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Who is Your Web Site For?
You have decided you may need a Web Site for your business or organization. One of the first things to establish is 'Who is this site for?'. That may seem like a simple question but this will narrow down what your targeted audience consists of and plays a big part in designing your site. Some sites are very private and require usernames and passwords to enter and retrieve information. Clubs, organizations and multi-branch busisnesses may use a site like this to centralize information, newsletters, meeting schedules and minutes that are not intended for the general public. Most sites on the internet are very public and are there to take advantage of the huge audience that is logging on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These sites are trying to get potential customers on their site to do some kind of business or on-line ecommerce. If your targeted audience is a younger crowd, you may want a more exciting graphic theme and feel on your site. If your audience is a more mature group, you may want a more secure or traditional layout. One last consideration is whether your market is strictly local, global or both. Some businesses, like a resturant for example, don't have much use in reaching people outside their region. They will want to design their site to reflect the local themes and hometown feel. (back to top) What is the Purpose of Your Site The next thing to decide and write down in your notes is the proposed purpose of your site. You may find that your site starts out with one purpose in mind and soon develops into new purposes you never thought of before. It is okay for your site to evolve as time goes on. Some things to consider here are: develop a list of names and emails of interested or returning customers, increase membership in an organization, sell products on-line, offer a catalog or other information to interested parties, post a calendar of upcoming events, tell the world about your unique service or product, offer reference information about your particular area of interest, show your portfolio of finished work, provide FAQ's (frequently asked questions and answers) about your business, or post current news articles and editorials. This list is only limited by your imagination. (back to top) Browse the Internet for Ideas There are literally millions of web pages on the internet. Take some time and browse the net looking at these existing pages. You will notice that some of them load fast and some load so slow that you move on to another site before waiting for it to appear. Some sites give you a good 'feel' and some may make you uncomfortable. Make notes and record the URL's of the sites that have the look and feel you want in your site. Look at some competitors sites and note the things you like about them and what you don't like. This information will be very helpful when designing a custom site for your business or organization. (back to top) What is CGI? Do I Need It? Before we talk about CGI lets discuss HTML a little. HTML or Hyper-Text-Markup-Language is the language all web pages use to display information on a web site. Unlike other computer languages, HTML cannot compute, make decessions or even add 2 + 2. All HTML does is display text, pictures, graphics and links on a page and position them according to its various commands. It can also determine text size, color and other attributes such as bold or italics. So HTML is limited to layout commands like those used to make flyers or display ads. It we just use HTML we can make some great looking web pages but these pages won't be able to perform any tasks like requesting information from a visitor, incorporate information from a database onto the site or search a database and return results. A site that just uses HTML can be boring or static because it lacks the interactive qualities that people expect on the internet. CGI or Common Gateway Interface, referes to a variety of programming languages that work invisiably in the background to recieve information, search databases, compute results and change the content of individual web pages automatically and on the fly. With CGI visitors can request information, supply information, search for gift suggestions based on certain criteria and receive this information on a custom made HTML web page that the CGI program actually writes itsself based on the information requested. This is a powerful tool for making a web site interesting and interactive. Content on a site can change automatically so visitors will want to come back often to see what is new on your site. We use CGI to provide our clients with an administrative interface so they can easily change and update content on their sites without having to know anything about computer languages. The possibilities of how you can use CGI programming on a web site are endless. Be sure your web site designer is knowledgeable about CGI and discuss how it can be used on your site. (back to top) Some Do's and Don'ts in Design. We will start with some don'ts. Please avoid the use or over-use of animated graphics. These are thoe cute but annoying graphic images that flash and move on the screen, or run back and forth across the page. Most of these come ready-made in clip-art collections some designers buy to jazz-up a web page. The use of these rarely adds to the graphic theme of a page, makes it load slower and is a real distraction. The next thing to avoid is music. It may be very tempting to add your favorite song to play in the background while people are viewing your page, but you must be strong and avoid this temptation. Not all browsers handle the music in the same way or at the same volume. It can lock up some systems. Your visitor may really dislike your song and therefore quickly leave your site. Finally, music takes some additional time to load and in turn make your page slower to load. Now for some do's on your web site. You do want to have a consistent graphic theme that ties all your individual web pages together into one web site. You want to have a navagation system through your site that is easy to follow and know where you are on any page. If you are selling merchandise online, make the product easy to find. I have been on too many sites that supposedly are trying to sell something, but I can't find the product to purchase after several clicks into the site. You should always be no more that one click away from making a purchase. Pictures and information about you, the owner(s) of the business are a good idea. Include an 'About Us' page on the site with a breif history of your company, your business philosphy and policies to give your site a personal touch. If your visitors can get to know you, they will be more likely to do business with you. (back to top) Selecting a Web Designer When selecting a designer for your site be sure to understand all the fees and services that will be provided for those fees. Examine the sites your designer has already made for others. Be sure your designer is skilled in HTML, graphic design and layout, browser compatibility problems and CGI programming. We will be pleased to offer a free consultation to you about your specific needs in a web site design. We have a complete line of services available for you including domain name searches and registration, web site design, domain name hosting, CGI programming, virtual servers and web site promotion. Please call us toll free at (888) 474-5547 and ask for John Noveske. If you are in the Grants Pass, Oregon area our number is 474-5547. View our portfolio for examples of sites we have designed and currently host on the internet. (back to top) |
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