What to expect when you're expecting...a website

A guide for companies thinking about creating a website.
By John Rossitter of www.rossitterconsulting.com, a Shreveport webdesign company

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 |  Part 4 |  Part 5 |  Part 6 |  Part 7 |  Part 8 |  Part 9 |  Part 10 |  Glossary

Part 5

The Typical Process |  You Decide |  Domain Name |  Pick a developer |  The Meeting |  Proposal |  Review |  Sign Contract |  Down Payment |  Design Begins |  Mockup |  Database |  Data Layer |  The Wait |  Preview |  Testing |  More Testing |  Installation |  DNS |  Go Live |  Release |  Lighting Cigars

The Typical Process:

Here I want to describe the typical web design process from start to finish (Though, as we learned earlier, your website is never finished.). Though this is not a definitive guide to how your website project will go, it's a good roadmap of what to expect.

You decide you want a website

For whatever reasons, it's finally happened and you have decided to be one of those people who have a website for your business. Or maybe you already have a website and you want to make some big changes to it. Good for you.

You buy a domain name

You will need to go to a website like GoDaddy or Network Solutions to purchase a domain name. Be sure to go ahead and get an SSL certificate too if you plan on selling goods and services with your website.

You pick a web developer

Either your cousin's brother's mechanic knows a guy, your neighbor's teenage son took a class on HTML, or you found a professional web design company in the phonebook. Whatever the case, you have decided to go with your gut, and have picked the best person/company for the job.

You meet and discuss the project

This can be either formal or informal occasion. Basically this is an opportunity to let their team meet with your team and discuss you project at an abstract level. This is the perfect time to do all of that brainstorming you have wanted to do. Don't set anything in stone in this meeting. Focus on the general idea of the site.

They give you a proposal

After some time, perhaps up to a week, your web designer will get back in contact with you and give you a proposed solution. This solution should clearly address every aspect of your website project and set forth objectives and phases. The proposal should also contain an estimate of hours, and cost.

You review the proposal and come to an agreement

Now is your chance to put those negotiation skills to good use and work out a deal. Most professional web developers are willing to work discounts into the price of larger projects. It never hurts to ask. Now is also the time to make last minute changes to the project.

You sign a contract

Once everyone is in agreement on the contract, all parties will sign it and perhaps notarize it.

You provide a down payment

Most web programmers will require some sort of down payment for the projects. This can range anywhere from 10% to 50% depending. If you are paying with a check, you should be prepared to hear back from the web designer that the check has cleared before the work starts.

They begin working

Now the work actually begins. There isn't really any official ribbon cutting or anything, but you can mark your calendar for posterity if you like. At this point a lot of conceptual design work will happen. Don't be alarmed that you don't see anything happening at www.yoursite.com just yet. Chances are that your site is being developed on a computer at the web designer's office.

They provide you with a style mockup

After a while (days to a couple of weeks) your web designer will demonstrate a mockup version of your site. This will be a look and feel type of demonstration, so don't go into it with high hopes of the application end of your website working yet. This is your opportunity to offer some creative feedback and express what you like and dislike. Unless you chose to go with a high school student, you should be dealing with professional adults, so don't work about feelings getting hurt, tell them what you really think.

Once you have signed off on the mockup they will begin working on a skeleton version of your website. This has nothing to do with Halloween, but rather it's a functional version of your website that has working links and buttons. The goal here is to provide a working navigation system that is intuitive and non intrusive.

They design a database

Of all of the tasks of your website, this will most likely be the one you have the hardest time wrapping your head around. Basically what's happening in this phase is your web designer is creating a database solution to store information for your website. If you are database savvy, this means they will be creating the tables, views and queries that make up your database.

They design a data layer

This part of the project is akin to the database design, but deals with how to let the website talk to the database in the fastest and most effective way possible.

The long wait

Once you reach this point, the website is under major surgery. Your web designer is hard at work tying everything together. It's a good time for you to step back and not mother hen the project. It's ok to check in once in a while to get progress reports, and even check to see if there is anything you can do to help. It's also a good time to review that you have been keeping up with your payments if you are on a payment plan with your web designer.

They present you with a preview

The long wait is over, and your web design has a preview ready for you to see. This is your 2nd opportunity to make suggestions and express opinions. If the changes you ask for are covered within the original design agreement set forth in the contract, there should be no problem with your web designer making these changes happen for you. If you are asking for something that was not previously mentioned in the contract, you need to be prepared to pay extra for that.

Testing

If you are happy with the design at this phase, you will enter into a testing phase where you have full reign over the website to try to break things. Be methodical, and take good notes. Report any problems you encounter with the site immediately. It's important to make sure that your website works the same way on all common web browsers. (Internet Explorer, Opera, FireFox, Chrome, and Safari)

More testing

After you have reported your bugs and problems, and they have been said to have been fixed, go ahead and test everything again. Once again me methodical and report any problems. Do this as many times as it takes until its right.

Web Host Installation

Once the testing has been completed and your website is ready to go live, you need to choose where you are going to host your website. Most web developers offer some sort of hosting along with their design services. Once you choose the hosting company, you will need to install your website on their web server and database server.

DNS Propagation

This is often one of the trickiest things to explain to people, but very important to understand. In a nutshell, DNS is like a phone book that maps domain names to IP addresses. Every computer on the internet uses an IP address of some sort. Once you register your domain name it takes about 72 hours for that name registration to take effect throughout the world.

The site goes live

At this point, sit development phase of your website is over with, and you should be able to go to your website at www.yoursite.com and browse until your heart is content.

The site is released to you

At this point legal possession and ownership of the site should be transferred to you from the web developer.

You are lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills

Just kidding...

This is where you take over, and let all those years of business experience kick in. It's up to you now.

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 |  Part 4 |  Part 5 |  Part 6 |  Part 7 |  Part 8 |  Part 9 |  Part 10 |  Glossary

-Rossitter Consulting is a Shreveport-Bossier City web design firm that offers affordable web design and hosting. Click HERE to read more