The process of elaborating a web-site is in its essence a production process: in the beginning we have at our disposal an idea and materials and in the end - with the final product. We call the web application's production immaterial because the final product can't be touched - it's spread in an electronic environment. It's a product of the intelectual work of designers, artists and programmists. Despite this it's easily described with the help of the same questions, which are asked by every other production's description: What is the final product? What are the goals and how can it be applied? With what kind and how many materials is it being produced? What kind of and how much work is being put in it? What is the price?
Like every other physical production this also is devided in two different kinds - production of a unique product and serial production. Parameters like quality control, market valuation etc. have even been introduced.
In order to describe the process of elaboration and to answer the previous questions, we will examine the stages needed to be fulfiled when creating a firm's web-site:
Usually, here is where it all starts...
The goals which you can set for you future web-site are countless. Here are the most common ones:
Shortly : The web-site should be an instrument in its owners fight for bigger profit.
In order for the desired result and the goals set for the web-site to be achieved, confidence is needed that the actions of all participants in its creation are headed in the right direction. The only way this to happen certainly is when there's a plan.
The web-site is examined as a project. Its fulfilment - like a sequence of previously specified actions. And the final result - like a number of parameters, which have to be achieved.
The work specification is a descriptive model of the final product. Its creation begins with the first conversation with the client - notes are being taken, sketches drawn, the functuality is being commented upon, the graphic design also. After the parameters have been specified, a hosting is being chosen, consistent with the technical requirements, which the web-site will set. The work specification is being approved by the client and the work for its fulfilment begins.
How many and what pages will be in the web-site? Will their content be connected in a hierarchy? Will this content be dynamic - how often will content be changed and/or added? Will there be a user's system, which realizes access limits to information for definite user groups? These are only part of the questions, asked during this stage. The data base is being designed here, the search possibilities in the web-site are planned. The file structure of the web-site is defined, in how many and what components (pages, columns, menus) will it show, on what level and with what restrictions will the visitors have access to it.
Now it's time to define the ways through which the visitors will pass from one component into the other, which are the events, provoking change in the contents. The structure of links in the web-site is being defined.
According to statistics, 15-20% of the visitors of web-sites exit them without finding what they have searched for. This is why we should pay special attention to the design of the navigation structure. The many pages without appropriate links between them and the unintuitive arrangement of the components in the web-site are obstacles for its usability and convenience. If the visitor does not find things easily, because of which he has opened the web-site, it's very probable that he won't try again.
The graphic design is probably the most important step in the web-site's elaboration. The following work is being fulfiled during this stage:
The firm's style of the client and the work specifications are taken in consideration.
Often, in order to achieve a unique and synchronous with our client's notion graphic layout, a couple of designers independently from one another prepare graphic models at the same time. They are presented and discussed over with the client - he has the right to choose the model, which best suits his perception of aesthetic look.
After we have the graphic models, information's structure, description of the function of all components, we are ready to "bring them to life":
Basic principles during the realizations in this stage are:
Among the technologies, which we use to realize the server part of the web-site are:
For the realization of the user's part of the web-site:
According to plan, the product is ready. It's time to proove that it's true.
We enter the information, which forms the content of the web-site. We carry out a number of tests. We inspect the code, follow the loading index. If everything is in its norms - the web-site is ready to be hosted.
From experience we know that despite the many efforts we have put in and tests we have carried out, the possibility for defects to show up in the final product is never fully excluded. In order for our clients to be calm that their web-site will fulfil its purpose and achieve the goals, which have been planned, we ensure an on-time technical help in case a defect in our products shows up. That is our production guarantee.
So, the web-site is allready working. He looks perfect - with a organized and unique content, it has stunning effects and the most intuitive navigation in the whole Internet history. It presents the client, his firm, the services and products offered by him their best light. But... nobody knows about him yet. One of the most popular methods for finding the needed information in Internet is using search engines (google.com, yahoo.com etc.). This way of finding information on the Internet has become so popular that a whole "science" has been born - SEO. The name is an abriviature for Search Engine Optimization - the process of web-site optimizing so it is "search engine friendly" and easy to find. In combination with a well planned promotion this method gives extraordinary results and the web-site becomes one of the most findable and used web-sites, based on the subject of its contents.
The web-site optimization is made with the applying of a number of procedures:
The owner-companies of search engines keep in deep secret the algorythm by which they calculate the ranking of web pages and due to this reason there is no perfect formula, with the help of which our or whichever other company could make you get listed a 100% at the top of the search result pages. What we could do for you is to optimize and think through precisely the structure, contents, the way of presenting and popularizing your web-site, which would undisputably give high results and will lead it up to the top positions.
It's important to note that the process of optimization and popularizing doesn't end with the creation of the web-site and its presentation in front of the public. Constant cares are needed in order for him to be up-to-date, search engine friendly, popular, easily accessible and interesting for the public.