You've come to the conclusion that you need a website in order for your business to be competitive. Certainly the World Wide Web is part of our future and has a place in you business. Equally true is that we are only at the beginning. The changes will come faster than with the introduction of either the Telephone or the TV, and competition is intense.

Fortunately, decisions around websites are no different than any other business decision you make daily. You wouldn't buy a new computer without doing some basic research, and the same should be true when deciding on a website and who should build it. Things seem complicated and abstract because of the many new terms - E-commerce, CMS, (X)HTML, SEO, Usability, Spam, yada, yada, yada -- Fortunately, the basics are pretty simple and the internet itself provides lots of information.

You have probably heard the adage; "the right tool for the right job". Websites are just tools, so the question becomes are you trying to drive a screw or pound in a nail? A website is part of your marketing mix: Product; Price; Place; Promotion, and a website can be any of those. Online games are the "Product", the lower subscription cost for the online version of the Wall Street Journal is an example of "Price", Facebook is the "Place" of choice for all kinds of things, and I am certainly using this website to "Promote" my own services...while I'm on the subject, here's my site: Applied Intelligence Web Design.

Most web developers won't understand your business; after all it is your business. Many will not understand marketing either. What does that mean to you? Well, a website is at its core a piece in a marketing mix; your marketing mix. It's up to you to make sure that it fit's in with your marketing strategy...you do have one don't you?

A website like any good tool seldom does more than one thing well. That is why you need to decide exactly what you are trying to accomplish. A good developer or project manager will work with you to clearly define your requirements. If you simply ask for "a website" without a SPECIFIC goal, what you will likely end up with is a generic site, or a platform for the developer to practice whatever trendy technology they're learning at that moment.

This lens is not about how to build a web site. It's about the information you need to a) make better decisions concerning your web presence, and b) communicate with the web developer, so that you can properly define your needs.

First of all lets put this in context. A website is an IT project. That means you need to clearly define the requirements, set a budget, plan the project, and control it. As a business owner it's in your best interest to ensure that all the steps are gone through. That means by you, your project manager, or the company building/redesigning your website.

Now that doesn't mean it needs to be a massive burden, and certainly if your requirements are simple then many of these steps will be simple too, possibly requiring just a couple minutes. You may even decide that you don't need some of them. That's fine too; it's much better to decide not to do something than to forget to do something.

This is critical, but too often forgotten. In the next few postings I'll go into them into more detail, but here is an overview to get you started thinking about it%u2026

Define your Objective

This is where you look at your audience, specifically define what you want to accomplish, analyze your current site if this is a redesign, see what you have and what you need, spy on your competitors, think about the future - lest you forget that the site will need some maintenance, and plan, plan and plan.

If your site contains any back-end programming, and by this I mean any applications using a database, i.e, Content Management, Online shop or custom built application, then you effectively need to think it terms of TWO plans, 1) a plan for building the site as a whole, and 2) a plan for programming of the back-end application, and make sure to add "integrating the program into the site", to your overall plan.

Work out the Site Structure

Websites don't grow on trees, although looking at some you might get that impression. However, if you want a site that that actually moves your target audience where you want them to go, site structure is their path to get there. Let's forget about your cool logo and favorite colors for now, and focus on content, navigation, naming, and usability.

My big tip of the day, evaluate everything in light of your audience. Please read that again. Every decision should pass the acid test of, "does this support or contribute toward my goal".

Design It

Finally we get to the fun part: playing with images, colors and layout. But hold on; wash the paint off your hands because we also have a couple lofty issues to contend with: concepts, functionality, and usability, all in the context of contributing to your goals for the target audience.

Build It

Now to the grunt work; pull out your plan, figure out where you are, and put your team to work. Assuming the front-end designers have been speaking with the backend developers as they should have been, make sure they keep it up. Picking up the phone easily gets forgotten in a production frenzy. There's nothing so frustrating, or costly, as the output from the program not fitting into that cute little textbox in the upper right corner of your pixel perfect design.

While you still have your overall plan in hand it's a good time to work on your Quality Assurance (QA) plan.

Handover

Done. Well, not quite. If you built the site in-house, then handover is just a matter of your IT people (person) switching from building to supporting. More often than not though, your IT has better things to do than building a website, like keeping your accounting system running so you can send out invoices, ensuring cashflow so you have the money to pay your web design company.

Handing off does not just consist of launching the site and giving you the account password. Actually, it often does, but it shouldn't. When everything is complete, you should also have documentation, including a style guide, an understanding of the security, and a clear view concerning ongoing maintenance. Depending on complexity, you should schedule maintenance training with the developers.

Oh, and just for laughs, lets measure the results against your goals.