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Web Site Checklist for Web Design Island

  √ PURCHASE YOUR DOMAIN NAME
You should should take your time choosing a domain name. It should reflect exactly what your web site is all about. Try to keep it short, so it is memorable. At this time you should create a tag line if you are using one. For example, our tag line is "beyond the design".
DOMAIN NAME                   _____________________________
  TAG LINE                            _____________________________
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√ DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE WEB HOSTING?
Who are you hosting with? When does it expire?
  HOSTING COMPANY            __________________________
  COST PER YEAR                   __________________________
  EXPIRATION DATE               __________________________
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√  DO YOU NEED A "STATIC" OR "DYNAMIC" WEB SITE?
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STATIC
 
  • Pages are not going to change frequently (text, graphics, photos and videos).
  • You won't change or add functionality to your web site in the next few years.
  • The list of products or services in your company don't change much over time.
  • The list of products or services is not very long and individual pages describing them can be easily constructed.
  • There is no need for a sophisticated online ordering system (don't plan to have online orders) and you use another service for ordering such as Pay Pal or an online store.
  • The web site itself is not offering any services to the visitors (visitors cannot interact with the web site).
  • You don't need to access the web site and make updates yourself.
  •  SEO is applied to your web site as you complete the exercises.
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    DYNAMIC
     
  • You have to change your main pages frequently.
  • Products/services your company offers changes frequently (this especially applies to stores).
  • You want to be able to access the web site and make changes to your text, graphics, photos, videos, products, etc.
  • The list of your products/services are too long.  Costs for developing web pages in a Static Web Site would cost more than building a database for your products in a Dynamic Web Site. 
  • You need a more complex ordering system (checking available items against stock, maintaining the stock, tracking orders,  paying online with automated credit card transactions.
  • You need "search" cababilities on your web site.
  • Need web site to handle the mapping of customer needs to available services.
  • Need web site to accept input from visitors.  In some cases, such input could automatically modify information in the database altering content on other web pages.
  • Your staff can collaborate on the web site and permissions can be set for each person to allow them certain access.
  • You want to acquire new, online customers or visitors to your web site.
  • You want to allow visitors to register on your web site and collect personal information from them such as email addresses.
  • You want to send your registered users newsletters directly from your web site without purchasing an outside service to do this for you (such as Constant Contact®.   
  • SEO is occurring all the time as users refresh content, in addition to completing the SEO exercises. 
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       FREE DYNAMIC TEMPLATES
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    √  DO I NEED AN ONLINE STORE?
    There are 3 approaches to an online presence for stores:  

    Online Store Info - Web site contains only basic information about the store and offered products.  Shoppers have to either visit the store in person or order a paper catalog.  Static web site is fine for this approach.

    Online Catalog - Clients can browse the catalog, see details on each catalog item, but they can't place orders.  Although online catalog could be built as a Static Web Site, this is not a practical approach because frequent changes required to keep the catalog updated, will quickly surpass the cost of building a Dynamic Web Site.  

    Online Shopping - Clients can browse and order products online.  This means that the web site not only provides the catalog of products, but also implements an "online shopping cart" that simplifies online purchasing.  Such web sites are build as Dynamic, database-driven sites.
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    √  DESIGN
  • Do you want your web site to be TECHNICAL, CORPORATE or FUN?
  • Do you want the layout to be a SQUARE, RECTANGLE or FULL PAGE?
  • What COLORS do you want for your web site?
  • Do you want your menu bar to be HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL or BOTH?
  • How many PAGES/LINKS do you want on your web site?  Please list them by name (i.e. HOME, ABOUT US, CONTACT US, PRODUCTS, etc.)
  • Will you need a CUSTOM LOGO or any GRAPHIC designed?
  • Send THREE (3) WEB SITE LINKS and what aspects you like from each web site. 
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    √  TEXT, PHOTOS, VIDEOS
  • You will need to write all the text for your entire web site.  Once your deposit is received, you will receive valuable tips on how to write your web pages.
  • You provide all photos/images and video. All need to be in the largest size possible (dimensions need to be at least 1000 x 1000). Please note: you cannot copy photos off the Internet. They are copyrighted. You must purchase or have permission before using any photographs. There are some sites we can provide you that have free photos you can use. You can use your own photographs as long as you took the photos.   
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    √  CONTACT FORM
    List what information you would like to collect from the visitors on your web site.  For example: 
    • name
    • email
    • phone
    • questions you want to ask
    • comments, etc. 

    Choose how to display the information for each field:     

    • plain infomation box
    • drop down list
    • bullets (can only choose one option at a time)
    • check boxes (can select as many items as you want)
    • text area (hold as many characters as you want, like a comment box)
    Here are some examples of contact forms: Long Lasting Lips, Susan Powell Massage.
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    √  EMAIL ADDRESSES
    When you host with us you get free email addresses that match your website.  You can choose what to put before the "@" sign in the address.  After the "@: will be the name of your website.  For example:

              info @ WebDesign-Island.com
              Tori @ WebDesign-Island.com
              Info @ WebDesign-Island.com
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    √  CODE
    If using an outside database, such as Constant Contact®, Pay Pal™ or Mobile IM, you will need to provide the linking code(s).