Web Development Information

Successful Web Development: 10 Key Elements


There are many elements that are key to successful web development. There is no arguing that elements of talent such as graphic design, writing, and technical expertise are important. In the long run, however, it is the elements that are not directly associated with web development that determine a website's success. For the beginner, it is important to have a broader view of success

** Learn

Read. Learn. Devour all that is available. Learn about HTML, CSS, Bandwidth, Navigation, Writing, Promotion, Statistics, etc. There is so much to learn it is easy to be overwhelmed. Don't worry about the volume of information. Start in an area of weakness or interest and learn more about it. Take baby steps. Most importantly, no matter how much is learned, never consider oneself an expert. Such self-nominating status tends to impede learning.

** Purpose

What is the purpose of the website? Vincent Flander's over at Web Pages That Suck states that a web designer should always tell themselves the following:

1. The only reason my web site exists is to solve my customers' problems.

2. What problems does the page I'm looking at solve?

Sound advice.

** Goals

Set reasonable goals for the web development effort. Don't try to implement all ideas all at once. Create timelines. Build the basics first, and then fill it out later. Set content writing goals (a page a week, a blog post a day, etc.). Set link building goals.

** Organization

Organization goes hand in hand with setting goals. It doesn't matter what the organization method is, as long as it is, well, organized. This means that post-it notes plastered around the edge of a monitor is NOT an organizational method. A simple notebook with simple to-do lists suffices.

** Create a "living" site

A "living" site is one that is updated on a regular basis. Some pages may be updated daily, some monthly, some quarterly, and some yearly. Users can tell old information from new information. Many sites include an "Updated on" timestamp on the bottom of a page. Even if the information is absolutely correct, if the date is over two years old users tend to click quickly to the next item. A recently updated date (even if no changes were made) helps users know the webmaster has not left the site to die.

** Maintain

This pertains not only to content, which is covered in the point above, but to the overall design and infrastructure of the site. Are the images optimized? Is the design outdated? Are there portions of the site that are not used? Are there portions of the site that could be more user friendly? Are there broken links on the site?

** Backup

Especially if the website is an income producing, livelihood supporting website, make sure it is backed up. At the very least, back it up on a weekly basis. It seems simple, but many a webmaster has let years of work go down the drain because there was not a backup.

** Track

Who visits the website? How many people visit the website? Do they stay and browse the website? Do they click on the right links? Do they buy from the website? The only way to answer these questions is to track a web site. Tracking will inform web design in ways never thought of when the site was originally developed.

** Promote

Tell others about the website. Don't wait until the search engines rank the site well. The more people told, the more people that will come and visit.

** Perseverance

Tired of writing content? Tired of figuring out that quirky Mozilla/IE CSS problem? Tired of link building? Tired of trying to build web traffic? If anything will determine success it is the level of perseverance a web designer brings to the task. Those who persevere and attempt to overcome obstacles will be the successful ones. They may not be the best designers or writers, nor the best marketers or promoters, but they will be the ones constantly learning, changing and implementing new things in order to make their websites a success.

Paul Stefanski develops a site about recommended web design tools. It serves as a web resource for web design beginners.


MORE RESOURCES:

Web Design Company in UK Offers Outsourced Web Development and ...
The Open Press (press release) - May 10, 2008
(OPENPRESS) May 9, 2008 -- Kronik Media, the London based web design company are known for the value of their web development services for businesses. ...


Leading Web Development Firm Rockfish Interactive Selects Internap ...
FOXBusiness - May 6, 2008
"Rockfish Interactive's impressive customer base reflects the firm's great achievements in the Web-development space," said Tim Sullivan, chief technology ...


Arrival of technologically advanced web development company ‘Spinx'
PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria - May 5, 2008
2008-05-05 09:28:57 - Based in Los Angeles, Spinx provides professional website design and web development services to clients in the LA area, Orange County ...


New tool could make web development simpler
BizReport - May 5, 2008
If you've checked in with other web development companies, you know this is quite a bit quicker than other options. Here is how it works: developers begin ...


CodeGear offers drag-and-drop web development
ZDNet UK, UK - Apr 15, 2008
... PHP debugging options sit alongside error insight and source-code formatting features to reduce the potential for bug creation in web development. ...


Intuit Web development software launches in beta
Bizjournals.com, NC - Apr 17, 2008
Mountain View-based Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) said QuickBase is designed to let developers and independent software vendors "easily design, deploy and market ...


Web Development Firm
Black Hills Today, SD - May 1, 2008
The web developers at this South Dakota firm are on the cutting-edge of innovative web development strategy, they have created and launched successful ...


Friendlier source code with two Firefox add-ons
TechRepublic, KY - 11 hours ago
One of the more frustrating aspects of Web development is debugging. The disconnected nature of a Web page makes it hard to always see what is happening ...


The Navigation Aspect of Web Development
Promotion World (press release), CA - Apr 24, 2008
Navigation thus, is an important aspect of web development. A well navigated website, makes surfing an enriching experience and also enables a proper ...


Google Wants to Facebook Friend You
TIME - 6 hours ago
Only five months in, 2008 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in the Web's development. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Web-Development - Google News

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