Not allowing for a thorough planning phase

My experience has been that any site, new or redesign, should have a planning phase that involves approximately 30% of entire project -- from first thought to launch. There are entire books and much longer articles written about how to plan web design projects, but some of questions and issues to answer would be:

* What is your goal in doing this redesign? * What is your budget? What can you afford now, and what can (or must) you wait for in next redesign? * What are your constraints -- speed, browser ceiling, technologies, color palette, page size -- based on what you know of your audience? * What will be content? What changes, what stays, what will be new, and what goes out window?

Everyone who will be involved in site's development should be involved in this planning. There is nothing worse than having an entire site planned around one or more impossible targets, so propose ideas for functionality and ASK people who will actually have to implement it, for their input about feasibility, budget, and time.

Of course, goal of planning phase should be to have a fully planned out blueprint before first new line of code is written. This blueprint can make huge difference in time spent getting site put together, by providing a clearly defined architecture and design plan. The client or boss will have a clear understanding what they are paying for and what to expect in end. The designers will have architecture to create around and will understand what they are responsible for designing. The programmers and/or database developers and coders will love you for providing them with a clear plan and a goal to drive towards menu

Endless tweaking

One pit that many re-designers fall into is that they never 'finish' a redesign -- they continuously fiddle with it forever after testing phase and public launch. Obviously, it's necessary to fix glaring problems you discover, but let users begin to get comfortable with new site. Trust that if you did your homework, planned site carefully, designed it within constraints you set for yourself and tested it thoroughly, it's okay to let it be for a while. Continue to gather feedback, and observe traffic patterns and statistics, and even plan for next redesign if you must, but resist urge to tweak. Let new site mature. Rest assured, you will redesign again. And again.menu

Not documenting as you go

The first time your site was created, odds are it was kludged together on fly, without a lot of planning. Now is your chance to plan, and while you plan, document. Imagine how much easier future tweaks will be if you have it all laid out clearly and document how things were put together. Think how much smoother everything will go if standards for site are documented. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to dig around later to figure out what font was used in graphics you inherited? If your site is of web-application variety, keep copious notes during entire process, which can form foundation of user documentation that will be written for your new site. Comment, comment, comment your code -- for your own sanity, for your team members to follow, and for future revisions. And of course, there is C.Y.A. rule to consider -- save your correspondence, take notes, and document all way through, and you will be closer to staying within scope and having info you need to explain what you are doing along way. Don't miss this opportunity to make everyone involved in a site have a less stressful life!

Unlike early days of web design, industry now has matured and grown up to a point where there are standards and processes in place for much of what we are in business of doing. As overall size and complexity of web sites and applications we build, grows, best way to stay in control of them is to organize, anticipate, learn and listen. By tapping our peer's learning experiences, we can avoid many of pitfalls along way and hopefully only have to contend with new ones that our rapidly changing industry tosses our way!

Another important thing is navigation. Make it easy to understand. Some people get too fancy with that, which makes even experienced web surfers wonder how to get around their web site. Keep it simple and your web site’s structure logical- so visitors can easily go from A to B and access information they need.

Download time is also very important. As a general rule you have to make your web site load as fast as possible or your visitors will get tired and go somewhere else. However, it doesn’t mean that your web site should be “graphics- depleted” or lack interactive features. To apply this rule correctly you should know your audience first. Ask yourself: if majority of your visitors have broadband? Are they using current technologies? If they are, they may be looking for a richer online experience with high quality images, Flash animations, and multimedia elements.

There are a lot of other issues that you have to keep in mind like browser compatibility, and, of course, search engine optimization – but we won’t cover them right now.

What you can do to make your web site better.

1.Give your website a critical eye. Encourage your visitors to send you their comments and suggestions (at least you’ll show that you care) Ask them what they value most. Compare your site to web sites of your competitors.

2.Analyze results. See what most people do and don’t like about your web site. Think about how to enhance your strong points and to eliminate your deficiencies.

3.Find solution. If you can improve your web site yourself- great! But don’t overestimate your abilities. If you want an attractive, well designed site that stands out go to professionals- people with experience and special knowledge in this field. Let them do that work while you can concentrate on most important thing –running your business.

4. If you decided to seek professional help, don’t hurry and use your God given gift of common sense. Shop around, but don’t necessary go for lowest price. Price is a big factor, but not only one. You don’t want to end up with a cheap web site that you’ll have to change again rather sooner than later. Before striking a deal, do your homework. Do your best to find out more about web design company/ designer that you’ll work with. First of all visit their web site- if you’re not impressed, go away. If they can’t do it right for themselves- how they can do it right for you? Second, ask them to show their portfolio- see what they can do for their clients. Third, don’t be shy to ask for references. See if they work closely with clients and respond well to their requests.

And always remember- your website is face of your company. Leaving it in bad shape can really damage your image and turn away many of perspective customers.