Establish Brand Identity

It all begins with an identity.  Most business owners already have that identity, but are unclear on how to fully translate it into a site.  By identifying things such as:

• Target Audience
• Geographic Location
• Business Personality

Organize Your Information

To further the ‘story’ analogy, the next step would be to identify our chapters.  Once an identity is finalized and colors are chosen, the next step is to identify what information the site needs to display or convey.

For this we create a sensible taxonomy, or hierarchy of information.

Establish Effective Layout

Once we’ve established the site sections you will need and at least have a rough idea about how they will be tied together, we can begin examining various layout options. 

They range from fixed, single-column layouts, to fluid multi-column layouts and everything in between.  Because we already have an idea of what our content will consist of, we can now start to prioritize positions on any given page.

For example, the layout can be different for each page of the site.  Not that you want to vary it dramatically from page to page, but you can certainly be a little creative.

Add Functionality

Once the rough layout has been established, we can begin to examine what functionality can be added to not only display the information in more clever and exciting ways, but even allow for a level of interactivity that turns a site into an online community.

Tools can be industry specific and tailor made, or existing technology can be adapted to suit a specific business. For example, if you sell widgets, would you like to have a live online operator that can link your customers directly to your sales or support staff?