Elements of a Site
When the average web surfer looks at a site they see the visual layer and many get the feeling they are all the same. Oh sure, some show movies or moving pictures and some don’t, but other than that they are all pretty much the same right?
Well no they’re not.
Every site has the design layer; this can be created by either a graphic designer or by web designer. A web developer then takes the design and translates it to html and style sheets, using standard web language instead of graphics to create the design layer.
Part of the web design can be handled by a content management system, such as Drupal which is a program that allows designers to create a visual layer built around block of information that can easily be changed by the web owner and is driven by a database. There are other ways for smaller sites to handle changing information such as XML, standard editing programs etc. Are you going to want incorporate a blog. Maybe your static site is small and a blog with several static pages is the way you want to go.
Social Networking is critical to having an effective site. Which social networking systems are you going to join? Are you going to contribute, or are you going to have one of your employees in charge of contributing?
If you are sell a product, and whether you are just offering information about your product or actually selling it on the site, what about pictures? – are they going to be necessary to selling your product; probably. Can you get good quality pictures? Do you need to hire a photographer?
Ecommerce sites are more complex; needing a secure checkout as well as an interface with a merchant account. These days’ ecommerce sites are written in several different languages ASP.NET and PHP being the most common.
If you know you want to use certain language for some reason; great reviews of one product, a product that offers all the components, price or whatever, make sure that is the language the developer you choose works in. Many today work in both but are proficient in only one. Consider the sites they’ve already created to get an idea of what programming language they are proficient in.
Make sure also that the shopping cart you use can do what you want. Most of the more well known shopping carts will publish a list of their current users. Check out these sites and make sure you see all the things that you want to see – do you want to offer gift wrapping? Are scheduled promotional events important to you? Do you use affiliates? Does the system have a single layer affiliate system or multi layer? Can you offer product attributes – size, color etc? Can you offer multiple attributes per product, creating a matrix?
As you can see there are many, many considerations when deciding to have a site created for your business. You should define what it is you expect from a site before you start looking for someone to work with, just like you had to define who your target audience is before you could effectively market your business. Do some research on the web looking for the kinds of sites that you like and think would present the business well. If you are not a sole provider ask for the opinions of your staff, even ask family and friends for their opinions and come up with a written document outlining what it is you expect from the visual layers, the programming and even the site’s effectiveness. Do this and you will be more likely to get a site that looks, feels, and produces the way you want.
Tags: elements of a site, plan your site