Web Development: A Client’s Perspective

REMEMBER…Content is King!

Many times when I am approached to build a website, the client often doesn’t have a clue of what’s in store…for them.  What I mean by that is many people are under the assumption that when they hire a web developer, that they (the client) will have little else to do except give some general direction.  WRONG!!!  I think it would be valuable to educate the business owner about what is expected from them before they endeavor their website project.

NAVIGATION: What will the pages to your website be?  Have you thought about succinct labels for each page?  Will the pages contain all necessary information that you will need to relay to your Internet audience? Really put some thought into this.  Often I end up directing clients to incorporate another page or two so that your web audience will be able to find exactly what they are looking for in a concise and quick manner.  Remember you only have approximately 15-30 seconds to keep your website visitor on your website…make sure they can find what they are looking for quickly.

CONTENT: The client is responsible for providing all written content for the website.  This might sound relatively easy, however it can be daunting if you’re not prepared.  Before you approach a web developer for bids, first have your pages thought out, then start developing your content.

Content is KING! Don’t approach your website with any other viewpoint.

The richer the content, the more the search engines will see you as a valuable addition to the myriad of websites already on the World Wide Web.  Be sure to incorporate the keywords you believe your audience will use to seek out your business in a logical manner repeating those keywords/phrases at least two to three times. What will set you apart is genuine, original CONTENT.

PHOTOS: Have all your photos ready to send to your web developer and specify which page they coordinate with.  The LARGER the better.  If you have some measly 120px wide image and you think we can enlarge it to look great on your website, think again.  Smaller images cannot be made larger and look good.  If we start with a large image we can then optimize it for web browsers.  Don’t have all the images you think you’ll need?  Peruse through photodune.net or my favorite stock photo vendor www.dreamstime.com.

HOSTING PROVIDER: There are so many great hosting providers today.  Many of which will host five to an unlimited number of sites on just one package ranging from $50 to $100 a year.  Please don’t choose GoDaddy as your hosting provider.  They make it difficult for developers to do the regular run-of-the-mill things we always do on other hosting provider’s backends  because of their proprietary ways geared toward laymen who don’t know how to build websites.  That being said, I recommend a couple of providers I’ve worked with a number of times.  My own hosting provider www.addaction.net and www.hostgator.com. If you can pick a hosting provider, your web developer will be happy to set it up for you.

And don’t forget about investing into marketing your website by having it optimized for the Search Engines (SEO) and investing in some valuable Search Engine Marketing as well so you can achieve that coveted 1st page Google Ranking

This is by no means a complete list of items you should keep in mind when you are considering a website project, however they are some of the most time consuming ones you will have to tackle.  Once these are accomplished you will be ready to fly through the web development process and on your way to seeing your website project a realization sooner than you can say GOOGLE 🙂