In several cases, while creating a website, people just delegate the project directly to the website designers. The website designers then start creating the website with their perspective. In the end, the perception of the website designer and the exact need of the client most of the time do not match and unfortunately, the website becomes a piece of junk. So, to create a website for any business just by delegating the task to a web designer is not enough and definitely not appropriate. This is largely because only the business owner knows who the target audiences are and how exactly he/she wants to showcase the business towards the targeted audiences. This plan and vision of the business owner need to be properly conveyed to the website designers and this communication is sometimes not well interpreted and produced by the designers. Besides a lot of problems, below are a few common yet important problems;
Misunderstanding of Goal: This is the first and foremost problem that comes forth. Needless to say, in most cases, when people think of creating a website, they just contact a website designer and provide the task to him. The website designer charges a remuneration and that’s all. The work starts. But, although delivering everything, people often forget to deliver the main key point and that is the “Goal” of the website. When work finished, the main goal of the website already gets drifted so long from the proper goal of the website and that becomes a real pain point for both the Owner and the designer.
Lack of engaging target audiences: Yes, this is also a related point to the above. As the exact goal of the business has not been properly delivered to the designer, the website becomes so different from the owner’s exact need (as per designer’s perception of the business) and that results in, the website can’t reach the target audiences.
Website is more than just “Coding & Cool Design”
A website is not just a bunch of codes or a canvas filled with nice scenery. A website is an entity on the internet which reflects someone’s character. There are so many things that are so important in order to build a great website like SEO, engagement, ease of navigation, etc. When I’m saying a great website that means it is not just a good looking canvas, it attracts targeted traffic, provides information and of course showcase the proper character of the owner. So, instead of just delegating the work to a website designer, if someone can create a website structure, content and UI/UX idea and then delegate the work for developing, the result will be that the exact need of the website will be fulfilled in a much more methodical manner.
There are several things that can be done in order to understand the exact need of the website and thereby create a website that will be actually beneficial for the business as well as the targeted audience.
Creating a skeleton for the website
There are many tools that can help one to go forth and systematize the overall procedure of creating the website. One can use draw.io for creating a flow chart of the website. draw.io is an online tool that is free and comes with so many features which is very much helpful. It’s very easy for beginners as the learner can easily create and save the diagrams in your system. After successfully creating the flow chart one can go to the Balsamiq application to create the UI (User Interface) according to the diagram and also he/she can check the UX (User Experience) part as well. One only needs to make an easy diagram and then use a wireframe for creating a blueprint of the website. And, then simply hand over the blueprint to the website designer so that the designer can relate with the idea of the client.
Choosing a Domain name
In several cases, I would rather say in most cases, clients haven’t chosen and domain names and even the designers don’t try to discuss with the client related to the domain. A Domain name is like the identification of a brand and for getting the target audiences attracted to the website, the most appropriate domain name is very important. So in that case, if the owner selects the domain then it will be the best fit for the brand which he wants to promote on the internet.
Making the Ideal Content
The most important part of the website is the content because it is the content that attracts the eye of the targeted audience. The business owner or the website owner can chalk out the content and then it can be further developed on the website. This is primarily important because nobody can elaborate on the business and the reason ‘why the website is important’, better than that person who owns it. The clearers the website’s vision and mission will be, the more one could attract a targeted audience and engage the traffic. The main matter of the website needs to be sufficient enough to benefit the web owner as well as the targeted audience.
On another note, the effectiveness of a website depends on how it is showing up on the search engine and for that, SEO is the key ingredient. This is not strange anymore that Content is the key element of the SEO. So, needless to say, how informative and clearer the content will be, the SEO score of a website will increase that much.
Making an outline of Design
Designing is as important as others. Designing is the part that attracts the eyes of traffics. In current times, there are lots of websites existing in the same business. But, every business owner has a catchy expression for their target audiences which attracts them to their businesses. Now, the owner can create a unique expression with a design that makes the work for the website designer so easy and so the website becomes great in terms of its look.
Correlation with the website designer is the key
The business owner needs to have a good correlation and coordination with the website designer. It is very important to have a discussion and have verbal as well as written communication between the business owner and the website designer. This will make it easier for the designers to fulfil the exact need of the website and thereby satisfy the client as well. Website building is a continuous and cyclical process. The businessperson cannot just specify the requirements once instead of that he/she needs to continuously review and provide feedback. The more this communication is done, the more effective a website becomes.
It is very important to showcase the proper concept of the business via the website on the internet and that’s why one needs to have the proper knowledge of the tactics involved in creating the best website other than delegation. Building an ideal website is a difficult task. But by using these methods one can easily build the ideal website.
About the Author
This article is by Sameer Khanal from Nova Web Solutions, an Auckland based web design company