Steps to Success

In order to achieve success with your web site, there are some critical steps that should be followed.

The first question you need to answer is "Why do I need a Web Site?. There should be a purpose for your site. The answer to this question will greatly influence your design.

Registering for your domain name and IP address should be done as soon as possible, even if construction will not start immediately. Hundreds of people register for a domain name daily and this would increase your chances of getting the most appropriate name for your site.

The first step in the actual design and construction is to identify your target audience and state what you want to communicate to this group. This should be done with upper management, ensuring a more global view of the corporation. Key questions that needs to be answered are: what is the return on investment, how will a web site benefit the company. Each company is different, so there are no generic answers.

Now you are ready to form your Net Committee. Your committee should include individuals from management and someone from each key department. At this stage you can hire a Web Development company, preferably one who understands how the internet works and can produce the site you envision. Each person on the Committee should be assigned a specific role - Web Administrator, Editor, Writer, Content provider, etc. One word of advice, the committee should be chaired by a skilled manager and small enough so that decisions can be made.

It is essential that, based on the predefined target audience, an understanding of how your target connects to and uses the web be determined. When it comes to web design, even though it is accessible to everyone, you need to know what, in general, your audience will be using on the other end - what type of connection to the World Wide Web, which browser will more than likely be used, what type of monitor will be used, etc. For example, if you are advertising to individual consumers, they will probably be using modems, either 14.4 or 28.8, which means limited or small graphics should be used so that your site will load quickly.

A written vision and timeline needs to be established. This will also enable you to establish when you should start the actual "marketing" of your site. Design concept should be established. It is critical that there is consistency for your site. Once the concept has been approved, you can move on to the actual construction.

Weekly meeting are recommended when it comes to the actual construction of the site. This will allow for revisions in the vision, timeline and, if necessary, design. There will be many drafts and works in progress, and trying to maintain your timeline might seem impossible. One critical item, especially when you have a page the way you want it, that you test it using various browsers. This will eliminate any embarrassment before it becomes final.

If you are doing this yourself, it is always a good idea to have more than one person test your site for links, graphics, etc. Once everything is finalized you are ready to post. If you are coordinating this with a marketing effort, post your site at night to give you a little bit of time to work out any problems that may occur and to retest all your links.

Once you have a live site, a smaller committee should be set to ensure that the site is regularly maintained and updated.

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revision August 29, 1997 - © Symtrex Inc. - 1996, 1997 all rights reserved