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P r i n t | W e b | Ta b l e t

So You Need a Website? What to Do First.Questions to Ask, Decisions to Make

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Andrew works as our Preflight

Engineer, Graphic Designer,

Web Designer, and all-around

computer guru. He has won

several academic and design

awards during his career. He

knows how to make effective

designs that call out to

customers.

About the Author:Andrew OsbOrne




Table of Contents:

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Turnkey “Website In a Box” Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Template Based Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Professional Web Developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11




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Today a website is a massively important part of any business.

Some companies treat them as an afterthought and put little

time or thought into them. Often these are the same companies

who complain that websites are pointless because they never

get any benefit from theirs. Others treat them as a serious

undertaking, and spend a great deal of time and market

research and consult with experts to make sure their website is

as good as it can be. They are the ones who reap the massive

rewards that a great website can provide.

As with most major projects, nothing is more important than

the first few decisions you make. From the onset you need to

decide how your website will be built and what tools you will

use because this will determine where you go next. This is the

most important decision that will determine more than anything

what your website will be like.

Introduction









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I like to compare building a website to constructing a building.

In that analogy, choosing how your website will be constructed

is like choosing if you want to use brick, wood, or concrete

to build your building. If all you need is a simple little shed

then wood may be just fine... but if you require a skyscraper

you’ll never get there building out of wood. Likewise if you try

building a website using the wrong tools, you won’t be pleased

with the results.

There are 3 primary paths you can take. You can use “do-it-

yourself” turn-key solutions like Squarespace, Wix, and similar

services; you can use pre-designed templates that you install

yourself into a system like Wordpress or Joomla; or you can

hire a professional web developer to design and code a custom

solution for you. It’s not possible to know which one will work

for you until you understand what each is capable of so let’s

dive right in.

Introduction









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Turnkey “Website In a Box Solutions”

The most well known option in this category is probably

Squarespace. You may even have seen their ad in the Super Bowl

this past year. Popular alternative options include Wix, Weebly and

others. League Athletics, popular among sports teams, also falls into

this category. These are services that let you pay a fee to use their

website builder tools.

Here is how they work: You pick a template from a selection of

options and then you use tools on their website to add content into

the template you have selected. Finally you can publish the finished

site. It is made to be as simple and quick as possible.

This sounds great, and if you need a website finished today then

maybe it is what you need, but there are some pros and cons to

consider:

Pros:

• Fast and easy

• No design skills required

• Hard to break, minimal technical skill required.

Cons:

• Feature poor: if it isn’t included in their built-in options then there is

no way to add it. No custom development is allowed.

• Little control: You get what their template gives you with extremely

minimal options to adjust formatting or layout.









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Turnkey “Website In a Box Solutions”

• Poorly optimized: Websites built this way are made as a bunch

of independent sections like building blocks, made to be slotted

in or out. This is what makes them easy to construct but also

requires massive amounts of duplicate code that will slow down a

complicated website. Keep your website small and simple if using a

tool like this.

• Extremely image reliant: The samples on most of these sites look

amazing, but take a closer look. Most of them look wonderful

because of amazing photography, but they have little else to stand

on. Remove the images and the templates are just bare skeletons.

If you don’t have access to world-class photography then don’t

expect your site to look as good as their examples.

Who is this solution best for: There are two things that these kind

of solutions do remarkably well: fast and simple. If you need a website

quick, and if you don’t have the technical skills required to setup your

own template site, then this may be the solution for you. However,

in most situations a website built with one of these solutions will not

function to its full potential. It may be a good idea to use a service like

this to get a temporary site built quick to make-do until you can get

a long-term solution put together. We don’t recommend you rely on

these tools for long.









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Template Based Website

Templates are a popular option for many business owners. They

require some technical skill to setup, and still have some of the same

cons as turnkey solutions. However, they do offer a lot more control

for people willing to push through the technical headaches involved.

To set up a template-based website, the first step is to decide

what Content Management System (CMS) you will use for your

website. This is a very involved topic in its own right, but watch

our blog for a post coming soon discussing this very topic. You will

also need to purchase a hosting account from a hosting company,

and a domain name from a domain registrar. You will need to

set up the domain forwarding from the registrar to your hosting

provider, and then install and configure the CMS onto your hosting

account. Confusing? Unfortunately yes, it is a fairly involved

process and we’re not done yet.









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After all that you can go to a template site like themeforest.net, or

similar, and find a template for your CMS of choice. Once you find

one you like you can buy it. You can then install and use the template

inside of the CMS and start adding your content. You will likely

find you can only add basic photos and text. To add any advanced

features like forms, slideshows, search, etc. you will also have to find,

purchase and install extra modules for the CMS you chose to add extra

functionality to your site.

Pros:

• Variety: There are hundreds if not thousands of templates available

to choose from.

• Moderate Feature Versatility: While you can’t do anything and

everything, you have a lot more advanced options to choose from

with a templated site than you do with a turnkey solution.

