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my philosophy

In 2003 I developed a philosophy which included 3 areas to consider which makes a successful website:

  • Design
  • Technology
  • Marketing

Is this common-sense or did I have a firm understanding of the Internet? Perhaps both.

My philosophy in the years to follow (and in relation to a website), is termed ‘User Experience’.

You can view these areas of consideration on the right.

Think about the Design

philosophy 1 - designThe use and positioning of graphics, branding, logo, photography, logical navigation – basically a well-designed site to meet the target audiences’ requirements - is paramount to catching and then keeping a visitor on-site.

Technology choices

Marketing your site

A typical life span of a website build

The following tasks are a typical website build - from thought to launch.

step 1 - analysis

  • Look at my philosophy areas above - design, technology and marketing; examine at the target audience - their browsing habits, their IT-literacy, computer set-up
  • Look at the competition - what they're doing online
  • Look at sites you like the operation and the look and feel of
  • Agree contract, timescale and payment terms
  • Secure Objectives

step 2 - concepts

  • Concept build using Photoshop and Fireworks; shows suggested navigation, logo, hand-holding areas, content areas.
  • Establishing technology choices
  • Create a site map showing the site pages (which will mirror the navigation); highlights member-only and padlocked pages
  • Secure the domain name and hosting space (which caters for the technology choices)
  • 50% installment paid here, remainder at the end of project; discuss post-launch maintenance plan
  • Agree concept

step 3 - main build

  • Setting up the technologies
  • Creating local and remote testing environments; version control and bug reporting software
  • Slicing the concept into images for fast, slick loading as well as the page displaying correctly
  • Starting to create the base CSS styles; building accessible, compliant template/s
  • Client starts to write the content for the site, taking on board discussions on SEO; discussions on how to display content happens here (JavaScript)
  • Completing testing throughout and ensuring the pages are SEO-friendly

step 4 - delivery

  • Final testing
  • Final 50% installment paid at this stage
  • Site is launched
  • Marketing to partners and link avenues
  • Advertising on the engines, as necessary
  • Ongoing maintenance arrangement
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