Customized Software Development

Although a lot of people use the web, most people don't know the best way to utilize it to promote their business. Without specific knowledge or guidance concerning a web site, people can pay out a lot of unnecessary money and still not get the results they are hoping for.

What some people don't realize is that web site marketing is a whole different animal than other types of marketing. There are many things that have to be taken into consideration for a web site that aren't an issue with other types of advertising, therefore you can't approach the creation of your web site in the same way you approach your print advertising.

I started creating web sites back in 1996. I can't say that I'm necessarily very proud of those first ones I built, but just as the web has grown and changed drastically since then, so have I. The Internet as we know it, is really still in it's infancy, so things about it change on nearly a daily basis. In order to effectively market yourself or your product via a web site, you need to keep up to date on what is changing. I personally read any where from 5 – 25 articles a week concerning search engine optimization, web design and web marketing.

When you look for someone to build your site, you need to find someone who is knowledgeable in all phases of getting the site up and running, not just someone who can give you a pretty design. A pretty design just doesn't cut it. Your site has to be optimized so people can find you, it has to load quickly, it has to be easy to navigate and it has to provide the user with the information they need.

Typically when I build a web site for someone, I like to be involved in the entire process because I can give people helpful hints on something as easy as choosing and registering a domain name. So if you don't have a web site at this point, call me before you make any decisions. But there are a lot of you who may already be in the middle of the process. I can still help make your web site better, whether it needs help with it's design or if it needs to be optimized. The following is a quick list of the steps I follow for creating a site. Like I said, I can help you with any or all of them.

Domain Name

Choosing and registering a domain name sounds easy enough, but I will advise you on how to choose one that makes sense for your business as well as having the potential to help you for optimization purposes. I will also make sure you don't pay too much for registering the name.

Initial Design Planning

There are many steps that go into your initial planning and they are all interrelated. In fact I hesitate to call them "steps" because you won't necessarily go through them in chronological order. You may also find that what you discover or decide in one of the later "steps" may make you change your mind on something you decided in a previous "step".


• What is the purpose of your site? In other words, what are you trying to accomplish by having the site?
  
  
• Who is your target market?
  
  
• What kind of content will you have on your site? Does this content coincide with your purpose and your targeted market?
  
  
• Research your local competitors and find out if they have web sites.
  
• Research the keyword phrases that we will be optimizing for. Are these really phrases that people use to find a business such as yours? What kind of competition will you be up against for the particular phrases? Are there similar phrases without as much competition that we should optimize for instead?
  
  
• Based on what you have decided on so far, determine the main sections of your site, which in turn will determine your navigation scheme.
  
  
• Think about how you want the actual layout of the pages to look including colors, fonts and any logos or any other graphics you want used.
  
  
• If your content isn't already created, start working on it.

Actual Building of the Site

• Create a design for the pages and fine-tune it until it has the look and feel you want. Keep in mind that you will keep this design consistent throughout the entire site.
  
  
• Test this design in multiple browsers.
  
  
• Fine tune (for optimization purposes) the content for each page of the site.
  
  
• Create each page of the site making sure that each page is optimized properly.
  
  
• Test the entire site again in multiple browsers.

Choose a Hosting Company

I will help you determine what features you will need from a hosting company based on what you will have on your site and then help you find a hosting company that meets your needs at a reasonable price.

Making the Site Live

This is where we actually upload all of your files so the whole world can find you. The site should be tested again once it's live to make sure that everything was uploaded properly.

Submissions To Search Engines

• Theoretically, in a lot of cases, search engines could find you on their own, but it's best to give them some help by submitting your site to them.
  
  
• There are a lot of things you could do at this point that can really help you or really hurt you. Make sure that whoever is performing this step knows what they're doing.
  
  
• You have the option to use paid inclusion on many search engines and directories. I personally don't use it, but if it's something you want to explore we can talk about potential benefits and pitfalls.

Link Building

Depending on the nature of your business, there may be several sites that list businesses such as yours that it would be helpful to get listed on. You may also be able to find complementary businesses that would put up a link to your site from their site. One example might be if you are a mortgage lender that works closely with some real estate agents that have web sites, you may want to ask them to put a link to your site on their site.

Analysis and Tweaking Of Optimization

Once you start getting traffic to your site, you need to start analyzing your statistics and your rankings in the search engines. There are things that you will be able to learn about your current traffic that will help you tweak the site and get even more targeted traffic.

You're Not Done!

• A website is never really finished. It needs to present fresh content to users to make them want to continue to come back.
  
  
• Make sure you advertise your web site on all of your print advertising.

If you haven't read enough yet and would like more information about web sites, take a look at some of my articles.

Remember, whether your business doesn't have a web site yet or if your current web site just isn't performing the way you feel it should, call me at 715-258-6599 or 715-281-6501 or e-mail me to see how I can help you.

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