Last week I received compliments that were passed onto me from two of my clients. Since the compliments were essentially the same, and my favorite to receive, I wanted to share them with you. "Not only is your site beautiful, but it is easy to navigate." The sites are: www.sphereeffect.com and www.serendipityjewels.net.
I work very hard on this step of the creation process. Why? Because I think it's one of the most important components to a successful website. We are marketing to people with a wide range of internet experience. I believe a visitor to your site should be able to get to any page on the site from any page on the site. I think that if you make it to hard for people to find things, they leave. We have to realize that many people have short attention spans when it comes to browsing the internet. We can create a site that is clever and beautiful, but if we cannot keep a visitor to explore the content we have not created a successful site.
One thing I like to do is get a clear idea of ALL content that is going to be included on the site so I can create a coherent "map" or flow chart. If this structure is in place before you begin on design, it makes everything flow better once you get to the content phase. Keeping the content flow in mind during the creation process keeps things from getting muddled down the line.
The steps in a website creation process for me are:
- Content flow
- Design to client's satisfaction (look and feel of site)
- Add all content
- Test the site to make sure all links and elements are functioning
- Launch the site
While working on Step 1 I often have a client say, "Can't we just decide this later?" I can't stress enough that completing this step first makes the rest of the process flow more smoothly and creates a more successful end result.
- Offering custom site design, template sites, re-design, hosting and virtual assistance.
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