Every company needs a professional and well designed website if it is to succeed online. This means that it needs to initiate a web design project. The company has to make the right set of decisions in order for this project to be successful. The web design project is going to act as a platform for the company to undertake marketing, branding, social media interaction, and other crucial aspects of online business. The best way to achieve success in a web design project is to create a set of tasks that need to be accomplished in phases to enable them to achieve what they need to.
Some of the tasks that the web design project needs to cover are; content, tactics, SEO, online marketing approach, and branding among others. This means that there is a need to create a multi-tiered approach to web design in order to have a real chance of success. The business must keep in mind that this is an investment and, therefore, return on investment should be the guiding principle.
A website’s success can be broken down into such aspects as web traffic, consumer engagement, social media integration and increased interaction and sales conversions. The objectives of the execution framework for the web project should use these as a measurement of success. In order for the business to succeed, there are a number of pointers that they can use in creating their web development execution plan. These will serve as a guide on what needs to be done.
Pointers for Web Design Project
I. Project inclusivity
The company must identify who are the players in the project, as opposed to who the spectators and stakeholders are. The spectators are the target audience, and they determine what the company needs to do. The stakeholders are the people who are expected to benefit from the project in the fulfillment of their goals and objectives, for example, the employees and board of directors. The players are the people who are directly involved in the project. Identifying which individual falls into which category enables the business to include them in their respective roles in the project.
You need to identify what the expectations of each category are. This should include what they are expecting from the project when it is completed. Gauge what they feel is missing, and what they would like to see done. Have them explain to you the functional and aesthetical features that they would like to see incorporated into the project. It is necessary to address all of these issues in order to determine the capacities that the users expect from the site. This will help you to determine a direction and scope for the web project. The easiest way to do this is to use a questionnaire.
II. Define what audience you are targeting
Your audience determines what your web project should produce. Audience research has been made quite easy to accomplish when you use tools such as Experian, Google Analytics, and Nielsen. This information will help you to define what the finished result of the web development project should look like. The finished website must not only appeal to the viewers, but needs to provide functionality also that enables you to convert them into consumers. The audience will also influence such fundamental aspects of the website as the layout, feel, and content, tone of copy, design, and social media integration that you will need to use. They will also define the kind of calls to action that will be most effective in the final design of the page.
III. Create Execution plan
An execution plan helps you to figure out what elements will be incorporated into the web project. It is a guideline of the process that breaks it down into a series of stages that can be accomplished in sequence. It needs to be designed according to the scope and capacities that you select to include in the finished project. In the execution plan, you assign roles to different areas and a supervision method for the project. You also need to incorporate milestones or achievement markers that can be used to measure progress. Ensure that you have a section that details the resources you will need for the project.
IV. Create budget
In the planning phase, you discovered what resources and capacities you will need in order to execute this project successfully. You now need to create an allocation budget for these resources to ensure that resources are utilized responsibly. This is especially more relevant where the project involves outside parties such as professional web design agencies and online marketing agencies. Ability to operate within the budget is tied to the ability to succeed on the project.
V. Designate progress measurement tools that you will use
You need a series of benchmarks or milestones that you will use to monitor the overall progress of the project. These should be designed from the plan that you created for the project. You must designate key performance indicators for every step of the process. This will enable you to take corrective action where it is needed.
VI. Select a hosting service provider
Your website, when ready, will need a hosting service provider. This is how you publish the website to an internet server. This is not an issue if you are planning on hosting the website on your own servers. Just make sure that your servers are able of handling the web traffic and bandwidth needed for the website. You need a reliable network connection and a stable server for hosting, so choose wisely.
VII. Create content
Content in all its forms is the most valuable part of the website. Without it, the website is nothing but a beautiful piece of web design art. You must have an editorial guideline for how content for the website will be created. The content must be designed to enable the execution of business objectives, brand imaging, communication strategy, social media integration, and marketing needs, to mention just a few. Good content will guarantee you success online, so make sure that you make the right investment in content creation.
VIII. SEO optimization
Your website must be optimized for the search engines. This is how consumers will be able to find the website. Search engines check your SEO optimization in order to determine the overall search engine ranking of your website. You need to have metadata on the pages to enable the search engine crawlers to read the pages effectively. You also need to build back links between your website and other websites in order to increase your website’s visibility. You need to create a conversion funnel path for the business website.
IX. Google web tools
Google has a number of tools that you need to familiarize yourself with for the success of your website. The first is Google Webmaster, which monitors website activity in terms of viewer click through rates and page indexing by search engines. The second is Google Analytics, and this will provide you with information as to web traffic and the origin.
X. Monitor and evaluate
The launch is just a new beginning for your website. You need to monitor and evaluate its performance. There are a number of key aspects that you need to ensure are operating within the desired targets, such as marketing and social media interaction campaigns.