Designing Your Website For Results

Website Development

The first step to successful internet marketing is the design of your website, i.e. website development, which you may, or may not construct yourself.

This extract offers recommendations for entering the world of web design easily and swiftly, even if you plan to employ a professional web designer.

There are two critical issues to be considered for the development of your website...

The Look and Feel of Your Website

Firstly the graphical design, i.e. who will design the look and feel of your website and what image do you plan to project. This will be carried out by either be a professional web designer, or yourself. The quality of your website will say a great deal about you, your products and services, and should be not treated lightly or cheaply, or you can expect the same results!

The Content of Your Website

Secondly, the content management of your website, i.e. who will manage the contents of your website, such as general information, ongoing updates, and other changes. Again, this can be handled by your professional designer or (much better) yourself.

If you intend to use a professional web designer for the creation and modifications, this section will be useful for understanding the general processes, and preparing your initial and ongoing documentation for your designer.

If you plan to be the designer and/or content manager, the good news is that web products are becoming easier to use, and if you can already use any of the standard Microsoft or Sun Software Packages such as Publisher, Powerpoint and Word, you are 80% of the way to doing it yourself, and you're a patient learner right? 

(Note each of these products mentioned have the ability to be turned into web pages, but I do not recommend using them, as their facilities are limited.)

Strongly Recommended For Marketing Websites!

I do recommend that you have your designer create you a smart looking Content Management System Website that you ideally have control of, for future updates. 

Content Management Systems are database driven websites that have been designed for people with little to no Web Design knowledge, to utilise "WYSIWYG" editors that convert normal copy into web code.

The content management system resides on your web hosting account therefore it can be accessed through your internet browser (internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari etc) at any time, making it easy for novices to conduct changes.

Warning Make sure you choose a designer who KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING when you have your database driven website (PHP or ASP) created, and that they include future upgrades of your website as required (or commit to learn how do this yourself) - or you may find yourself with a technical timebomb on your hands. 

We will now move to the importance of choosing a good Domain Name and Hosting Account Service.

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