Website development tips for your business

While the following is just the tip of the iceberg on website design and development basics, it should get you started on the right path and hopefully bring some enlightenment along the way.

Putting your Website Marketing Campaign Together The skills involved in your website marketing campaign bringing success to your website marketing campaign raising brand awareness and name recognition Budget and expectations Steps to efficiency

Putting Your Website Marketing Campaign Together There are many ways to develop your website, depending on your needs, goals and budget. Honestly, I'm certain we all have a friend or relative that has put some type of web page together at some point in time. Throwing something on the web isn't rocket science. BUT.... when it involves your business and your website marketing campaign as a whole, the real process should be more involved. Depending on your needs, your website may require various skills. Discuss internally what you feel you would like to achieve with your website and make notes. Your web development gurus or internal team should be able to offer many suggestions and tips along the way. Delving into the process...... The Skills and Technology Involved In Your Website Marketing Campaign Planning: A good website marketing campaign requires good planning on the part of you and your website development team. Some smaller "brochure" type sites require less planning, but even the smaller, most simple websites usually still have a goal of being seen, selling a product/service, increasing sales and brand awareness and so on. Let it be known, if you build it- they will not always come. There is no magic worldwide website fairy that will throw you on top of Google and yahoo. Good content will help tremendously, and that is where good planning comes into play. Copywriting/creative writing: Unless you have a department that handles your creative writing, this is left for "someone else", or goes untouched. Conveying your message clearly isn't always easy. Let your web guru know up front if you are expecting them to handle your creative writing needs. Website design: Creating and manipulating images into a layout for the web, including arranging color schemes and aesthetic features of your website. Website designers are a dime a dozen realistically. In fact, we see new website design companies startup everyday. Unfortunately, it seems the schools these days are charging big bucks to teach designers, but barely going into the much needed 'development' stage. "Pretty" is nice and everything, but if you are sight impaired or a search engine spider- all the nice design is wasted while you sit and wonder why you have poor search engine rankings and thus, no one is visiting your site. The design of your site has many points to consider as this medium is not the same as print design. There is more than just aesthetics, as development for the web has many considerations. Your website should be viewable to all newer mainstream browsers, and also look good in a text browser. If search engine ranking is a goal, make sure that your designer is doing everything that they can do to help and is aware of the process involved. Search engines cannot read flash content. This, and many more factors should be understood before you decide how to design your website. Website programming: Looking for a shopping cart to sell your product on the Internet? What if you have a lot of images or products to display? Maybe your company would benefit from a content management system (CMS). The possibilities are endless, but what is the right approach? This goes back to planning, and taking into consideration your present and future needs. Make sure your web development team knows of any future plans of website development so they can build with your goals and needs in mind from the start. Search engine optimization and achieving top search engine rankings: Whoa.. did someone say you could be the number one widget seller by putting up a website? Let's lay the cards out on the table. ...there are ways to succeed in marketing your website- and search engines can be a great tool for a lot of businesses. Your website development team will have to research your competition, key phrases and plan your website coding and design to be seen by search engines as relevant. What is relevant? Knowledge, planning, research and time will tell. Beware of those that guarantee you a top spot on the search engine rankings. If it was something we could guarantee- everyone would be at the top of the list. ...which is not possible. Good search engine rankings can usually be achieved by having good, relevant content within your site- and smart design. It's also a very good idea to use other means of advertising to drive traffic to your website. Website hosting or secure Server co-location: Hosting your website with a reliable and economical host is usually a plus when it comes to your website marketing campaign. With all the options, it's easy for some to get confused- or select a web host that ends up being a nightmare and time drain. A good web development team will be able to help you with different hosting options. Managed email services: If you already have a website, there is no valid reason to be using a generic or free email address like hotmail.com or AOL.com for your business. If you are just starting your website- make sure to talk to your ISP, or web development team if need be and route your email through your business URL. A Spam/junkmail reduction plan is also a must on the ISP level. Website maintenance: Once it is built, will it stay the same for years to come? Make sure to allow for website maintenance in your project's budget. Even changing little areas or providing new information from time to time can help keep your website from being stagnant. This also can encourage new clients and activity from existing clients if done correctly. There are various other skills that can come to play when designing and developing a custom website to fit your needs. When it's time to troubleshoot a problem- it's usually your internal IT team, ISP, web developer or vendor support department that is called. Sometimes it's all of the above. When dealing with issues such as Hosting, email and DNS- combined with eCommerce integration, search engine ranking goals and website accessibility- it can get convoluted and confusing once again. If you don't have a budget for internal staffing to cover all areas, the ideal solution for most is to find a one stop shop that can assist with all of the above and anything else that creeps up. Back to Top   Bringing Success to Your Website Marketing Campaign Planning, design, development, back-end coding, search engine optimization, brand awareness strategies, budget, reliable website and email hosts/service providers, customer service and availability of your vendors involved, domain name registration choices, awareness of all of the above....The list goes on. All of these areas, plus more, have a key part in developing a successful website marketing campaign. It's ok if your company doesn't understand the "how", but for the sake of saving resources of time, energy and money- we urge you to pick the "who" part wisely. Understanding the important areas of the website development task cannot be left for a basic "website designer". Designers make things 'look' pretty, while developers merge your goals and design to provide an accessible and functional tool that can provide a great ROI for your company. