Planning your website - that is, dreaming up the idea for something world-beating - is always difficult. It is worth putting some thought and effort into it, as the more original and interesting it is, the more effective you can expect you it to be.
Before setting your plans in stone, look at lots of other websites. You'll see many ways of presenting information. Make, and refine, a list of the sites you particularly like.
When you've formed some ideas of how you would like your website to look and work, make a list of pages, and collect the raw material - photos, existing promotional material - and sort it into a 'pile' for each page. Work methodically through each page, writing the copy and also mapping out a rough layout.
Don't skimp on content
We don't believe in charging based on text and picture counts, as these have little bearing in the time involved in production of your website. What is more important is that the finished article illustrates your products and services in an interesting but concise way.
Don't go overboard
It is always unwise to make pages excessively long, as readers get bored. 5 images and 3 screens full is about as much as you should expect to hold attention.
Most people surf the web using a modem and standard telephone line. This type of connection is quite slow, meaning that it will take a long time for pages to download. It is well known that web users appreciate quick sites, and that is what we try to build. However, large numbers of images, especially large ones, can make your site load slowly. We squeeze images to the smallest possible file size, whilst retaining acceptable image quality. If you work on the assumption that a typical download speed is about 3.5Kb (kilobytes) per second, then a 50Kb page (3 reasonably sized images with accompanying text) will take approximately 14 seconds to load.
Ask for help if you get stuck
We are only a phone call away. If you have any problems or queries when putting your content together, we will be happy to offer guidance and ideas.
We offer a complete copywriting and digital photography service for those who don't have the time or inclination to prepare their own content. Whilst we are happy to do this if required, we believe that you know your business better than we do, and your website will probably work better if you come up with the content.
