How does the process work?

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Step 1. Deciding What you Want

The first step is for you, as the business owner, to decide what features you would like to see implemented on your site. The best way to do this is to look around at sites you like and make some notes. Jot down their URL and the things you like best about them. It also helps to keep notes on what you don’t like as well.

Step 2. Realizing What you Need

Next we’ll sit down together and work through your wants as they apply to your needs. Bells and whistles are often alluring, but sometimes they can distract your customers from the actual goal, which is promoting your business and increasing your bottom line. Also, having every feature available to a potential webpage today might sound like a good approach, but you’ll want to keep your budget in mind as well. We can work together to figure out the solution that will work best for your particular needs.

Step 3. The Prototype

After we know what elements your site will require, I’ll sit down and produce a rough draft prototype. This will allow you to have something physical to look at and critique, as well as provide direction for future tweaks. You can study the prototype and let me know what needs changed, what you’re not sure of, and what you like in particular, so that we can move forward. After that discussion I’ll go back and create a secondary design (if necessary) and present that to you. Typically, because of our previous discussions and good, open communication, no more than two prototypes are necessary. Of course, we won’t move forward until you’re satisfied, so we’ll repeat the process again if you still aren’t ready to move forward.

Step 4. In Preparation

Before we can begin actually building your site, we’ll need all of your site’s initial copy as well as domain and ftp information. You can agree to provide all of this on your own (and save yourself a few bucks) or make the whole process a bit easier and leave it up to me.

Step 5. The Beta

After you’ve signed off on the designs, we’ll proceed with actually building your site. I typically use XHTML, CSS and PHP to ensure that your site is state of the art and will last for years and years to come. Depending on the size of your site and how many features you’ve requested, this typically takes about one week. At that point you have the opportunity to thoroughly scrutinize your site, making sure that everything is just as we planned and let me know of your changes.

Step 6. Going Live

Once the Beta is approved, we’ll make your site live. At that point the search engines and regular old humans alike will be able to begin finding your site. I can help you with the search engine part as well. In as little as a few days you can expect to see people coming to your site.

Step 7. What Happens Next?

A website is like any other business location, you need to continually assess its worth and how it can be improved. The good news is, that you can implement some simple features into your site that will help you to make money from it even if it’s not an online store. Keeping track of who’s coming to your site, who’s linking to your site, and where you are in the search results are all great ways to keep your website and your business looking happy and healthy. This can all seem a bit daunting, but a great advantage of going with ClickNathan is that I’m here for you, even long after we’ve released your site, and I’m always happy to discuss ways that we can improve your website.

Let me know what you think, or if you’re ready to get started.

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