web site design
Web site design is the design and compilation of separate web pages that come together to form a site, much like the chapters in a book. The entire definition of web design can be a little complicated because technology changes so rapidly and it encompasses so many things. If you were to compare designing a site to constructing a building it would include the entire process from conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of the building itself. "Sounds like an architect that builds their own buildings."
The design of your website is very important. After registering your domain name we'll sit down and discuss the mission for your site. The mission of your site is the reason your building it to begin with. I believe different sites have different missions and a successful site should accomplish this first and foremost.
After we discuss the mission, we'll discuss the functionality. The functionality is what helps your site fullfill its mission. For instance an ecommerce site has to Rock! It's got to sell a product by accepting credit cards securely and seemlessly. If anything happens or looks unsecure during any part of the buying process you'll lose the customer immediately and possibly forever.
Then we'll talk about the look and feel or your site. Would you like it clean and sharp or busy and full of information? Which colors would you like to use? Maybe you've already got a nice logo or image to build from. All of these factors will come together to help me build the look of your site.
After the design meeting I'll go and make a first draft of your web site and seek your review. I'll make all the changes immediately and then publish your site to the internet and begin hosting your site. So let's talk, get an idea of hosting packages or view my portfolio to see a few examples.
admin, changes and the back end
I specialize in database driven websites or .php with a mysql database. This allows me to do several things. First, it allows me to create a hidden administration panel for you or your employees to access. The admin panel allows users to add, remove, or make changes to frequently changing items such as products and prices anytime they would like without having to know anything about html or programming. I've found that this feature makes your site better than the competition for several reasons. The sites seem to be kept up to date more often. Maybe because you don't have to worry about calling me or feel like your "bugging me" to keep changing things and it saves us both time in the long run. I've also found it also gives my clients a feeling of ownership and connects them to the publishing process which is important for promotion. It's hard to promote something you're not part of. This database driven method also works very well for real estate web sites because the realtors can add their listings, upload pictures and publish the homes to their site immediately.
Now that we have your products in a database there are all sorts of things we can do. We can run reports based on any of the products features; price, size, color, etc... One of the most important things we can do is syndication. We can syndicate or feed your products into nationwide shopping sites like froogle or feed real estate listings into nationwide classifieds like edgeio and trulia maximizing your exposure.
