Questions to ask yourself before beginning the web design process:

1) Why do you want a website? To simply share information, to get feedback, or to sell products?

2) What kind of web pages do you need? Once you decide why you want a website, you'll have a better idea of how many static web pages, how many interactive web pages, and how many transactional web pages you should have within your website.

3) How should your information be organized? The organization of your information is directly related to the navigational structure of your website. One of the most important goals for your website should be a good navigational structure... you want your visitors to be able to find what you offer quickly and easily.

Keep in mind that you may want to include a few extra web pages that are common to most websites:

• About - a web page explaining who you are and your mission statement
• Contact - a web page that offers ways visitors can contact you
• What's New? - a web page to easily find new information
• Policies - a web page that displays your website or company policies
• Site Map - a web page that lists all of the links within your website
• Links - a web page that displays other websites complimentary to (not competing with) your website

4) Do you have a logo? If so, is it in digital form? If not, do you want one?

5) Do you have images or graphics? If so, are they in digital form? If you don't have images or graphics... do you want any, and what would they be?

6) Do you want to include interactive forms? How many interactive forms do you want, and what is the purpose of each interactive form?

7) What did you want your website to look like? Consider the look and feel you're striving for:

• Specific style or era?
• Which fonts? Should headings be the same font as plain text?
• Which font colors? Should headings be the same color as plain text?
• Background color or background picture?

8) Do you have a Domain Name for your website? If not, consider domain names that include your company name or what your company does, and try to get a domain name that's not too long to type, if possible, since you can use your domain name within email addresses as well. Registering a Domain Name is a service that we can provide for you as part of the web design process... or you can contact dawnsweb.net for reputable Domain Registrars.

9) Do you have a Host for your website? A Host is a company that provides server space which allows your website to be seen 24/7. A good reliable Host will have very little or no down-time, have security measures in place, offer a wealth of information and additional website services, and support you can count on if you need it. If you don't have a Host, we suggest having a Host separate from the Domain Registrar... this keeps you in more control of your website in the event of a dispute. Signing up with a Host is a service that we can provide as part of the web design process...  or you can contact dawnsweb.net for reliable Hosts.

Steps in the web design process:

• Defining the website project
• Creating the website navigational structure
• Designing the individual web pages and testing thoroughly
• Uploading to Host for the world to see
• Submitting to search engines for inclusion in directories and lists
• Maintaining and Updating
   

You dream it... dawnsweb.net creates it...