Cons:

• Complicated: You really need to be extremely comfortable with

computers and willing to get into at least moderately complicated

systems to be able to set up a templated site yourself.

• Time Consuming: Expect to spend a lot of time working through

all of the setup. It could easily be a couple of days work or more

depending on the size of the website.









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• Buggy: You have to take code from many, many different authors

and combine them together. This often leads to conflicts and bugs

that can cripple your site and may be incredibly difficult to hunt

down. One person made your CMS, another programmed the

template, and 6 other people made all the different widgets on your

site. Small wonder not everything works as intended all the time.

• Little to no Support: Often makers of templates do not offer

technical support, especially if you have done any customizing. If

something goes wrong you are probably on your own.

• Overwhelming: When leaving the “safe” confines of a turnkey

solution, you may realize just how intimidating a website can be. It

is easy to get lost in the hundreds of different layouts available and

the dozens of advanced features... some useless, some outdated,

some vital and some unnecessary. Without any professional

guidance into this wilderness it is easy to lose your way and end up

with a mess.

Who is this solution best for: Highly technical people with a lot of

time to fight through all the options and inevitable snags, hiccups and

errors. People who use this option also have to have no problem self-

teaching themselves how to manage complicated software.









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Professional Web Development

Hiring a professional web developer is usually the best approach. A

skilled web developer knows what features your website will need to

best complement your business and speak to your audience. They will

also offer you a wealth of guidance in all areas of your website project.

Typically, the process would begin with a meeting between you

and the web developer. They will likely come prepared with a list of

questions about your business, your target audience and what you

hope to achieve with the website. They will also likely ask you if there

are any websites that you particularly like. The intention isn’t to copy

or steal, but seeing what you like and don’t like will help guide the

creative process. The developer will also outline what is expected of

you. Often you will be asked to provide basic content and maybe some

pictures, but the developer will likely act as editor to make sure the









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content is written suitably for internet publication. He may also source

some stock images for the website if needed.

Most likely the next thing you see from the developer will be a set of

line drawings called “wireframes.” These are basically quick sketches

that show the basic layout of the site the developer will create for you.

They are meant to lock down generalities like, “is the menu on the top

or the side?”, “does this page have a sidebar or not, if so then where?”

and other basic questions.

After you approve a wireframe, the next step will be for the developer

to create a “comp” for you to approve. A comp is basically a picture

of what the site will look like. Usually comps aren’t made to be

functional. None of the links or navigation will work but otherwise

it will look almost exactly like the finished site. This is the time to

request any changes to the design of the site. Content can be flexible

but the design needs to be locked down at this stage.

After the comp is approved the developer will get busy on the main

work of building the site. This process can take some time depending on

the complexity of the coding required. Once it is finished you should be

given a chance to tour your new site before it is live to the world.









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Pros:

• Professional Guidance: A professional developer will help you every

step of the way to make sure your new website is as good as

possible. You don’t have to worry about not knowing what to do,

they will help you.

• Confidence: You can know your website is in good hands and it is

being done right.

• Unique Design: No more fear of getting lost in the crowd or having

a competitor make their site with a template just like yours.

• Versatility: Because the website is being custom developed just for

you, you don’t have to worry about sticking to a limited feature set.

While more complicated features may increase the price, anything

you need should be possible.

• Compatibility: A web developer will make sure your site works great

on old browsers, new browsers, desktops, tablets, phones, etc.

• Support: If something does go wrong, you have direct access to

someone who can fix it.









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Cons:

• Price: It’s impossible to say how much custom development will

cost as the price will vary widely depending on what you need.

However the old adage, “You get what you pay for” applies to

website design.

• Time: If time is critical, a good web developer can expedite the

process to meet your deadline within reason. However, good work

takes time and ideally you should allow at least a couple of weeks

from start to finish for the website to be completed.

Who is this solution best for: It is hard to think of a time when

talking to a professional isn’t the best idea. Even if you have only a

shoestring budget and a couple of days to get it done, a pro can likely

help by offering guidance if nothing else. A professional can save you

a ton of time and headaches.

Before a pro was called. After a pro was called.









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Be Better, Do More

Clarke, Inc is the hub for managing the creation, distribution

and management of marketing media.

If you liked this eBook, we highly recommend you check out our

book on How to Choose an Inbound and Outbound Marketing Services Provider, available at the link below for FREE!

Or if you’d prefer to learn how Clarke can help you master the

Mobile Marketing world, give us a call at (434) 847-5561.

About Us

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Be Better, Do More

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If you liked this eBooks, we highly recommend you check out

our book on How to Choose a Marketing Media Services Provider, available at the link below for FREE!

Or if you’d prefer to learn how Clarke can help take away those

proof-checking headaches, give us a call at (434) 847-5561.

About Us

How to Choose a Marketing Media Services Provider

Learn all you need to know about the benefits of working with a Marketing Media Services Provider, and how to pick the best one to suit your company.

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Guide to Hiring an Outstanding Marketing Services Provider


Guide to Hiring an Outstanding Marketing Services Provider




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