1. Identify the purpose and goals of the site.

Before you jump in feet first, take a few moments to write down why you are building the site and what goals you are looking to fulfil by doing so. Also think about how people will find out about your site and jot down a few thoughts. You’ll find this makes the process easier, quicker and less costly.

2. Research the internet and find examples of sites you like.

Spend some time searching the internet and find several sites that you like and jot down why you like it. Also jot down anything about the site that you don’t like.

3. Create a map of the pages and likely content for your site.

Sit down in front of a flip chart and list all the pages of the site that you can think of. Then for each page, use bullet points to highlight the content that is likely to be on each page. This will ensure you provide a very clear brief to the developer and will go a long way to ensuring you don’t run over budget.

4. Identify the functionality that you want your site to have.

You will have some ideas about what you want your site to be able to do and how information should be displayed so take some time to write it down. Better still if you have seen the same functionality on another site take a screen grab (print screen) of it.

The types of things your might think about include:

• Do you want to be able to create new pages yourself (without the need to go back to a developer?)
• Did you want certain types of content displayed in a particular way?
• Do you need to search content and if you do what parameters do you want to search on?
• Do you want to be able to show products from a database or purchase products online?
• Do you want to be able to edit meta tags for search engine optimisation yourself?
• Will your site carry advertising?
• Do you want a newsletter sign-up page?
• Do you want a ‘tell a friend’ feature?

5. Identify what you want to be able to change in your site once it’s built?

All sites nowadays should have a content management system which allows the administrator to make changes to the site. However content management systems differ, so write down what types of information you want to be able to change. Do you want to change body copy and images, do you want to be able to change banners or maybe drop-down list content in forms? Do you want to be able to add new pages yourself?

6. What ongoing training and support will you have?

Like anything new, it takes time to ensure there aren’t any bugs that need fixing so ensure you build time and budget into it. And importantly, don’t get caught out by agreeing once-off training. In our view it’s important to have ongoing training support so that questions can be asked as you are working on your site – it’s virtually impossible to remember everything and you’ll also never cover all eventualities in a single training session.

7. Where will your site be hosted?

There are 3 options to host your site – on your own server, on the developer’s server or with an independent hosting company such as hostireland.com. Unless you have your own supported server, we would recommend using an independent hosting company. This will ensure your site is always ‘live’, is secure and is backed up.

8. Now write a brief.

Your brief should pull all of the above information together into one concise document. Wherever possible use examples you have found from other websites or sketches to make your points as clear as possible.

9. Choose a business to develop your website.

Unfortunately many development companies do not have great web design skills. It’s therefore essential to see examples of the websites they have built and check that they were directly responsible for the design as well as the coding of the site.

Many websites are now being built offshore – in India and Eastern Europe. This is a very cost effective option and could save you thousands of Euro. However you need to provide a comprehensive brief and more monitoring than using an Irish based company.  I would also recommend employing the resources of a project manager who has experience using outsourced web designers and developers.

10. Now it’s time to award the contract and start the build,

When you award the contract it’s always a good idea to agree a payment plan based on the achievement of milestones throughout the project. We would also recommend keeping a minimum of 20% of the agreed fee until the project has been completed in case there are bugs that need to be rectified. And if it’s time sensitive consider building in a deadline related performance bonus / penalty.

There are typically 4 stages to the build process (1) An initial design is created in Photoshop for approval, (2) the approved photoshop files are coded, (3) testing of the functionality to identify any bugs and design elements that aren’t correct and (4) fix bugs and approve the project.

Other things to think about.

• It’s always a good idea to build your site in a standard language such as php and mysql to make it easier to move the maintainence in the future.
• Don’t forget to create a google analytics profile and get your developer to include the appropriate links within the code.
• Depending on the functionality you want for your site, sometimes you can found another company or website that has already built the functionality you are looking for who will provide the code for a small fee that can be integrated into your site.
• It can be valuable from bothan SEO andcompetitive standpoint to secure URLs (web addresses) that people may use to find your website or product.

 Check out more articles in our Knowledge Centre.