Building your Business Website
So, you've strategised, you've brainstormed, you've planned. You've decided on your functionality, engaged various web designerw for quotes and picked the best quote and web designer to work with on your project (if you're using one!)
Now comes the bit where you start to see your website finally taking shape - the build phase!
Assuming you are using a web designer for your project, then ask for regular updates on build - don't just let them disappear for a month and then come back with a finished site. Usually there will be various review stages where you can see what's been built so far and feedback. This enables changes to get made before they are too embedded in the process, for instance if you don't like the site template then this should be picked up straight away and before its been rolled out to several site pages.
One thing we've not gone through in detail in this guide is the look and feel of the site, concentrating instead on the actual structure and functional requirements of your website. However needless to say you will need to give your web designer an idea of what layout you want for your site... and when you do this try to be as clear as possible. Likewise you may need to engage a graphic designer for your logo.
If you are doing the build yourself, then it's time to get very busy. If not sit back and wait for the review sessions where you get to comment and see what's been done so far. You should always avoid adding 'just one more thing' or changing your mind once build has begun - all of that should have been done before build commenced which is why we've gone through various elements bit by bit previously.
If something else does occur to you during build then you should raise it at the earliest opportunity, the later you leave it the harder and more costly it may be to integrate. Remember that if you do change your requirements then you should expect the web designer to change their quote too. Depending on any contract you do or don't have with your web designer for delivery, it may be there is a specific way in which you need to raise any changes requests rather than just sending an email or picking up the phone.
Remember once the initial version of the site is built to do lots of testing, even if your web designer has done this it doesn't hurt to double check as you may pick up other things not being so close to the build.
As well as doing lots of testing of features and combinations of data entry and so forth, also read through the copy carefully and check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Check that links on pages work and that titles and pagenames are consistent. Depending on what you've discussed with your designer and how prescriptive your content was, also check the title of the web pages in the browser to see that these are relevant and specific to each page.
If you have an ecommerce facility, then create a couple of test transactions - either using 'test' mode so you don't have to pay or if you don't have this facility, create a couple of low value products (e.g. a penny each) and do some end-to-end transactions: this way you can pick up any problems during the build phase and not when the project has gone live and your web designer has moved onto a new project.
Once your site has been built, you've tested all functionality, then the next step is the launch of your website.
This guide to building a business ecommerce site is by Clarity Media Ltd
Quick Links
Researching the opportunity... Site strategy... Site structure... Interactivity... Ecommerce... Future proofing and updating... Creating content... Choosing images... Site build... Launch... Measuring success... Building traffic: free methods... Building traffic: paid methods... Onwards and upwards
Home page: building a business website guide
Quick Links
Researching the opportunity... Site strategy... Site structure... Interactivity... Ecommerce... Future proofing and updating... Creating content... Choosing images... Site build... Launch... Measuring success... Building traffic: free methods... Building traffic: paid methods... Onwards and upwards
Home page: building a business website guide
