Website Development
[private].[/private]Seeing your website taking shape is one of the most satisfying aspects of creating an Internet based business, after all, it’s solid tangible proof of all your hard preparation and a step nearer your ultimate goal.
However, it’s not always as straight forward as you would think, so we will address a few main areas of concern that will not only give your website a great head-start, but also save you time, thus consequently money.
In this section of PFG we’ll investigate the following aspects of website development:
• Preparation
• Choosing a domain name
• Finding a web hosting package
• The design itself
Preparation
Before you go any further with your web development, it’s time to do some valuable research. Use your preferred search engine to search for similar sites (your competition if you like) and list EVERYTHING on the sites you visit that you like and what it is you dislike. Don’t just visit to look at the design (although this is an important aspect also) but click around, get an overall feel and then move on to the next similar site. For example;
SITE A (awebsite.com)
Likes – layout, navigation, user interactivity, blog, image gallery
Dislikes – Obtrusive ads, popups, header image
SITE B (anotherwebsite.com)
Likes – color scheme, forums, download section
Dislikes – font hard to read, images too large
Once you have researched a dozen or so sites, your list should start to look like a model of some description for how you would like your website to develop. Simply categorize everything you like and everything you don’t, and you’ll have a framework in place to provide to your designer, should you not be creating the site yourself.
