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Corporate Web Design

So it's been decided your company needs a new web site. We're here to help you make all the right decisions so your project is done right the first time without any regrets.

We've been developing internet solutions since 1999. We understand the stress involved with being in charge of the company's new web site and we want you to know we are here to help you and walk you through developing your new corporate web site step by step.

So you've been put in charge of overseeing the production of a new web site for your company. Don't panic. However, we all know that with responsibility comes accountability. This means anything that goes wrong with the web site is going to end up in your lap. Let's eliminate any possibility of wasted time and effort by throwing the decisions back towards the executives. Sound like a good idea?

We've created the steps below as a guide for setting up your web site project. We'll help you as the project moves along but the steps below will help you organize and build structure for the project before you contact us.

What's the purpose of the new web site?

It's a pretty safe bet that the executives didn't even tell you this when they assigned the project to you, did they? That's because they probably don't know themselves because they haven't thought about it. This is a very important first step because the web site will be built around the purpose. A web site built for brand identity will look much different than a web site build to sell products. With this in mind here are a few suggestions that will get the company thinking about the purpose of the web site.

• Brand Identity - A simple online brochure web site that informs your target market about who you are, what you do, products and services you offer and how they can find you.
• E-commerce - Does your company have products to sell? Do you want to compete with a local or international market?
• Customer Service - Is your company inundated with customer support calls? Free-up your staff by creating a web site that answers a majority of these Frequently Asked Questions and point your customers to it.

Your company may have more than one purpose for a web site. Make a list of the purposes from most important to least.

Organize your web site's content

The purpose of this is two fold. When you find a web developer to work with, besides asking information about the company, one of the first questions they are going to ask you is "How many pages will your web site have?". This helps the web developer guage the scope of work involved, which will in turn help them develop a proposal. The other obvious purpose is to help you organize the project.

The best way to organize content is to think of your web site in terms of directories with the most important directory being your home page. You should be able to access any page within your web site from the home page. Of course this isn't always possible but it's a great rule of thumb to follow. The illustration below demonstrates a good site map.

Look and Feel/Design

You can save yourself time and aggravation by getting the decision makers to provide you with one web site each that reflects the look and feel the company desires for the web site.

When you have at least 3 approved designs that everyone agrees with, give them to your web developer. Now your web developer knows exactly the look and feel the company desires. Your web developer will thank you and you'll look like a pro when the design of the web site is completed in one week.

Content

Content is king when it comes to a successful web site. For starters, users aren't going to stay at a web site with useless or poorly written content. Take your time and write good informative content. You might want to go the extra step and have a copywriter write your content. In our experience, the services of a copywriter indeed pay off in the end.

The other reason you want good content and lots of it is for the search engines. Search engines love content. The more the better. Not just useless jargon either. Think about your content in terms of keywords – keywords users will use to find your company's web site in search engines. There's a lot more that goes into getting your web site ranking well in the search engines but leave that up to your search engine optimization expert.

Quality Control

A good web developer should test the site thoroughly before relinquishing the site to you or publishing it to the web. However, don't trust your web developer to catch any typos or misspelled words, especially industry-specific terminology. This is the fastest way to discredit your company's web site.

Finally, make sure all email forms or additional features like site searches work. Malfunctioning web sites are extremely frustrating for users.

That's enough information to get you heading in the right direction. If you have any questions or further assistance, feel free to give us a call or drop us an email. We'd be happy to help you with any of your company's concerns.