Getting a web design project launched down the right track is really about half of the entire project.  As different as one website is from the next, one thing stays static for all different kinds of web design projects—big and small, simple and complex—better planning always equates to better end results.

Here are 6 questions you’ll want to give some serious thought to (and discuss with your designer) before proceeding with the production phases of the website design project:

1. What’s the difference when it comes to pro vs. amateur web designers?

It’s always a good idea to go through the vetting process with each of the designers you’re considering working with.  You might get a few lowball bids by developers that would seem to have some knowledge of web development, but when push comes to shove, simply don’t have the experience or professionalism to ensure a smooth project from start to finish.  Ask all of the right questions to weed out the amateurs from those experienced in producing better-than-satisfactory results for projects similar in caliber to yours.

2. What is the price and how do payments work?

If you think a web designer is being a little bit forward by wanting to discuss payment details and amounts quite early in the process, please know that they’re just trying to keep you up to speed in that department so there’s no sticker shock or surprises later on.  Experienced developers can usually get really spot-on when it comes to estimating the scope and price of a project, but there needs to be a contingency plan in place if the scope should need to be escalated along the way.  Make sure you’re on the exact same page as your web pros when it comes to pricing and payments before ever thinking about beginning production.

3. What is the purpose of the site?

You’ll want to really think about this one and ensure your designer grasps it very well too.  Unfortunately, it happens all too often that an organization decides to create a new website just for the sake of needing a new website.  But what goals should the site encompass?  Who should it attract, how will it bring visitors in, and what will the site do for the visitors once they are there?  By nailing out these essentials before going any further in the design process, the site can be custom-developed to accomplish these extremely important goals—rather than trying to address the concerns and retrofit the site once it’s too late.

4. What features and content will the website offer?

Once goals of the site have been carefully planned out, the next step is understanding and setting up a precise plan of action to accomplish them.  This is where the site’s features and content come in.  What needs to happen in order to achieve all of the goals set forth?  It might be writing a well thought-out section of quality, SEO-optimized content; it might be adding relevant maps, databases, or subscription forms.  It’s all about fully understanding the feature set required to make your site perform the way it should.  Working with your knowledgeable, experienced designer, really sit down and get these aspects of the site right…right from the beginning.

5. How will you bring in your visitors?

Every site has its own unique approach to visitor acquisition.  Some sites will be more like online brochures that serve as a place for offline referrals from phonebooks, offline advertising, and similar sources to land.  Other websites will be developed around a philosophy of attracting a ready-to-purchase, niche-oriented audience from the search engines.  Whatever the case may be for you, just be sure to figure it out upfront.  This way, the developer can work in all of the necessary components from the ground up.

6. How does ongoing site maintenance work?

Maintenance is sometimes the very last thing you want to think about before the website is even designed to begin with.  But it’s still important to ask the question here.  After all, maintenance can play a huge role in how you’ll want to create your site.  For example, if you’re building a new e-commerce enabled site, would you want to have the ability to go in and manage your portfolio of products yourself…or will it be necessary to pay your web developer to add, edit, or remove products from your online shopping system?  Same goes for adding or editing website content—do you want to pay hourly developer fees just to add a new article; or would it be better to integrate a content management system (CMS) in to the site’s structure right from the beginning, so you can make your own updates and changes with no additional developer fees required?

Getting these details, along with all potential wrinkles, completely ironed out at the conceptual phases of the project always makes for a more efficient and more smoothly-implemented project.  Remember, it’s inevitable that better planning can only lead to one thing—a better website for you!

Trying to scare your website visitors and online customers away?  No problem—here’s some advice on the 7 worst things you could do to your website to accomplish that goal:

1. Make It Too Complicated – When it comes to websites, simple is the name of the game.  Sure, they can use all of the right elements to look professional, elegant, or any other descriptive phrase you could place here—but never overwhelm your visitors by making it too complicated.  Confused and intimidated visitors click the back button faster than you can change their minds!

2. Copy Or Borrow Content – Yikes…definitely don’t do this at all!  First of all, using someone else’s written content without permission is asking for trouble—it is illegal after all.  But the more common mistake is to use the same stock copy or descriptions (with permission, of course) provided by the companies you do business with that are given to all of their other customers to use too.  This is considered duplicate content in the eyes of the search engines, and certainly won’t help your site build traffic.

3. Design It All In Flash – Using a little Flash design in elements of your website here and there is mostly okay (but remember, not all web browsers will display it).  The real problem comes with using Flash intro pages or sites that are entirely Flash-based from header to footer.  While they might look great, they make it practically impossible for the search engines to rank and display your site correctly.

4. Let Your Visitors Know You’re Under Construction – Resist the urge, just don’t do it!  Claiming “under construction” as an exemption for not having the ideal customer-ready website is a major customer confidence turn-off.  If your website isn’t ready for the mainstream, either wait until it is before launching, or at least provide an appropriately scaled-back version until then.

5. Give Your Visitors A Headache – This is easy to do by using too many flashy graphics or too many gimmicks and gadgets that detract from the message at hand.  A couple of other sure-fire ways to give your website visitors a headache would be to use low contrast font/background combinations (you know, the red writing on the black background concept) or forgetting to keep paragraphs short and sweet.  Whitespace is good medicine for web-induced headaches.

6. Use Non-Standardized Navigation – There are a couple of places where we’re all trained by experience to look for a site’s navigation.  Across the top of the page is one place; towards the top of the sidebars is another.  Anytime a website deviates from this standard, it’s alienating visitors, discouraging them from exploring the site further, and potentially creating a usability nightmare.  Steer clear from unusual website navigation concepts.

7. Use Slow Loading Components (Or A Slow Server) – It’s surprising how many folks believe that just because broadband internet connections are practically universal these days, that it’s somehow okay to load a website up with huge-sized, slow-downloading components.  The thing is, now that everyone is thoroughly used to their high speed internet access, the last thing that they have is patience for a snail-slow website or an overloaded web hosting server.  Blink of an eye is the only way to go.

Okay, okay…so please don’t actually do these 7 things.  They really will hurt your website!

“Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t we?” Yep, Cranberries references aside, we’re doing a blog. What took so long? Well, we’ve got a lot to say, but we don’t have ample time to type it up because we’re too busy working around the clock to give our customers quality web and graphic design services. We’re in the age-old situation where the shoemaker’s kids don’t have any shoes. In case you weren’t aware, Sleepless Media is a design firm located in the heart of Santa Cruz, California.  We put together cutting-dege web design, content management systems, and online stores for the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

We plan on using this space to tell you about what’s going on with the company, offer helpful design/development tips, tutorials and resources and maybe even to vent a bit!

Stay tuned….