Our Approach to Web Design
Effective Web Design Starts With A Plan
To put it lightly, the Internet is a crazy place. It continues to change and grow at an ever increasing rate, and more and more of your daily tasks and business operations are becoming dependant on it to function. As a growing web design company in Charleston SC we have seen the demand for web design continue to increase even here while the economy continues to suffere as a whole.
This is not necessarily bad news. Communication has become a mind boggling concept, where people across the globe can now look at each other face to face on their computer screens and have a pleasant conversation while remaining in the pajamas.
The point is, the internet has created huge opportunities for any small business to grow to exponential heights. One day we were merely a small web design company in Charleston with only a local clientelle base and almost overnight we started getting calls from people across the nation. The key is our thorough, well planned approch towards website development.
The problem, however, is that few websites are designed to succeed. There are several questions that must be asked before even considering the creation of a website, and if there are not definitive answers to each of these questions than your efforts are better placed elsewhere.
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The Steps We Take
Step One, Establish Goals
First is the establishment of goals. Once established, and we know what must be accomplished by your website, we move on to discuss the scope of the project.
Say for example that you own a florist shop, and the goal of your website is to draw potential clients to your business and to save time around the shop. Well, there are your goals! They would of course be discussed in greated detail. However with a basic understanding of why you want a website and what it must do to be successfull we can move on to the next step.
Step Two, Determine the Scope of the Project
After establishing your goals we would way the options and determine if it was in your best interest to consider implementing an e-commerece solution or possibly an online order form. These items all foll into the scope of the project. The scope is best described as a list of the functions or tools that will be implemented in order to allow the accomplishment of your goals. Contact forms, e-commerce solutions, flash presentations and downloadable items all follow into the scope of the project.
Step Three, Determine the Structure of the Website
This step revolves around the creation of the sitemap. The sitemap is essentially a diagram displaying all of the pages and all of the scope items on the pages. This helps create a flow that the user can follow and helps show the pages and functions that may have been overlooked.
Step Four, Develop the Skelleton
The skelleton basically involves creating wireframes for each page and determining where elements should be placed in order to achieve maximum usibility and to lead the user in the right direction.
The last step is the Surface
The surface implies the actual look and feel of the elements on each page and includes the pages themselves. It is important to remember that this is the last step in the planning process in order to assure that everything has been thuroughly planned out. Too many designers and entire design firms focus almost entirely on the surface of a website. Often times I will be shown a fantistic looking site with cool graphics and beautiful photos, only to see a dumfounded look on the persons face when I ask how many people made a purchase from the site and why they decided the "buy now" button should be small and out of view. These mistakes are what can make a great website useless to a business wanting anything beyond mearly impressing the viewer.
Don't stop here, Learn More!
View our development process to learn more about how we have structured the way we develope websites. Also, feel free to download our client questionaire to see what questions we like to ask our clients duing the initial phases of the project. Being that we are a web design company in Charleston, SC our questions may differ slightly from the questions that you may want to ask in a more competitive environment, however we have definitely covered the basics and most of the questions would apply everywhere.
If you have any additional questions about our services or like what you see and would like a quote feel free to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
