to plan and allocate your resources to the most valuable areas.

Unfortunately, most companies do not go into the website building process with a thoroughly planned-out budget.

In our experience, however, those who do work with a budget save time and money. This is particularly the case in the decision-making steps as they have determined which items are essential, and which ones they can leave out (for now).

They also have the surety that the money they are investing can be afforded.

4. Have business continuity and disaster recovery systems in place

As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

As a business owner, you would not buy a vehicle and then never change the oil, or run your company without the proper insurance coverage. A website needs the same consideration as the rest of the business.

One of the most frustrating things that can happen is having your company’s website break down and not work properly. And remember that a breakdown can happen when you least expect it!

What can cause a website to break down? This can happen for many reasons: malware infection, deprecated code, hosting troubles, or even expired domains can all cause problems if neglected or left unchecked.

Any of these issues can directly affect revenue, through loss of leads (opportunity cost), e-commerce sales not to mention the cost of repair. Fortunately, the effects of these issues can be mitigated or even eliminated with proper preventive measures.

When engaging in a website build, keep in mind a few things regarding upkeep.

-Who will be maintaining the website? Example: Being sure the website's platform is up to date.

-How often will this maintenance be done? Example: Monthly, quarterly, yearly.

-Do I have security measures in place to protect my investment? Example: SSL certificate or a website firewall.

-Do I have a response steps in place in case my site does happen to go down? Example: A programmer who can do malware clean up, hosting, or other backups done on a routine basis.

If you have the answers to these questions and the measures in place to fulfil them before your site is even built, you will surely have peace of mind when you launch your site and will save money and headaches in the long run.

5. Get precisely what you are paying for in writing

One of the most common complaints I hear from people regarding web development companies is, “they did not deliver what I wanted.”

This primarily happens not because the company was dishonest or intentionally shortchanging the client; it happens because of good old-fashioned miscommunication.

The client had an idea in their head about the way something should be, and it was obviously not received by the web design/development company.

Our advice is to get the full scope of the project detailed out before signing up to have someone create your website.

The biggest thing to avoid is vague estimates or agreements.

Scenario: XYZ will create a 5-page website. Example of vague contract wording: “XYZ will re-do the existing website with a new design.” Questions: How is the content handled in the examples? Does the page count include any functionality on the page? Which platform is to be used. What is the expected timeline?

All questions should be addressed in the proposal.

These situations usually happen when you are working with someone who has no or very little experience building websites.

They may be a terrific graphic designer, or they may be handy with coding, but it takes experience to know what the pitfalls are and how to best avoid them.

One way you can avoid this is by having the company correctly detail out the elements of the project and how long they plan on spending on each of them.

At the end of the day, working with an experienced company that provides a well-documented proposal, will keep both parties honest and accountable, and it will significantly reduce or even eliminate miscommunication regarding the scope of your project.