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| If you are looking for a redesign of your current website, here are a few things you may want to keep in mind:
 Web Hosting
Will you be required to switch web hosting companies if you switch web design companies? It's best to ask this before preparing your new site. It can save a lot of headaches in the future!
What Content Should You Keep?
Maybe you are comfortable with the structure of content on your current site and just want a new look? Browse through your current site and determine which (if any) content is still usable. You may also want to view some of the tips on the right side of this page for help. |
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Whether you’ve decided to get your business online for the first time or if you are looking to revamp an old site, preparation can help streamline the development process. Here are some tips to help you prepare:
Develop a profile of your typical customer much the same way you would if you were developing a television or radio ad. As with other forms of advertising, determining factors such as a target age group, sex and income level should be a major influence in the look and feel of your website.
Ask yourself these questions: What would you like your customers to know about your products and/or services? What would you like them to know about your company? Do you want potential customers to have all of the technical details or just enough to contact you to request more information?
The answers can depend largely on what type of business you are in. For example, if you sell circuit boards that will be used by engineers, you may want to make every product detail available so that your customers can determine if the product fits their needs. Or, if you sell woven baskets you may want to limit product content to a few photos and short descriptions of each type of basket.
The key of developing content is finding out what is important to your customers. Don’t bombard them with more than they need to know. Adding excess text and sections to your site may be a turnoff to some customers and will also increase the overall cost of your website. A great rule of thumb is to “keep it short and keep it simple”. If your company has already published pamphlets or brochures, they can often be used as a helpful guide.
The amount of sections (or categories) your website will have can largely be determined as you think about the content questions discussed above. Ideally, a well formatted website will contain areas where customers can find out more about your company (an About Us section, for example), information on your products/services (a Products or Services section), an area where customers can find contact information (a Contact Us section) and a section detailing what’s new with your company (a News section). These sections are a great place to start. Your company may need more or less depending on the nature of your business.
The text, photos and audio/video that you would like to use in your website is best stored electronically. Text, for example, can be placed into a Microsoft Word document (or similar word processing programs) to best streamline the process of placing it online.
Digital photos, audio and video can be burned to a CD or in some cases e-mailed to me for placement online. Photos from film cameras can also be scanned.
File formats accepted
Text: MS Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), Word Perfect (.wpd), MS Works (.wps), Plain Text (.txt)
*Plain Text is not recommended due to the fact that it does not maintain document formatting (bold, italics, etc.)
Photos: JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg), TIFF (.tif, .tiff), GIF (.gif), Photoshop Document (.psd), EPS (.eps), Bitmap (.bmp)
Audio: MP3 (.mp3), WAV (.wave), Real Audio (.rm), Windows Media (.wma)
Video: MPEG (.mpg), AVI (.avi), Real Video (.rm), Windows Media (.wmv)
Other files accepted: HTML (.htm, .html, .shtml), MS Excel Spreadsheets (.xls), MS Powerpoint (.ppt), MS Publisher (.pub), PDF (.pdf)
How often would you like to update your website? Do you anticipate adding more sections to your site in the future? While you may not be able to fully anticipate these needs, having a general idea can help you budget the time and costs for maintaining your website.
Feel free to contact me! I will be glad to help you with your website needs.
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