Dwight M. Scott

The ways of the internet are crazy now. You can literally do almost anything from a website. It kinda reminds me of Wal-Mart…that’s a whole different story. Anyway, the reason why I mention it is because industry is booming and it’s time to take advantage of it.

I do not see why people wouldn’t want to incorporate their business with some kind if web aspect. It represents your business 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Innovation is the key to have a winning site. You need to have a leg up on your competitors. Do what they are doing but make it better or unveil a new revolutionary idea.

Getting a leg up means doing a lot of research. Visit your competitors sites, find your target market, and putting together a budget are just some if the main thing you need to do before getting your business on the web.

Essentially in the business world time is money. A question that is often asked is; “How do I turn time into money?” There are a few different ways. The first way would to be organizing your day. If you go in to the office knowing what you have to do there is a greater chance you will get it done in a more timely manner.

Preventing useless meetings is another way to save time. I know we all want to sound busy and say we have meetings to attend but in all actuality this is killing your revenue. The only time you should attend a meeting is when picking up a check or receiving a commitment from your prospective client.

Taking these couple of tips into effect will allow you to budget your time better and allow you to turn that once wasted time into more productive doings. This will hopefully bring your more leads, sells, and revenue. So stop wasting time and get more productive with your day.

Now that you understand the basics of design and development, you are prepared to get your project started. I just want to do a quick re-cap on some important things you might be faced with during this process.

Never supplement design for development - especially when your site will be mainly dynamically driven. The functionality will more than likely be how you get your ROI. So weigh your options and consult with your web expert to get a course of action.

It’s usually less expensive to re-design than to re-develop. When you get your site re-developed there may be a chance that some additional design may be included to properly execute the development. Make sure you allocate enough in your budget to achieve the necessary steps to reach your goals.

This may be a lot of information to retain, but I can assure you it will do MORE good than harm. I can’t stress enough the importance of being prepared. This will eliminate headaches and make the project go more smoothly for you and the web company (hopefully me!).

Design plays a big factor when it comes to captivating your audience. Statistics say you have about three seconds to capture their attention to keep them on your site. The best way is usually through the appearance of your site. It doesn’t take long for somebody to criticize your site without giving it a “real” chance.

There are many different parts of design that most people overlook. The most common are:

• Banner
• Text
• Buttons
• Corporate Identity (logo)
• Content layout/placement
• Footer

Having a custom design for each of the above can get pricey. Although these things are nice, they are not always needed. One of the most efficient ways to cut back on design is through navigational links. A lot of people want the fancy buttons with roller overs. What they don’t realize is that it can cause their price to go up too. So, what you can do is…have regular text links! This is a simple way to cut back yet still have a pleasing design.

Don’t get me wrong, design plays a MAJOR role in web development whether it be Columbus, Ohio or not! It’s really about captivating your audience and grabbing their attention long enough to find out about your company or purchase your products/services. I personally recommend going with a fancy design when you have a brochure site (informational - not too much functionality) since there isn’t a lot the site would have to offer functionally anyway. As I said in part 2, I would always recommend the functionality over design since that’s usually what increases your revenue, productivity, or awareness. Keep in mind that this is only if your budget doesn’t allow you to get the full package up front. It is usually less expensive to re-design a site rather than re-developing one…

As I mentioned in part one, if your budget does not allow you to get the full package, you may be forced to scale your project down. There are a couple of things to consider when/if faced with this issue.

If you plan on having a website that requires a lot of functionality to meet your financial goals NEVER supplement development for design. Nine times out of ten; the development (functionality) of your site will be the way your site brings you money or increases your productivity. For example, if you are undergoing the process of gettting an online store and you are presented with a price that is a little too high, you should really consider cutting back on some of the design. You can still do tranactions with a decent design, but you can’t do transactions with a outstanding design with no functionality to support it.

So it is vital that you fully understand what it takes to reach your goal. The design can always be changed in later phases of your web development project. I can’t stress enough how crucial it is to focus on ROI when it comes to the web. I’ll touch on the importance of the design part in part 3.