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Here's what we've learned.

Ask "Why?"

A website has to have a purpose, including specific outcomes it seeks to encourage.

That purpose should be an integral, essential part of your business model.

Before you begin, ask the question, What do we want this website to achieve?

Types of website

There are several different technologies for building a website. They offer different outcomes, different paths forward and come at varied costs. Glide can advise you one the cost-benefits or see our article All about websites.

An engineering model

The only way to build a website on budget is to full specify it before you start building and to stick to the agreed specification.

We use an engineering based approach to develop a "functional specification" document that identifies every screen, every link and every downloadable on the site. Usually it also includes every work of text and every image.

When you have an agreed functional specification that meets your business plan and your budget, you have a good web project in hand.

Usually the functional spec reveals two things:

• the site is bigger and more complex than you thought
• the possible contribution of the website to your business is greater than you thought.

Project creep

A threat to every web project is the temptation to add in more functions and features after construction has started. The answer to this is discipline to stick to the functional specifications – and the "next" box.

Remember it's about them – not you

No-one can be forced to look at a website. They will look at your website if it gives them something they want. Most websites fail on the home screen because they immediately start banging on about themselves.

So, every page, imagine a user, just landed on this page, asking, What's in it for me? They will be gone in 5 seconds, if the answer is not obvious – and persuasive.

You'll get to the front of their minds but putting yourself second to their needs.

Remember pre-shopping

Part of the reason websites have suddenly become really important is the emergence of pre-shopping as a central consumer and business trend.

People like going to shops – that's largely why the Internet 1.0 (the retail internet) failed – but they don't have time to visit all shops. So they use the internet to narrow the list of products and suppliers they will consider. This is the primary retail role of websites today.

The same applies to businesses seeking new partners or suppliers. First they check out your website, If they like what they see, they will engage. If not, you may never know what you missed.

Manage the process

Websites require a range of divergent skills, including graphic design, computer coding, writing, business strategy and promotion. No-one has all of these, so most projects have multiple contributors, either within a firm or involving multiple suppliers.

Someone has to manage this. It could be you. It could be Glide, operating from a business strategy point of view. But it's rare that you will get the overall picture from a designer or coder. Your project is bigger than just that part.

How long will it take?

From start to go live, our record is under two working days. That's for a site with clear, tight objectives and some existing resources of text and images.
More typically, a business site will take 4 to 8 weeks, longer if it involves developing non-standard features.

We have had projects take a year.

Politely, we would like to say, the time frame is mostly in your hands. What takes the longest is getting the functional specification right and that's as it should be because it is here that the success of the site is determined.

Typically we will spend four weeks working with you on the functional specs and one week building.

(This is the opposite of the industry norm, which is to start building in the first week, then spend four weeks rebuilding as the client works out from the many things that are not what was wanted, what it is they really wanted. This is an inefficient and expensive way to build an inferior website. Far better to spend the time getting the functional specifications right first.)

Promote, refine – and promote!

A website is like a warehouse in Malaga. No-one much is going to find it, unless it is promoted to them.

Your website cannot deliver value to you unless it is actively promoted.

The most known types of website promotion are SEO (search engine optimisation) and pay-per-click advertising.

In fact, these are just parts of a broader strategy that is essential to website success. We call it WEO (website engagement optimisation).

No website will deliver its potential from day one. When you start promoting, start testing the results – and start refining. The process rolls forever.

Jargon and technology catch up

These days, it's assumed everyone knows all about websites, but in reality no-one knows it all and lots of us muddle by, glossing over the details. See our article All about websites to catch up on what you may have missed.