Updated See: http://www.digitalcomplexion.com/design-services/web-design-in-jupiter-florida/
Questions you should ask yourself before building a website:
What is my web design strategy?
Define your website and what you are trying to sell. Any web designer can take your deposit and then sit on it until you figure it out yourself. Or they might be a little proactive and provide a website questionnaire. Click here to view a creative web brief example. After you have created a brief, you should build out a process document to follow. Click here to view a web process example. Being organized is critical when creating a website. The interaction between client and web developer needs to be well defined and understood to ensure progress and scalability. Another words, not providing input means you will pay more in most cases.
Does it matter what code will be used?
This will be an important decision that will have to be made. If you are building a website that you will want to grow. It will be a good idea to choose a platform on which it will be built on. There are too many web design companies that either live in the dark ages or do not have a clue. We prefer to build the frame work in .net framework 3.5, which is a very strong and versatile platform. However, if you need a blog or flexible business site, than go for WordPress a PHP code platform. It is easy to install and has many plugins that can be used. What does this mean to you. You will not have to pay for custom programming and the platform is already built. All the developer has to do is skin the design and you are up in running. This same idea goes for eccomerce websites. Why pay for a custom job that will make you a slave to the developer. Magentocommerce.com is a great platform to use and has %98 of everything you will ever need and it is YOURS . You will have to pay for the skinning of the design, however that will be a fraction of what it would cost you from scratch.
What about the search engines?
You need to make sure your developer sets up your website with search engine optimization in mind. This is a normal process in web building. If they do not, it will be difficult and a very time consuming to make things right. How you build your code and adding search engine meta data is important for a new domain names. It is more important if an old website is being redesign to set up a map for search engines. If you DO NOT, search engine like Google will penalize the site for reasons like broken urls and duplicate content. Most web development companies will throw this out there as an extra and make you pay additional. This is ridiculous, it is like saying I bought a car without an engine. A developer or company’s time will be minimal adding in the code as they build the site. Make sure they also add Google Analytics, it will be your best option to track progress and help drive customer traffic around your site by showing an in-depth analysis of visitor data.
Should I have my design completely animated?
We love to do animated sites, however is it more important to be visible to the search engines or the flare for interactivity. That is a big deal and should be thought out. We recommend using both and designing a hybrid site that will have areas for animation or enhanced graphics as well as areas that will concentrate on visibility for the search engines.
I have started to build my website with a developer, how can I track website progress
Keeping up to date is very important. We use a time management software that keeps our clients informed on every milestone of the project. Make sure you are working on an approval process thru the various phases. This is so you can understand clearly what is happening and you will not be hit by any surprises.
After the site is built and ready to launch, what should expect to have from the web developer?
EVERYTHING? Make sure that all source files are provided on a disk or downloadable. We would also recommend a sign of approval for the site releasing copy write for all materials used.
What about marketing for a website?
Wether you are looking at a website to just be a presence online or the drive of your business. There are many elements and approaches to think about when going into an online marketing campaign.
Utilizing what is now called web 2.0 marketing is a relatively new and aggressive approach for online advertising. When thinking about web 2.0 Programs, you should include targeting and leveraging social media channels, blogs and blog marketing, along with high quality link programs, online video and user generated content. Having increased exposure on the major search engines, in the blogosphere and on social media is a constant battle in which having a team that know what they are doing makes all the difference.