What To Expect When You Are "Expecting" A New Website PART II of III

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I received an email this week from a custom builder asking me the steps to build a new website. I get emails like that all the time. Just like any new project, identifying the steps can seem daunting at first. This series of articles is designed to outline the website process in non-technical, common sense, easy to understand language.

The most important concept regarding a website project is to expect the unexpected! Most professionals approach technology with the expectation that everything will go exactly to plan and execute perfectly. Has your computer ever worked perfectly? Ever had trouble getting your DVR to record your favorite TV program? Are you sometimes ready to throw your iPod out the window? The answer to all of these is of course, YES!!! Computers, technology, the Web, never work perfectly. Why? Because while computers may be machines, they were built by people; and when humans are involved, you can count on the unexpected. Expect bumps in the road during your website project. Expect that a button on the website won’t work perfectly or that a photo will look blurry. The key is to communicate those issues with your webmaster and that he/she address them in a timely and satisfactory manner. Be creative. Stay flexible and get everything in writing.

The steps we discussed in the first article are:

1. Define the website project goal
2. Design the homepage
3. Gather the website materials
4. Create the navigational map

Step #5 – Design the interior pages

Once the homepage has been finalized, the webmaster can design the interior pages. The client should receive 1 – 2 interior designs to consider. Again, the client’s responsibility is to review the design, make a decision in a timely manner and give specific feedback to the webmaster. The interior page design should compliment the homepage design. Make sure on the interior pages that the “Contact Us” or “Request Information” is prominent and in the same location on every page.

Step #6 – Set up a live test website

After you have approved the homepage, navigational map and interior page design, the website is ready to go from a design mockup to a real live test website. At this point, it is too late to make any changes to the design or navigation of the website without major delay and additional charges. In other words, speak now or forever hold your peace!

The live test website is up on the Web but the public can’t access it. For the first time, you will be able to click on the navigation buttons and see exactly how the site flows from one page to the next page.

Step #7 -- Load up the content

This step is about entering the text, images and graphics into the live test website. This is a large task and depending on the size of your website can take as much as a couple of weeks. Most images and graphics require extensive prep before the can be uploaded; they need compressing, resizing and/or editing. You may not see any content being loaded for several days and think nothing is happening. On the contrary, your webmaster is hard at work prepping the images before uploading them. Of course you can speed this process up by submitting images in the correct format which is 72 dpi .jpg and/or .tiff. You can also speed up this process by organizing your files on CD into subfolders and by clearly naming each file in the subfolders. File organization will greatly decrease the time to load up the website and reduce misplaced information errors.

Step #8 – Proof, proof, and re-proof

Expect to do approximately three rounds of proofing on the test website. Now that all the content is in, its time to start editing. The most efficient way to proof a website is the print out the pages and mark your changes right on the pages and fax them to the webmaster. On each round of proofing, submit all changes at the same time to the webmaster. Wait for all the changes to made and then start the next round of proofing. When you are proofing, be sure to continually hit your “refresh” button located in the top row of buttons on your web browser to see the latest changes. The refresh button tells your computer to load the most recent page. If you hit the refresh button and still don’t see the changes then likely they haven’t been made yet. Check with the webmaster to get an ETA. This step is about making text only and limited picture changes. Don’t expect to change the navigation or design without major delays and additional costs.

Next month we will go over the remaining few steps. Stay tuned and remember that once the website goes live you will have a fantastic marketing tool!

Meredith Oliver MIRM, CSP is the foremost industry expert on Internet Sales and Marketing. You can tap into her expertise from the convenience of your desktop with workbooks and virtual seminars available at http://www.creatingwow.com/