your small biz website: light the fuse or thank the muse?
DESCRIPTION
website design process from concept to final design of live siteTRANSCRIPT
Your Small Business Website:
Light the Fuse or Thank the Muse?
2
Introduction
Review website development steps
Light the fuse on your website or simply your thoughts of a website
Rarely are we able to thank the muse when considering enhancements.
3
Where to Start?
1. Purpose & Motive
2. Target Audience
3. Domain Names
4. Website Hosting
4
Where to Start?
5. Content Management Systems (CMS)
6. Content – text, images, audio, video...
7. Functional components
8. Design development process
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Purpose and Motive
Why are you moving forward on the Internet?
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Market Differentiation
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Branding
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Increase Sales
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Advertising
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New Business Direction
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Educate / Spread Information
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Keeping up with the Jones’s
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Ready for Lift Off?
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Not Yet
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I want a website to…
Increase/reduce email/phone inquiries
Sell beyond the local area
Display a portfolio or calendar
Develop a community online
Provide e-books or case studies
Allow visitors to sign up for X
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Target Audiences
It is not YOU – no trophy sites please
Existing clients
New clients
Influencers – trusted resources
Personas – demographics, buying habits, goals/needs, proficiency/knowledge
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Serve current customers
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Influencers
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Know who you are trying to reach
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Domain Names
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Domain Name = URL
Web address = www.jbspartners.com
Email = [email protected]
Market your own business w/ each email
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Domain Names
Domains are registered, like a car.
Register for up to 10 years
Keep contact info up to date
Renew 6 months before expiration
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Domain Name = web address
Shorter than longer
Easy to spell
Easy on the phone
Memorable
No Hyphens
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Domain Names
Dot Com is king for business
Choose domain name before incorporating
Brand or describe your business
Don’t focus on search engines. They change
Sound legitimate. Not adf.bz
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Website Hosting
Operating SystemLinux
Windows
Shared server
Dedicated server
Managed server
Cloud Computing
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Website Hosting
Support – “who ya gonna call?”
Open Source - Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP = LAMP
You get what you pay for
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Content Management System
The Pitch – You can update your website
Depends on You
WordPress – known as blogging platform
Drupal - foundation to build on
Etomite or Modx
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WordPress
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WordPress Editor
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Drupal
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Revolution Theme
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Becomes This
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Thesis Theme
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Your Website Content
• Text
• Images
• Audio
• Video
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Your Website Content
Can you solve my problem?
Have you solved problems for someone like me before?
Details – quality, price and proximity
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Functional Components
Shopping Cart
Blog
Forum
Photo Gallery
Dynamic Calendar
Client Login area
Subscription / Registration
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Functional Components
Streaming Video (live feed = Expensive)
Online Giving / Donations
Podcast
Video
Interactive Driving Directions
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SEO
Best Practices
On Page SEOKey Word Research
Meta Data
URL structure
Internal Linking
Images
Off Page SEO
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Design Factors
Logo – Very impactful
Keep page design simple and focusedColors
Layout
Sound – usually not
Moving things – usually not
Three clicks to content
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Insight into the Design Process
• First concept through to completion
• Art Direction for the client
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Original Website
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First Mock Up
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Third Mock Up
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Fifth Mock Up
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Seventh Mock Up
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Final Mock Up
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Summary
1.Purpose and Motive
2.Domain name then incorporate
3.Keyword research
4.Select functionality required
5.Develop content
6.Customize a CMS pre-built theme
7.Plan on maintaining
8.Analytics – Mint or Google Analytics
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Photo Credits from Flickr• mleak - artbear.etsy.com - branding
• Flipped Out - ducks
• iDream_in_Infrared - salesman
• seeinside - advertising
• Hoeski direction
• lbsmsp town crier
• denis collette – flock
• DitB - Downintheblue – lift off
• Sofia Katariina - stop
• C&C Collision – auto body
• bookielovescta - video
• Businesscoach – business coach photobucket
• datflydipsetchick2006 - sports coach photobucket
• Thai Yin – blue shirt and suite
• Simple Simon - server
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Thank You
This presentation will be available at www.jbspartners.com
I look forward to your questions
any time.