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Posted On: September 28th, 2010
A simple listing of some things you need to consider for your website design and development – whether you plan to do it yourself or hire a professional (in no particular order):
Go clean or go professional.
If you envision a website using high end graphic design you’ll need to hire someone who can deliver this vision. If you plan to develop the site yourself and your design skills are limited, keep it clean and purchase what you need online to enhance your site’s design.
Reduce the clutter.
One would assume cluttered websites with animated gifs and bold centered text went out several years ago, but conduct a search via Google today and you can still find these cluttered websites everywhere. Nothing says “I don’t want your business” more than a cluttered, unappealing website (in my opinion).
Lose the fluff.
Limit the use of “cool stuff” on your site, like too much flash and animation, sound that can’t be turned off, or worse yet, sound that’s jarring and repeats on every page (here’s just one annoying example). Don’t use too many badges or just plain stuff that really has no value. Visitors are mostly interested in what you can do for them so give it to them straight up.
Keep load times in check.
Keep your file sizes manageable and limit the flash. Remember: if it takes more than an average of 5 seconds to load a web page you’ve probably lost at least half of your potential audience. Seriously. Check out this handy tool to see if your website loads quickly enough.
Your navigation should follow the KISS rule.
Keeping it simple is the best way to go when developing the navigation for your website. I don’t care if you have 100s of pages. You’ll need a good way to logically organize your site’s content so that every page can be easily found. This could be accomplished by creating sections and then using drop down or sliding menus (like my site at www.amandamarks.com). Just remember that however you plan to develop your navigation, it needs to be intuitive and user friendly. Period.
Let visitors know how to contact you.
A simple contact link and/or icon placed prominently on every page of your website is essential. Providing a reliable point of content is one of them most essential bits of information on your website.
Write good content.
If this seems overwhelming just start by writing. Let’s say you’re a plumber and the last thing on your mind is writing content for your website. Well, no one knows your business like you do so you’re the one who has to start the process (you can have a professional refine your content later). Start by writing a few paragraphs of content for each page of your website. Consider each page of your website as a new opportunity to find visitors and write meaningful text that focuses on only the subject for that page. Don’t rely on photos – good, compelling text will not only make the search engines happier but will provide you with more qualified leads. Use photos to enhance the content.
Understand what web standards are all about.
Well yes, this part should really be left up to the professionals but if you’ve found that website development and coding is an untapped source of enjoyment for you then by all means, dive right in! It’s important to understand what web standards mean, and how these standards will impact your website (and more importantly your visitors). It’s more than ensuring that your HTML validates, that you code without tables or that you effectively separate the code and layout from the content—web standards are also about accessibility and understanding who your visitors are and ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to view your website. For a good lowdown on web standards visit this site.
Maintain a site map page.
And have a link to it in your navigation. A good site map can be an essential landing page for visitors looking for something on your website, especially if it’s a larger website. A good site map page can also provide the search engines with important information that can be used to improve your rankings over time. It’s important to ensure that your site map page is kept up to date as you make changes to your website.
Don’t forget to write Meta descriptions.
One of the more important Meta tags, the Meta description tag allows you to control how your pages’ intro text is displayed in search results. A well written Meta description (for each page) can influence whether or not visitors decide to actually visit your site.
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2 Responses to “Web Development Checklist”
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- AmandaMarks Creative
Corporate Internet branding located in Newfoundland, Canada
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Amanda: Great article. I love the advice about load times. The tool is amazing. The big question for me is how to cut my load times down lower than they already are. Also, as an strategist/engineering type of person, I love your advice on design. Keep posting!
Hi Olin, thanks for the feedback! One thing you can do if you aren’t doing it already is make sure you code using standards compliant HTML and get rid of the tables wherever possible. Take advantage of CSS and separate your site’s design from the content.