| I own a company that, among other things, develops | | | | presented on it. It also helps compilea list of things |
| web sites, and I've hadmy own business and personal | | | | that may have to be developed separately, thus |
| sites since the early 1990's. While each website | | | | affectingthe project schedule (e.g., a paragraph |
| project has its own challenges and rewards, there | | | | describing the company in 50 wordsor less, a new |
| are some commonelements to all of them. | | | | logo, gathering a list of product data, etc.). |
| First, make sure that the ISP or web development | | | | I have an insurance and investments broker client |
| firm registered the domainname in your or your | | | | who, from very the start,was particular about how |
| client's name, and not their own. Even | | | | he wanted the site to "look", but he hadn't givenany |
| today,outsourcers will often register domains in their | | | | thought about what the site would accomplish. It |
| own names, leaving you outin the cold if the site | | | | took several months andmany hours of conversation |
| becomes popular, unless you already had the | | | | to develop a site plan. His site allows hisclients to |
| domainname trademarked. If you are the web | | | | submit claims information, prospects to request more |
| developer, register the domain in yourclient's name so | | | | informationabout specific products, casual browsers |
| that your ethics won't be questioned later. | | | | to learn about his services, andhis clients' employees |
| Second, help your client (or yourself) by developing a | | | | to look up medical providers from various HMO and |
| master plan fromwhich elements can be added to | | | | PPOplans. Without some planning, he could have |
| the sites as time and money allows. A lot | | | | ended up with a fancy "businesscard" and never |
| ofbusinesses think they have to have a web site to | | | | gotten lots of leads from people who have visited his |
| stay current in today'sbusiness environment, but | | | | site. |
| haven't given much thought about what that means. | | | | Third, check whether the web hosting company is |
| Some of the questions I ask are: | | | | providing Front Pageextensions. Microsoft's Front |
| 1. Is it for public consumption, or are you providing | | | | Page 2000 (and other high-end web pageeditors), is a |
| information toclients, suppliers, or business partners? | | | | huge timesaver and gives you access to a wide |
| 2. Is your intended audience local, regional, national, or | | | | selection ofadvanced functionality for your site |
| global? | | | | (automatic form creation, marquees,java scripts, |
| 3. What repetitive information are your customers, | | | | tables, etc.). Of course, you can always be a purist |
| suppliers, or partnerscalling you about that could be | | | | and learn |
| presented on a web site? | | | | HTML coding in your spare time. |
| 4. Does your product or service catalog change often | | | | Fourth, think long and hard about using affiliate |
| enough that reflectingthose changes on your web | | | | advertising. My mostsuccessful web clients waited a |
| site might garner more sales? | | | | year or more to gain any significant sitetraffic, and |
| 5. What information can you present that | | | | that was only as a result of a concerted marketing |
| prospective customers will finduseful? | | | | plan thatpublicized the site to existing customers. Too |
| 6. Do you use a sales strategy (a presentation, or a | | | | many people, with nobackground in page layout and |
| decision tree) that canbe translated to a web site? | | | | design, plop ads all over their sites and waitfor the |
| 7. Can you use your site as an Extranet as well as an | | | | referral checks to roll in. The only thing they actually |
| Internet site? | | | | achieve ismaking their sites look like shoddy billboards |
| 8. What graphical elements (logos, pictures, etc.) will | | | | for other sites. Affiliateads "can" help drive traffic, |
| you want to have onthe site, and where? | | | | but map out a plan and be very picky about whoyou |
| 9. Will the site contain advertising and how will the | | | | sign up with. If your site is a local or regional site, |
| design accommodatethat? | | | | look for adsfrom local and regional businesses that |
| 10. | | | | you (or your prospects) may alreadyhave a |
| Practically every web site will have a slightly different | | | | relationship with in the brick and mortar world. |
| focus depending onfor whom it is developed. The | | | | Finally, the best web sites are "works in progress". |
| answers to these and similar questions willhelp define | | | | The web is an evolvingcollection of styles and |
| the purpose of the site, its scope, how it will be | | | | technologies, and your presence on it can be aswell. |
| organized,and what kind of information will be | | | | Keep tweaking. |