All About Webdesign

Project Meeting
We will first have a meeting, either in person or online where we will discuss your requirements for your project including an overview of your project, the budget, the due date etc. After this meeting I should be able to work out a quote or invoice to send to you for the required work.

Working with Existing Team Members
If you have, for example, a graphic designer you would like to include in the project, I can work in conjunction with them. otherwise, if you will be relying on me exclusively, I am highly experienced and more than happy to tackle this with you.

The Website Design & Development
Each website starts with looking at your existing branding, your ideas, your competition and then using my skills to create a web design that represents you professionally,

Designing a website properly needs a professional who will give attention to important concepts such as the UX and UI Design, the navigation, Leading CTAs, the structure of the website in general, the Graphics, Web-Friendliness, Responsivity Look and Functioning, SEO Structure, your Target Audience / Market, the Goal of your website which will dictate the Strategy and many other factors.

Assessing your current website
If you already have a website that needs maintenance and refreshing, or needs rebuilding, an assessment of your current website installation needs to be conducted to determine the best path to achieve the desired outcome.

What will be assessed in your website?
Various things will be assessed: type of website, type of installation, position on Google searches for obvious seo keywords, tags structure, navigation, design, usability – ux and ui design, responsivity, compatibility with different browsers, website speed, faults, errors and general performance. There are other criteria, but these list the most important.

Rebuilding old websites
Very outdated websites need to be completely rebuilt because the coding and platform would be so outdated that it would not be worth keeping, and the design would need a complete refresh. however, very often, because of the age of these websites, their positioning on Google searches can be good in relation to their onboard SEO – age is a determining positive factor for organic SEO in most cases. The SEO onboard the website will be preserved and in almost every case guaranteed to be improved.

I require server login details
Before I begin work on your website project, I will need login details for your server that can be requested from your hosting company, or which you may already have on an email sent to you. This is essential so that if any problems occur while working on your project, I will be able to do a full backup and restore if required.

What are these server login details?
This will be a username and password that will login to either your Cpanel or KonsoleH or whichever server system your hosts are using. If there is 2 factor authentication, arrangements will need to be made for me to be able to login. Please do not give me the login details for your hosting account, I require login details to your server only.

I am bringing this to attention as this is the number 1 issue I have seen with most websites I have rebuilt. Clients have spent tons of money on installations that were not done properly and needed to be redone.

Make sure the person building your website is an actual Web Developer
Content creators should not build websites as they cannot handle the technical aspect of building a professional website installation. A Web Developer should build your website so that it is technically sound and meets Web Standards, the Content Creator and Social Media team can then pitch in and do their work.

Some ways you will know your website was built by a Content Creator not a Professional Web Developer:

1. It runs slowly, backend and frontend. Even your users complain. It is an absolute mission to edit any content on the dashboard because it loads that slowly.
2. It hangs, and if it isn’t hanging, some things work and then they don’t work.
3. It is difficult to find things, things freeze or are in places that don’t make sense. It may look like a good enough design, but something is off.
4. You ask your Content Creator to fix a problem or change something that seems simple enough to you and they just don’t. They may not tell you or give excuses, but they probably don’t know how.

It is challenging enough building a website and keeping it efficient and unbloated without conflicts as it is without the added pressure of dealing with a bloated, unprofessional installation that has been built incorrectly.

I have recently started to build Headless WordPress websites and REACT websites featuring NExt JS. Headless WordPress gives you complete control of your layout and functionality of your website and it is also super fast as it uses the REACT library as a solid base.

I use NextJS to build my REACT front ends as it offers excellent onboard SEO advantages for corporate websites while still tapping into all the pros that come with REACT.

If you are requiring functionality beyond a normal website, but are looking for an online calculator, price capturing web app, bookings app or something similar, I create database-driven web apps written in plain code and completely custom built and designed from the ground up to your specs.

These apps are generally very customised so take time to develop.

It can be difficult to navigate the web development industry and understand how it works. Even if you do not use me as your web developer, as I am not always a good fit for everyone, I believe that all clients have a right to enough working knowlege of the industry so as to be informed to make the best decision for them. If that means that I will walk you through that and give you the information you need to find the right fit for your website project, I am happy to assist. Please contact me and hopefully I can help in some way.