Creating a website by doing it yourself. Exhilarating, fun and most likely you thought ‘well this isn’t hard at all’. Some actually add it to their resume as a skill while thinking ‘why would I pay to have someone do this for me?’ I’ll tell you why, for all the little things that you would have no idea come with having a competitive web presence where you are 1 site out of millions trying to be seen and heard. You only have 6 seconds to get through to a visitor. Not to burst any bubbles, but these fun little DYI website projects generally come to a frustrating end when realization sets in that your business and virtual front door may not be very competitive.

I blame the companies that offer this do-it-yourself option as a business solution. Shame on them. They almost make you feel guilty that you should build your own site since they are giving you all these easy tools to do it. It amazes me how many companies offer a complete package of hosting, web design templates and an editor, then say your ready to go. They claim it’s so easy you can be up and running within hours. The real kicker is you probably could, but at a severe handicap.

The goal for these types of companies are to get a web page up quickly and easily, not how to attract and retain visitors to your website, or how to make certain you are coming across professionally and creating a good impression. There is much to creating and evolving a web presence. You must think long term. Most would literally need to switch jobs to keep up with their website and it’s industry.

I’d like to show you alittle about what’s under the hood of building a website that gets missed entirely by the D.Y.I’ers and why you should go with professional services, not your receptionist or son in high school as a computer class project.

Although there is a ton to this, to each area and sub-area, here is a basic outline of process:

1. Web Project Outline
2. Team selection
3. Information Gathering
4. Site Planning

• Purpose of site
• Goals of site
• Target Audience
• Content development – see SEO
• Optimization
• Reporting
• Interaction
• * etc…

5. Design

• Do you have existing graphics?
• Do you have a logo?
• etc…

6. Development
7. Testing and Delivery
8. Maintenance

Let’s talk about the existing websites. They must be assessed to learn where the flaws are and how start improving your website today. Yellowfish offers this service and many clients have been astounded by their assessments and quickly set about correcting the issues with the website. Here are is a link with a fun little test for your website and others: Can your website do it?