Website Design Info

What should you consider before beginning your search for a web design firm, or before designing your own site?
Elements such as the purpose of your web site, your budget, and other web development factors are explained.

Website Objectives

The purpose of your site has a great impact on its design, e-commerce website should avoid heavy graphic elements and animations, while artist may want to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Start by deciding what is your website objectives.

• Provide information
• Display my products
• Acquire viewers
• Education
• Generate leads for your business
• Sell Services or products

And what is your target market.

• Age
• Gender
• Occupation
• Income Level
• Marital Status
• Location
  

Cost / Budget & Time Frame

Design costs vary and depends on requirement, functionality and maintenance,many designers will work on budget and will welcome any reasonable timeframe.

Design Look & Feel

Look and feel depend on your taste and basically on the way you see your target market, you can always ask your web designer for another opinion.

Competitors

It is always a good idea to check your competitors,to see what they do and to do better...

Website Content & Update Frequency

This is where you need to decide what are you going to display on your website, and how often you are going to update the information on your website.
If you need to add products / items to your website you need to think in the directions of a dynamic website, Gallery, Catalogue or CMS (Content Management System).
On the other end if you are going to have less than 10 pages that you will update once a year, then the best and cheaper solution is to use a static website.

Website Functionality

The list of applications that one can have on the web is quiet long but the following list the basic.

• Gallery
• Catalogue
• Guest Book
• Web Forms
• E-commerce
• WCM
• Members Area
• Forum
• Blog

Web Hosting & Domain Name

Web hosing packages vary between different provider, make sure to check that your providers comply to the website technologies and specifications, best is to consult the web designer before purchasing any web hosting package.

When choosing a registrar to register your domain, make sure you get an online access to control your domain name.