“I can get someone to make me a website for $120 a month”, says the builder working on my kitchen.  “Good for you”, I thought.

Isn’t it great that the web industry has progressed to the point where traditional tradesmen are now thinking about the web as an important part of business?  More to the point, accepting ‘pay for use’ licensing rather than ‘build from scratch’.

What’s interesting is the level of sophistication you now get from pre-packaged web deals all over the place.

Every man and his dog, or should I say every willing designer working from home, can now offer pretty comprehensive solutions almost turn-key.  Others out in web-land are ready to take care of your hosting, your content management structure, support, and even customer relations issues.  Wow!

So what is this doing to the web market?  As richer core functionality becomes expected rather than a bonus it’s logical that the baseline has changed for web development.  What once was written from scratch is becoming modular and a commodity.  As we’ve adopted the internet, and value it so much, we expect a lot more from it.

Package sites have put real pressure on the price point of custom solutions.  Custom work is now vastly more expensive and the customer benefits aren’t as clear anymore.

So is a package template website going to work for you?  Well maybe.  Think of it this way – is your business unique?  Do you believe you have a unique offering that has to be communicated in a unique way?  If not, then a package is just fine for you.

If you don’t want to be forced into a mould then you’re going to have to think smarter.  I know most marketing people worth their salt will be standing up right now and saying that they want their client to have a unique offering.

So it stands to reason that if you’re really serious about the web then you need a custom built site.  Right?  Well maybe not.  Find a supplier that has a strong base of technology at an affordable price yet also focuses on identifying your ‘real’ needs and then customising to suit.  That’s a smart compromise.

I fear that as the web industry matures all prospective website owners will fall into the trap of judging solutions on features.

It’s not unusual for this to happen.  Look at Plasma and LCD TV’s.  A few years ago you’d be stoked just to have one – but now, how many HDMI inputs, what res., what refresh rate, contrast ratio…. etc. etc.

The market for those goods has matured and hence consumers think they need to know all this techno-stuff.  They’re buying on features under the guise that this equals quality.  That’s just not so in my opinion.

It’s also like the crazy remodelling of cheap sound systems back in the late 90’s.  Gosh!  They started making them look like something out of Aliens, sticking lights and blinking garbage all over them, and to top it off ghastly numbers to tell you how POWERFUL they were.  None of this made them sound any better.  The more discerning customers turned away and went back to proper component HIFI with as few knobs and whistles as possible.  And why?  Because those items did exactly what they wanted and exceptionally well.  Nothing more, nothing less.

So when it comes to effective web design, less ‘is’ more. But there’s a disclaimer around that.  Doing less has to be done better (which is harder) and that means proper strategic architecture to suit users and not the confines of some package.  Buying for features at the back end doesn’t equal a better user experience even if it costs less.

So you’re bound to get a great package website now if you look carefully.  My advice is to focus on what your users need.  This will pay dividends early.

I’m reminded of a dilemma that one of our clients faces now.  A six figure investment in a custom solution that plays to the hearts and minds of his target audience as effectively as it can.  Or, one quarter of the cost for an out-of-the-box solution that ticks all the features he wants.

I ask, if it doesn’t look the part and isn’t tuned to users specific issues, how much damage will it do?  What long-term value should you place on the reputation of your brand?

Over the last two years, the TSO has been working with Hobart based website developer Future Medium Pty Ltd for a digital strategy and the delivery of a new public website as part of a major sponsorship deal.

Future Medium is utilising its Strategic, Creative and Technical strengths to deliver a state of the art website redevelopment to promote the TSO’s goals and objectives. This will benefit the TSO by presenting a new site that is visually engaging and strongly aligned to the TSO brand, and will act as a powerful communication and education tool. This work will be seamlessly integrated with the TSO’s current back-end systems, facilitating increased business efficiencies. Both parties see this as a ‘Win, Win’ situation.

“We are delighted to be able to assist an iconic Tasmanian organisation promote itself to the world” said José Navarro, General Manager of Future Medium.

During the initial stages of the process, Future Medium discovered the TSO required assistance with its branding position and prompted the TSO to establish a new brand strategy and identity with the assistance of Inspired By Marketing and subsequently Clemenger Tasmania.

With the arrival of the new brand material the web project went into full swing – for the last four months Future Medium have been designing and developing an exciting new website.

“Along with the new ‘Ignite’ look and feel, the website will include many new interactive features, bringing the TSO to the front of the pack on a global scale” said Glen Johnson, Managing Director of Future Medium.

An interactive timeline of upcoming and previous events has been created for users to browse both upcoming and historical events. Similarly, a browser has been created for users to view and purchase recordings produced by the TSO.

