Starting off a web project - Five things to bear in mind

20 Aug 2009
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Before starting off a web project, it is important that clients understand what they are getting into. Starting a web project can be quite confusing for people who don't deal with it every day. Our experiences have taught us that the following five issues in particular are important to explain to a client before the projects starts.

1. TAKE time to think about what you really need

Too many times I accepted a project without asking for a proper brief. And without insisting that the client sits down to determine what it is that he/she really needs. In these cases the client wanted to have his website up and running as quickly as possible. Starting off on a project without knowing what is really important for the client and his/her visitors can be disastrous. That is why as a client you have to first take time to find out what you really need and what you want to achieve. This can simply be a site to inform people on the web about your business or what products you sell online. Do research, check out your competitors and get a feel for what works for your business and what doesn't. When your goal is clear we can sit down together to figure out how we can best structure the website.

2. THINK from a user perspective

A very important thing to remember, is that the website is for visitors/users and not for the clients themselves. Knowing who your target group is, is very important and realising that usability of the website is the top priority. The easier your website is to use, the better the experience your users will have and the more likely they will come back. Focussing on usability really pays of. Dancing hamsters besides every "buy now" button on a e-commerce website might be something you as the client like, but does it makes the user experience any better or does it distract a user while making a purchase? The most important thing is, KEEP IT SIMPLE, try to focus on the main goal of the website and ask yourself with every element or feature; Do we really need this?

3. WRITING good content = writing short content

An issue that goes hand in hand with the previous two issues, is good content. Before you start building the website, you should know what content you want to present. It is good to realise that texts on website should be short and easy to read. Meaning, write short paragraphs and make use of subheadings.

4. REALISE that Websites Do Not Look The Same On Every Computer

This is something that not everybody realises before starting a web project. Unfortunately websites do not look the same on every computer.

The main reason for this is that people use different browsers.

All browsers render the code of the website differently and that results in showing it differently. Luckily the WC3 is trying to organize the way browsers render the code and is trying to reach an agreement on uniformity. This has already resulted in some pretty good browsers like Firefox, Safari and Chrome, but unfortunately Microsoft has not listened. They built a very bad browser. Specifically Internet Explorer 6 is very bad! It is unsafe and slow.

5. START to think how you want to generate traffic on your website - Online Marketing

Unfortunately when you launch your website visitors don't just appear out of the blue. You have to work hard to generate this traffic on your site.

It is important to think about how to generate traffic on your website. Who do you want to reach and what are the best media to reach them.

Of course your website has to be optimized for search engines (don't worry we can advise you on this), using the right keywords, Metadate etc.,

This might not be enough though. Start to think about where you can advertise your website and spread the word about your new website through email, Twitter, Facebook, Digg and LinkedIn. And last, but not least, try to get other websites to link to your website.

Conclusion

There is a lot to think about before starting off a web project. Of course everybody wants to have his new website up and running as quickly as possible, but taking the time to figure out what is really best for your business definitely pays of in the long run.

Tags: Clients