At ZWebTech, we use a detailed approach to building your web site. We use several steps to accomplish this task. This ensures that the project stays on track with regard to site structure, site content and budget. These steps include:

Step 1: Initial Consultation, Defining Project Goals/Purpose

During the first step of the process, we will consult with you to determine the objective of your website such as your current situation, your company industry and information, products and services offered by your company/organization, your competitors, website purpose, objectives and goals, website design and layout preferences, e-commerce requirements, website content and functionality, domain name and hosting information, website marketing, promotion and preparation for search engines, website training and maintenance, resources and budget. In short, we will fully assess what do you want your website to do for you.

Step 2: Developing Site Structure

In this step, we are considering the technical part of the site. We need to determine how the information will be made available to the site visitors – what paths they will take as they move through the site, the navigational structure, the layout, color scheme and the flow of information. We will build a mockup site (with or without graphics) to determine the site structure in its online format. Using these tools, we can determine both the needed technology and site navigation.

Step 3: Site Design and Build

Next we develop the graphics and layout for the site. We will ask you to provide any text and graphics that you want included in the site and build a graphical mockup (home page only) for your review. You rate the design and make suggestions and changes. This will tell us whether or not we need more graphics or modified text for the site. Once you are satisfied with the direction of the project, and upon your approval of the mockup via email or in writing, a full working site is created from the mockup you approved and the skeleton site is placed in a private directory on our server for viewing and evaluation purposes. A careful review would be necessary to ensure everything works as you requested. At this stage, site enhancements and suggestions for improvements and changes are encouraged. After your approval, we will complete the graphics, collect or write all necessary text and build any animation or flash elements for the site.

Step 4: Site Programming and Build

The amount of programming needed varies from site to site. The site is built and populated with content that you provide or that has been provided by a third party. The final product will reflect the completed website, ready to be published on the Internet. Business processes and communication tools specific to your company or organization will be programmed to work within the site’s framework. All features will be built and rigorously tested by both our people and yours. Once perfected, we make one more exhaustive run through and the site is ready to go!

Step 5: Site Release

The site is tested and optimized for cross-browser compatibility and search engine readiness. The technical release of the site is usually very clear-cut due to the extensive testing in the previous phase. We always test our web sites immediately upon release and encourage our clients to do the same. Upon your approval, the site is launched live on the Internet and we submit your website to the top search engines and then we will also work with you on other ways on getting the word out about your new site.

Step 6: Ongoing Site Maintenance

At this point the site is released and our job of creating the site is complete. However, since public web sites are your face to the world, they must be kept current in terms of graphics, navigation, technology and usability. After release of the site, we encourage you to establish a regular review and maintenance schedule for your web site to accommodate client requests, user feedback, system upgrades and emerging web technologies.

It sounds like a lot of work is involved. Absolutely! But it pays off in the development of a quality web site that strengthens your business processes and improves your company or organization communications.

Call us today at 301-520-9440 or click this link to contact us about your needs.