Facilities will be provided for user reviews and feedback of events and albums. Users can book tickets and purchase albums online via the new integration of the Tessitura booking system.

An array of information will also be available about the TSO, its venues and concerts.

Launch of the new website is scheduled for late 2009 and is sure to be a classic hit.

Great!  But who uses it, and how?

The number of times we come across poorly functioning websites that don’t meet user expectations is far too common.  There are some real shockers but some can get away with it.

If you’re selling a Widget online and it’s red or yellow, and does ‘stuff’, then you promote how ‘cool’ those colours are, explain ‘stuff’ and ask for the cash.  Easy right?

But what if you sell a ‘Widget’ and then an unrelated ‘Service’ alongside it?  Well your delivery is unclear.  Your users wonder what you’re really on about.  Do they trust you?  Will the Widget sell as much as it would in a dedicated site?  Probably not.

And, what if you have 10 different Services from different business units and each of these has a range of Widgets they also need to push?  How effective will that be?  There’s an overarching issue in having lots of users with contrasting needs and behaviour patterns.

We end up in a game of ‘steering chances’ as we’re not solving one problem, but many.

We can only aim to serve a balance and try and appeal to the triggers of each group of users.  We have to find a balance otherwise we’d be building 10-20 sites instead of one; creating a whole host of other problems.

So how do we try to do this?  We have to profile users, match products and services to their needs, understand how they want to interact and what they expect.  On top of this we need to understand if we can stick it all in one bucket without overly compromising on the delivery.  If we mess this up the whole site will be poor at delivering everything.  Oops!

Consider a commercial organisation with a range of business units.  These are sometimes well marketed and understood by the user even before they press enter.  So maybe consumers know your offering – in most cases, they have some brand association, some recognition in the back of their mind – if it’s a great brand it will be front of mind… Organisations that are well known offline have a much easier time dealing with their users online.

But sometimes a brand is not well known.

Take a large government department as an example.  They are often delivering multiple business units that sit together for ministerial reasons rather than consumer reasons.  What does a user expect of those sites?  They provide so many different services and products.  Consumers just won’t get it.

Government department sites commonly aren’t marketed clearly to the consumer in offline media either.  The user expectation isn’t set.  When the user lands on these sites they need the story to be told, there’s a message to deliver, they will be faced with so many different business units and initiatives all fighting for attention, and worse, there’s usually a bunch of policy and stale information that the government is obliged to push to them.  How on Earth can sites like that be effective?

The only way to get a result with a large and broadly complex site is to architect it from the ground up to meet user needs and behaviour, not those of the organisation or how it functions.

These large and cumbersome sites have often become so hard to manage and so distant from user needs that the only path forward to is take a lot of steps backward first.

Start with usability analysis, scope business needs and user needs, profile the users, develop a plan to service their needs and have a rationale in place to test EVERYTHING against it all the time.  When you’ve built it – go and test it – and then get ready to go back through it all over again whenever something changes in your organisation.

This article aims to increase your knowledge of the website development process, and the specific roles performed before, during, and after completion of a website. By the end you should have a basic understanding of the development process and be able to identify critical elements required for website (online) success on your next project.

There are three key areas performed in the creation of a website:

1. Strategic - the creation, implementation and evaluation of your website/online strategy.
2. Creative - the conceptualisation and delivery of design elements affecting the overall look and feel of your website.
3. Technical - the actual building of your website, including the functionality to perform as required.

Strategic services occur at the beginning of any web project and will pick up again after project completion. Strategic services are used initially to gain an understanding of your broad business activities. The information collected at this stage is then used to determine your specific online needs. This is a collaborative process, facilitated during a workshop. Your company, competitors, online markets segments, goals and objectives for the project will all be addressed.

Strategic services also encompass techniques to measure the performance of your website (statistical analysis) as well as how to attract more traffic through paid and unpaid online marketing techniques (Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing).

Designers will draw upon elements highlighted in the strategy document, specifically knowledge about your company, your brand attributes and user group’s requirements. Their aim is to accurately represent the brand online while promoting an enjoyable online experience through the use of strong visuals that connect with the user and assist them to perform their desired tasks.

Developers perform the complicated task of coding websites, configuring back end systems plus application design and development. Front end coding refers to the implementation of designs; back end development refers to the integration of various external systems into a website e.g. Content Management System or database integration.

The number of people working on your project will depend on the size of the project itself and the scale and resources offered by the company you use. A larger web firm will have separate teams or individuals specialising in each aspect of website creation, whilst in a smaller firm all stages of a sites creation will be handled by only one or two people.

Before starting any design work your web developer should, at a bare minimum, provide you with a document detailing the exact services you will be receiving together with a project schedule and a set of terms and conditions.