Once you have a plan to build a website, you need professional help developing the site. The range of computer professions is as wide as the range of medical professions. It is just as unreasonable to expect a person to know everything about computers as it is to expect your podiatrist to perform brain surgery.
One decision that will affect your choice of developer is whether your site will be static or dynamic. On a static site, someone creates each page on the site. On a dynamic site, the pages have a basic template and then the schedule completes the content. For example, there are no developers sitting at Google creating every search page you request. There is a basic template for the search results and the programming takes the results from a database, creates the page and sends it back to the viewer. One of the most common types of website programming is a shopping cart. The more your site depends on programming, the more important the role of the programmer.
The following job descriptions will help you find people with the skills you need.
Web designer / developer: A web designer is in charge of the “look and feel”, the flow of the page and the usability of your site for the viewers (user interface). Many designers have experience creating printed brochures, which is a very different environment than the web. Go to the websites that the designer designed. Check a) how attractive they are, b) how well they fit your market, c) how comfortable they are to wear.
The web designer can simply produce a design image, rather than a website. In that case, you will need a web developer to take the design and turn it into a web page structure. The designer has the design and graphic arts skills and the web developer has the technical skills to turn the design into a website.
If you are very new to website ownership, your designer can also act as a project manager to help you decide what you need to have on your website and manage the project until it is complete. This can include writing a development plan for your website, analyzing your market, what is unique to your business, what pages your site should have, special features for your website, and long-term marketing and maintenance.
Copywriter: No matter how good the design is, without text about your product or service, the developer cannot finish the site. The development of many sites has been abandoned or delayed because the developer was waiting for words to put on the pages.
Writing for web pages is different than writing for a printed page. It is more difficult to read a computer screen than a printed page. Viewers also have different expectations of websites than they do of printed materials. Generally, your paragraphs should be shorter and simpler.
If you don’t have written materials yet, or if you don’t like to write (or don’t write well), you may need to hire a copywriter to create your text online. Again, read samples of the copywriter’s work to make sure the writing is well-written and interesting.
Graphic Artist / Photographer: Your web designer may not have the skills to create specific logos, icons, and illustrations for your website. In fact, your web designer is more like a design artist taking pieces and creating a unified look and overall plan. If your web designer is not an illustrator, you may need a graphic artist to create the specific elements that the designer needs for the site.
Bad photos make a bad website. You can improve bad photos, but you can never make them great. There is nothing that can replace high-quality photos for your website. Having a professional photographer is the best solution, but if you are taking your own photos, take photography courses and learn how lighting and perspective affect the way people interpret your photos.
Program: The special features of the website such as a shopping cart, an online gallery, forms, etc., are created with databases and programming. This is a skill that goes beyond the static web structure and requires programming skills. Software may already be written to suit your needs, or can be customized to meet your needs, but you may still need programming to find or install that software.
If the programming on your website is very extensive, your programmer should also offer to create a software plan. It is very expensive to make major changes to the schedule; So the more essentials you find out ahead of time, the more you’ll save in the long run. Stay tuned for upcoming articles specifically on web programming.
Website manager: This is the person who keeps your site running after it is built. When you need to add a new page, change a photo, change prices, etc., that is the webmaster’s job. If your webmaster is a contract worker, rather than an employee, you should be aware that that person has other clients. Your work may be listed and not done for several weeks. The best thing to do is have someone on staff who has the training to make those urgent changes that can’t wait.
Plan to spend a couple of hours talking to each of the people you are considering. Those conversations will help you understand both the knowledge of the person and more about the process of building your website.
