MMGraphix

Guidelines

Domain Names

Finding a domain name is the first step and the wording for this normally reflects the company name. However, as the website industry expands domain names are becoming increasingly rare in identification. Therefore, alternative names will need to be considered if the original required name has already been registered.

Also many tag `ending options are available eg. .com is a global tag used for worldwide recognition and is predominantly American. .uk represents The United Kingdom and is a good tag if the company is based in the UK since other businesses will discover where the company exists geographically. This can be an added advantage in terms of convenience since many companies like to liase with each other nationally before moving into the international arena.

Other tags include: .org - for Organisations .net - for Networks .me - for Personal sites

Hosting

Site hosting is where the website is stored on the World Wide Web and certain companies provide servers, which hold all the page data. By typing a www.address the prospective customer accesses the server where the site is maintained thereby allowing access to a browser.

Planning

Once the company or organisation has purchased its own identifiable domain name and site hosting facility the next step is to begin planning the website's overall layout and strategy.

It is advisable to analyse the website into discrete sections similar to the chapters of a book, remembering that it has to have a beginning and an ending; these are often called the home page and contact page.

A basic site normally consists of at least 3 pages:

  1. Home Page: An introduction to the product or service
  2. Product / Service: Information on products and/or services that are to be promoted. This can often be more that one product or can be split into many subsections.
  3. Contact Details: Telephone, Fax and Email Address

Other optional pages that may be included are:

  1. Links Page:Hyperlinks to other web sites that could offer a customer further guidance or information
  2. Testimonials: Statements from existing customers recommending either the Service or Product
  3. Contact Form: An on-line form whereby customers can leave their details, ask questions or fill in check boxes about their likes / dislikes - ideal for market research

It is good practice to carry out some research at this stage by looking at other web sites that could influence colour, style and presentation. By assessing competitors web sites in terms of advertising their product and / or service may influence the proprietor to look more broadly at their own promotion.

Collating

Once the sections for the site have been decided, evaluated and implemented, the next major step will be to collect all the available information. The sections will be the main Label Buttons or Navigation Bar as it is often termed. These buttons and sub buttons allow access depending on the many and varied sections of the site.

Page Layout - This has to be to be specific and relevant about the information that is going to appear on the page, as the site needs to maintain the customer's attention. Use photographs to illustrate the text, remembering to incorporate the company's logo, corporate image and colour and style which may reflect the rest of the marketing strategy e.g. business cards and letterheads.

Consistency has to be paramount so that the customer always knows to whom they are dealing; also, customers tend to remember imagery rather more easily than text.

When designing a site there maybe crossovers from one section or page to another; these are called hyperlinks. When entering the text it is advisable to highlight the desired hyperlinks so that it is clear that there will be a link into other pages.

On typing the content header of each section with the appropriate label for the button, the designer becomes much clearer on where the information should be placed during the designing stage of the website.

Integrating Dynamicism

A website does not have to be a static HTML page since other elements may wish to be considered:

  1. Animated Gifs: Small animations to illustrate a page
  2. Flash: A website can be built with customer interaction as a pre-requisite condition. Therefore, Flash enables simulated televised effects that can bring the `wow' factor or impact to a website.
  3. Database & ASP: A product catalogue can be incorporated into a site enabling it to be edited easily by a specified user, have the ability to append, edit or remove a product whenever it is required. ASP coding allows pages to load in the Browser far more quickly than conventional html and does not review its coding to the viewer as it is held on the Server away from the Browser window, thus offering improved protection from outside users.