DGD Consulting
Overview - Producing a Website
This section describes the activities required to produce a website. Whilst many of these activities are carried out exclusively by the website design team, there are a number of activities that require a joint effort and some where only you are the expert!
At first sight, creating a website looks a daunting task. But, like most projects, breaking them down into manageable activities
makes a project considerably easier to progress. This section gives an overview of the major elements that need to be followed
from initial planning through to live running. Each element is covered in more detail by its own web page.
Planning
- Determine your companies or organisations objectives.
- Identify where the website can help achieve these objectives.
- Identify the website's target audiences and their characteristics.
- What facilities/services are to be offered?
- List the pages that will be required.
- Content – where will it come from; how often will it change.
- Budget and Timescales.
- Create targets to measure success.
Design
- Establish the website's look and feel.
- Produce sample page layouts.
- Identify any special features required and their complexity.
- Determine methods for managing content.
- Select a website host and other IT service providers.
- Review the pages required a replan if necessary.
Development
- Coding – production of web pages, flash movies, and any special features identified in the design.
- Content – Complete text collection and integrate into pages.
- Build and integrate content management and other external IT systems.
- Deploy the system to the web server
Tuning
- Tune to get maximum search effectiveness for your target audience.
- Add website to own literature and identify others willing to link to it.
- During warranty period implement small corrections whilst the system settles down.
Review
- Is the website performing as expected?
- What improvements could be made?
- What feedback has been received?
Revision and
Upgrade
- Identify desirable changes.
- When ready, return to the planning stage
The next set of pages goes through the stages involved in building and updating a website. Not everything described will be required on your site, but understanding the process will give an appreciation of what is required to bring your ideas to fruition. If you want to learn more click on the Website Planning button. If you would feel ready to initiate the process of specifying your own site click on the Your Website Proposal button.