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a website marketing firm or developer that has knowledge in promoting your website and establishing your online presence. Most shops are not an all in one shop that will handle not only the website design and development- but also anything from print media design with delivery of final printed product to search engine optimization, streaming video to web and more. Back to Top Brand Awareness and Name Recognition When planning your website, did you think about the materials you already have out there? We believe that your website marketing campaign should tie in to your other areas of marketing to increase brand awareness and name recognition. Logos, themes and mottos should be repeated and carry on throughout your marketing theme. Having a one stop shop makes it easier to manage and tie in your projects. Save time and find your one stop shop- or at least make sure you select a team that has experience in marketing. Back to Top Budget and Expectations While the price of a website can vary, so can the quality of workmanship that goes into your website marketing campaign's development. Understanding the important areas of the website development task cannot be left for a basic "website designer". Different budgets require different approaches and solutions to your website development and marketing project. If you do not have an internal team that can handle copywriting/creative writing, planning, marketing and so on- it's likely that your web development gurus will have to play a larger role in the process. This of course will drive the price of your project higher. Back to Top Steps to Efficiency A lot of small-medium sized companies often struggle with putting it all together, as do even large corporations. We find many companies requesting meetings, only to find that they don't know what they want or what their goals are. Let your web developer decide when it's right to have a meeting. Your web development project will go much more efficiently if you try to hash out your goals first via email and phone. Meeting just for the sake of meeting isn't always the best way. Your developer doesn't have to see you in person to get what they need in most cases. Let them guide you through the process once you feel secure with their judgment and capabilities. Once you figure out internally what "type" or style of website you want, and what you want your site to do for you, it's time to gather your web designer, web developers and programmers, marketing department, maybe your print designer and printer to the "virtual table" to go over all details to make sure your plan fits into the big picture. Don't worry if you do not have all of the resources listed above as you have to start somewhere. Be aware that website development is a process that ties into your company as a whole, and deserves the proper attention as you plan. After your website is designed, your project will also call for updates and suggestions from time to time. ...Who is thinking of all of these parts of the task? You could choose multiple vendors as fits your needs, but someone in your organization needs to be 'aware' of the whole picture and take direction to avoid wasted time, energy and funds. Your internal planning, selection of website development team and budget will all be determining factors on how you can approach your project. It's not always easy to find a one stop shop web developer/print designer/printer/web marketing consultant/IT solutions company, etc.- that can work within your budget, timeframe and accomplish your goals. Finding a company that can help you with everything is like finding a diamond in the rough. Knowledge of the process and areas involved should at least known within your organization so as to strive for a goal that is within reason. Back to Top If you have questions or need solutions, let us know.. What do we do? We develop custom websites while remaining conscious of the crucial areas of your design and development. We offer solutions and tips. WLogix does print design and puts streaming video to the web if need be. We help clients with their marketing campaign as a whole if requested. We enjoy the challenge of a large project, and also try to work with the smaller companies on a budget. We are available. We are not a 'hobby' designer or part time development team. We are here for you as needed. WLogix is IT!   What do most of our clients want? Everything. Our clients want simple, easy navigation, available and easily viewable content, quick access to information, top search engine rankings, clean design and flow- and sometimes flashy presentation. Our clients want 'easy' and 'quick' and 'cheap' usually. It's easy to understand those demands, as we all have expectations as conscious consumers. As a website development company, we strive to be a one stop shop that can build functional tools that will deliver results. It's up to you to know your goals. It's your web developers job to offer the ideas and solutions to the "how" question. In Closing... We realize that not every business can afford a budget that covers all of the above, but you need to start somewhere. Most website development projects also change and grow over time. If your budget doesn't permit for everything at once, don't worry. Start with the basics- and make sure you have them covered. Grow from there. Throwing just anything on the web can sometimes do more damage than good to your company. A good development team will work with you to produce results as your company grows and changes. Back to Top Contact WLogix or request an Estimate

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