A Long Process - Website Design

Recently, I had someone ask me about the process I went through to build a website. I thought this information would be helpful to share on the Design Cache blog!

A Long Process

Building a website is a long process. The nice thing about building a website is that you can make it as complicated as you would like. Because I suggest that my clients use the WordPress platform, I will answer your question in this regard.

Wireframe

First and foremost, I create wireframes. Wireframes are sketches/drawings that show what the website will look like. During this stage, it is important to determine the number of pages the website will have. In addition, the nomenclature for the navigation should be decided during this phase. As a designer, I try to have as much of the work done and planned out before actually going to the computer. This often saves my client money while saving me the stress and time of fixing mistakes down the road.

Choose a Theme

Once I have wireframed the website to how my client wants their website layed out, I begin to search for themes. WordPress themes can be found at numerous different locations. My first stop is often themeforest. As I search for a theme, I make sure to note whether the theme has e-commerce capability or other important features that were determined to be necessary from the wireframes.

Once I find a theme, it is time to upload the theme to my server/host and get started. If you have trouble uploading the WordPress theme, I recommend contacting your host provider to see if they can help you. After the theme is uploaded, make sure that you complete the customization section of the website first. This will start to shape your website with a few clicks. After this is done, and you have uploaded content, you may want to install the Yoast plugin or other plugins that allow you to customize the site with widgets, ect.

Customization

Every WordPress theme is different depending on the builder that is utilized. Saying this, as a designer, I often have to just play around and learn the particular builder if I am unaware of its capabilities. However, the more you build websites, the easier it is to learn the building platforms.

Once I complete the website, I will check in with my client and test the site with search engines. In addition, I will make sure that all of the links are connected properly. There is so many ways to customize a site that I cannot possibly explain every aspect. However, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me through my website at Design Cache.

Website Critique by Design Cache

Website Critique

As the owner of Design Cache, I was asked to provide feedback for the website http://www.giftideahq.com. It was an honor to review the code and provide feedback for a new website developer. The designer requested that I provide UI advice along with content ideas. Below I provided an analysis of the website based on each page.

Landing Page

The organization of the website works fine, however, I would make some slight adjustments to the nomenclature of the navigation. My first recommendation would be to create a “home” button in the navigation so that a user can quickly navigate to the landing page. In the header/navigation bar you may want to also create a subheading under the logo so that visitors know what the site is for. Currently, it looks like this website is more of a blog versus a gift suggestion website. One way to eliminate this appearance could be to make the images larger on the website and eliminate most of the writing. In a visual world, people like to see images. I would recommend letting the images tell the story.

In addition to those suggestions, I would recommend making the navigation bar a little larger and making sure that there are no spelling or grammatical errors. It may be beneficial to have a copy editor take a look at your website. At the bottom of your page, I would suggest a few changes in your footer. First and foremost, make sure that the copyright information is in the correct format. I suggest that you look at a well established website to see how the footer is laid out. There is a lot of empty space in the footer so you may want to spread the information across the footer in order to use the given area.

Occasion/Anniversary

This information architecture breaks design principles by confusing the user what falls under each category. I would recommend putting “anniversary” under the “occasion” tab. If you choose to do this, I would recommend putting all of the other gift categories such as “Father’s Day,” “Mother’s Day,” “Wedding Gifts,” ect. under the occasions category.

About

On this page, I would recommend having information regarding what the website is about. Because the website is not about you, the website developer, I would keep information about yourself limited. Instead, you may choose to talk about the different gifts that someone can find on your site or why the website was started. Also, in order to increase trust and credibility, I would recommend making sure that no grammatical errors exist.

Contact

While I understand the purpose of having a contact page for questions or comments, I would recommend having something else on the page to fill the white space. Maybe you combine the “about” page and the “contact” page?

Overview

Overall, the site is coming together! I like that you have made the website responsive, or chose a theme that is responsive. In a world where many people are on their phones, it is important to have a website that people can use on different types of devices. There is a lot of work that can be done on your site, however, I think you are off to a great start. Good luck!http://designcachegraphics.com

Design Cache

Design Cache, a graphic and website design business located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania has been working on increasing its website's Google rank. With the algorithms that Google has, it can be difficult to increase a websites rank, particularly when you don't know what those algorithms are. So, how did we increase SEO? Well, the first step we took was to optimize Yoast SEO through our WordPress theme. Secondly, Design Cache registered the business on Google. Once the business is registered, then it becomes a game! If you would like some more information about how http://designcachegraphics.com increased its page rank, feel free to visit the Design Cache blog at http://www.designcachegraphics.com/blog/