At PG Web Designs, we believe
in helping our clients set and achieve their web marketing
and ecommerce goals. The development of an effective business web site
requires a combination of skills and knowledge and some in
depth process planning to make it work. Setting measurable objectives,
researching the target market and designing for web usability
are all important steps in the web design process.
As strong advocates for the importance of planning we take a
phased approach to your website development project:
- Determine Business Objectives: The
first step in all our web designs is to take a look at
the business objectives and goals.
For instance:
- What do you want to accomplish or gain with your website?
- What problem will it solve for you?
- Will it be used as a source of information for your
customers?
- Will it help you keep in touch with your customer
base?
- Can it decrease your overall advertising costs?
- Examine Business Process: An important step is gaining
an understanding
of
your business process or how you do business.
- What is your company mission, guarantees, service
standards?
- Who are your customers and how do they use
your services/products?
- Is your target market local, regional
or global?
- Is your current customer base utilizing
technology and/or the internet?
- Are your customers enquiring if you are online?
- Look for eCommerce Opportunities: Once we understand
your company and have a good understanding of how your
business works, we begin researching the opportunities
your business has for making the connection between you
and your customer. We seek new ways you can fulfill their
needs, improving their experience and saving you time and
money on each transaction. We spend time researching your
online competition, investigating how they have implemented
the technology and determining if we can do it better.
- Design Prototype: During our first consultation
we will have asked for input from you on the preferred
look of
your site. We will take any color preferences, existing
logos and advertising materials and create a site design
that matches or blends with your current business branding.
It's important that your site design clearly indicates
your type of business and catches the interest of your
prospective customers by making a good first impression.
The design prototype is built as a layered graphic so the
proposed navigation system and look of the site can be
adjusted easily.
- First Draft Approval: At this stage
of the development process, we seek approval from you for
the initial design
concept. We go over the proposed site navigation and pages
within the site using a visual aid such as a site map diagram.
If interactivity was required, we will show you the applications
we will use to make the site more functional. Edits and changes to the initial design
prototype are implemented and final approval is required
before moving on to the next phase.
- Content, Content, Content: Once the
first draft is approved and we have a working site map,
it is time to gather content.
We will sit down with you and discuss the needs of the
site. If product photography or photo shoots are required,
these will be scheduled. All information for the different
sections of the site will be sorted and categorized. If
a shopping cart or ecommerce application is part of your
site design, we will need information on product features
and available options. If you don't have the time or skills
for writing the content for your site, we can offer to
write the copy (at our hourly rate) or outsource the job
to a technical writer. In most cases, content for the website
is already available within company brochures, business
plans and product brochures.
- Final Draft: With design approval and
digital content we build a functioning website complete
with text, images, programming, and functioning links.
We present this final
version to you from our temporary web server so you can
click and navigate it thoroughly and make edits or changes
to content and function before the actual website launch.
When you are happy with it, we get your final approval
before
setting
up the
site on the chosen host server under your domain name.
- Search Engine Optimization and Submission: Unlike
many web designers we believe that optimizing your site
so it will be found in the search engines is part of our
job. A website that is never visited will not be successful.
We have spent many hours researching search engine optimization
and how to determine the keywords which
are most likely to help your site rank highly
in the search engines. With consultation and research we
will derive a basic list of key search terms and phrases
and construct unique title and meta tags for every
main page in your site. Once the site is optimized we submit
it to the free search engines and our list of regional
directories.
- Training and Content Management: Done!
Your site is up and running but it doesn't end there. If
you have chosen
to go with the Content Management Application, we will
install the program and take you through our indepth training
process to teach you how to edit and make changes to your
site. If your site contains a shopping cart we will
show you how to add and edit your products and services,
how to implement sales and coupon features on your shopping
application and how to confirm and process the sales orders
from your site. You may be interested in learning how to
promote your site through further search engine optimization,
pay per click advertising or link exchange. We show you
how that works and other offline methods of site promotion.
- Ongoing Support and Maintenance: As your
website design firm we provide ongoing support and maintenance
when you need it.
We renew domain names, look after hosting issues, make changes
and updates to your website, add new pages and features and
provide further training when needed. Monthly maintenance contracts
can be negotiated if you would like us to keep your site up
to date. We can drop by your place of business and pick up
new product information to be implemented on a regular scheduled
basis. As our client we will keep you informed of new trends
in the industry and new opportunities or services we offer
through our regular newsletter.
We hope this information has been useful in outlining the web development
process and the steps we go through to build a website from start
to finish. If you would like more information or have any questions
about our process or pricing, please contact us via phone or email.
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