Indiana web design and creative web solutions

It is common to have a website by these days.  Companies that do not own a website are beginning to see the negative effects it has on their business as more and more consumers look to the web over any other marketing medium.  With so many web design options out there, how does a company that offers quality services and products determine what the best option is for their internet needs?

In this post we will take a moment to create a checklist for companies looking to re-design, improve position or create a new website to follow.  We will separate the checklist into four web design areas including; web design (your online image and experience), web development (website process, flow and intelligence), post web production (tracking, utilizing goals, improving search engine results) and web company compatibility (some points on choosing the right company for your project).

Web Design

The design and layout of a website is highly important.  Studies show that users make a positive or negative opinion on a company within the first few seconds on their website.  Here are some points to follow when reviewing the design of an existing or potential website design:

• What message is communicated through the web design?  Do the graphics look dated or unprofessional or are they clean and catchy, making you want to see more?
• What demographic is the website design aiming at?  Do the graphics and colors isolate a specific demographic?  If so, is it your intended demographic or the demographic that offers your company the highest customer base?  If your customer base is fairly spread out, does your website reflect a more neutral focus?
• Does the message stand out above the fluff?  Web users appreciate the experience of your website, but they have come for the content.  Does the web design distract from the message of the website therefore blurring the purpose or does it enhance the website content?  Is the content easily found and readable?

Web Development

The development of a website is the process of converting the graphic design into web friendly code.  It can be a relatively lengthy process and requires knowledge and patience.  A good web design company will offer cross browser compatibility (the laborious process of creating a website that looks the same within entirely different environments - like Internet Explorer 8, 7, 6.5, 6 or 5, FireFox, Safari or the newest browser, Google Chrome).  They will utilize the latest web development technology and upgrade from older, less effective methods of programming.  Below is a few items to look at when selecting a web development studio:

• Is the website easy to navigate?  Can you find specific information quickly (say information on a specific product or service) or do you have to use the search function to locate anything?  Is the information logically laid out with an intentional process or sporadically placed anywhere with no purpose whatsoever?  If the information is not easily accessible, web users will get frustrated and return to Google Search Results and select another option on their search query.
• Is the programming intuitive and nonrestrictive?  Are you using complicated programming methods that make it difficult for your users to operate the website or is the programming an asset enhancing the users experience?
• Is your code accessible by search engines?  Google has recently announced their ability to “dissect” content from within a flash movie.  Although this is still fairly vague on how effective their “bots” are at extracting content from a contained movie, such as flash, it is a gamble on how effective important content is when concealed.  For effective website results, content must be easily accessible by users and search engines alike.

Post Web Production (SEO)

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of being proactive with your position within search engines like Google.  The post web production process is not only getting better search results, but gauging the type of traffic, online conversions, problematic areas within the website, etc.  It is the process of being proactive with your website as a powerful online marketing tool, not simply an online brochure.  Below are a few points/questions to consider when looking into SEO services:

• SEO is crucial for any effective website.  For example, our website has gained success within search engines based upon our efforts corresponding with the guidelines set by the search engines.  If you would search “Indiana web services” - which is a statewide term - you will find us up at the top.  If you would search “Creative web services” - which is a worldwide term - you will find us within the first page of results.  The achievements are reached by following SEO guidelines and remaining consistent with our efforts.  This can be reached with other websites as well.  Learn more about Indiana seo.
• Track your results to know which search terms are converting sales and not just bring in traffic.  The important factor is that qualified traffic (users that will more likely solicit your services or purchase your products) find your website over simply getting the numbers to rise.
• Know your website results.  You need to know where users are leaving your website or “dropping off” and then you can make alterations to ensure your website’s effectiveness.

Web Company Compatibility

Make sure that your web company is a good fit for you.  You vision and ideas should be handled with care and translated appropriately onto the web.  The web project is as much a reflection on the web design companies ability to listen and collaborate as it is their creative limitations.  Ensure that your ideas are respectfully processed and applied as best fit within the website.  Below are a few questions to help with this process as well:

• Is your potential web design studio thorough with their proposal.  Do they detail out what is proposed and how the plan to progress forward with your website project?  Is everything clearly stated with a clear idea on what the price will be, or are there hidden addendum’s and un-speculated costs waiting for the project to begin to pop up?
• Do you feel heard?  Does your potential web design studio listen to your ideas and direct with their expertise or do they disregard your opinion altogether explaining their plan instead?
• Does your potential web studio attempt to understand your company’s vision and customer base in order to produce the most effective website possible?  Do you feel they understand you as well as an outside perspective can?
• Do they value your input and direction and curb it with their industry expertise offering more of a partnership or do you get to select from a row of stale templates and hope it works well for your potential customers?

These ideas, among many others can help you be more effective in selecting a web design firm.  If you are interested in learning more about our process, contact Indiana web design for more info on our creative web services.