Building a new website, or redesigning an existing one can seem like an overwhelming process, but it doesn’t have to be. Our website designers have broken the website design process down into four simple steps. They will work with you the entire process to plan your site, create your site, turn your site live, and keep it current.
Step 1 - Make Plans
Meet with the web developer to discuss what your online presence currently consists of and what direction your company would like to go. Some things to consider when planning your website creation or rebuild would be:
- What makes up your current web presence? Do you currently have a website? Social Media? A domain name? Branded e-mail?
- Do you already have a logo and graphics?
- Are you wanting to sell things on your website? How many products will you sell? How many images of each product are you wanting to show? Do you plan on increasing the number of products you offer? If so, how soon?
- How aggressively do you plan to market your website and/or products? Are you considering pay-per-click ads? Content ads?
- Are you planning to integrate social media? If so, what are your goals? Which platforms are you already using? What platforms are you considering adding?
- What, if any, features would you like to add to your website in the future?
- Who will be maintaining your website and/or social media? Will you do it yourself, or would you like Custom Internet Services to make your changes?
A Web Designer will work with you to help you decide which web design package will fit your needs the best–including where to host your website. Based on your answers to the questions above our web designers will write up a proposal for you to review. Feel free to ask questions, and when you’re comfortable with the plan, sign it and send it back.
Step 2 - Let Us Create!
Once we receive your signed proposal, we start creating! A first draft of the home page will be created and presented to you for review. If you like what you see we’ll keep going. If not, we will make the changes you suggest and then ask for you to look it over again. During the entire process you will have opportunities to make sure your website stays within your vision.
Step 3 - Go Live!
After you have given your final approval, we will turn your site live!
"Keeping your website current is important not only to keep things looking nice, but also to keep things secure."
Step 4 - Keep Things Current
Now that your website is available to users on the internet, it’s time to think about keeping things current. Keeping your website current is important not only to keep things looking nice, but also to keep things secure.
If you choose to host your website with us, we will make offsite backups daily and keep your CMS software, plugins, and theme up-to-date. For an additional cost, we can also update your website content. You tell us what changes need to be made and we will see that they happen.
Want to make content changes yourself? We can provide training to you and/or your staff on how to make changes to website content such as pages, posts, images, and products, as well as topics custom to your site.
