The process of building a new website
If you've never done it before, the idea might seem a bit intimidating. Actually it's a lot of fun, and it gives you the chance to step back and look at your business in the way others see it.
There's a lot of material to collect and decisions to make... but for most businesses, practices or organizations, we can have the website up and running within two or three weeks!
1 - Strategize
The first step is to determine what you want your site to acomplish. We have a questionnaire that will help to focus your ideas.
If you don't yet have a domain name registered, we'll help you with that.
2 - Target
Here are some categories of potential visitors to your website:
- Current customers/clients/patients
- Prospective customersclients/patients
- The general public
- The media - newspapers, magazines, radio and television
- Colleagues
Each kind of visitor will have his or her own reasons for browsing the site. Whose needs do we address and how?
3 - The website's look and feel
We'll ask you to revisit your own favorite websites and those of others in your field. Look at the color schemes, the amount of white space and graphics and the navigation. Think about how you want to project the image of your practice.
If you are near our home base in Southwest Florida, we'd be glad to visit your offuce and take some phots to display on your site. If you're not in the area, we'll ask you to send or e-mail your own photographs and other artwork you have.
This is also a good time to think about the bells and whistles - the interactive elements that can mame a website stand out. Our questionnaire will give you some ideas.
4 - The message
Since no one knows more about it than you, this is the time we'll ask you to come up with information about the business. Brochures, newspaper articles and CVs are helpful.
Give us as much as you can and we'll do what we do best - boil it down to create a focused look at the work you do.
This is the time we'll also work with you on the site's structure, choosing the categories that will become your web pages.
At the same time, we'll start the process of SEO - Search Engine Optimization - by selecting the terms a visitor might enter to find a website like yours.
5 - Putting it all together
Now you can sit back and relax and let us take over the job. We will lay out the pages, create the navigation, re-write the content, add the artwork and write the code.
After we've tested the usability and confirmed that the site is compatible with most browsers (the applications used to view websites), we'll preview it for you and work on any changes you want to make.
When you're completely satisfied, we'll put your website online. You can use our own hosting service or any other.
6 - Seeking out visitors
Most visitors find website through search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!... and we'll submit your site to both of them for listing, as part of your design package. Also note that since yours is a local or regional business, there are effective ways to reach the people in your area who are most important to you. We'll tell you how.
You are also invited to use our special Search Optimization Service, which will make an ongoing effort to place your site high in the rankings.
7 - Keeping the site strong and healthy
If you decide to use the WebDreamSites hosting service, you can opt for a maintenance program that will ensure your website is online more than 99% of the time. Our maintenance program will take care of updating pages. And you will have access to up-to-the-minute reports on how many people have visited your site, where they found you and which pages are most popular.
Ready to go... or do you need more information? Click here to contact us.