Websites are linear creations. Your visitor wants to go from A to Z in the easiest, most direct way possible. Sure, they'll accept a little branch off to A2 or B3, but they have to be able to find their way back to the through line.
As a former programmer, business owner, and mechanical engineer, linear thought comes naturally to me. Thus, here is the process I have found effective in creating websites.
- Talk to the person responsible for the website at the organization (for brevity let's call him/her Owner). Talk about the goals of the organization, the target audience, what the Owner needs from the site, what the Owner wants to see and communicate.
- Build (or edit an existing site) using what we learned at the first meeting.
- Have the Owner approve or disapprove. Everything is changeable, nothing is cast in concrete.
- Adjust the website.
- Have the Owner provide or suggest images and text for the different parts of the site.
- Adjust the website.
- Discuss embellishments to the site with the Owner.
- Make changes.
- Have Owner review and comment.
- Add SEO and BOT protection, and finish up.
To be clear: websites are usually a moving target. As Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (a 19th-century Prussian Field Marshal) is said to have stated, "no plan survives first contact with the enemy". We try to stick with the plan, but life happens, but luckily the pieces of a website are mutable/flexible.
The key to success in this endeavor is to be flexible and communicate.
Contact us for a preliminary call to see if we're a fit.