For many clients when they sign a web design/development contract they will have no prior experience in the area of designing and developing websites. There are a few basic concepts that every client should be aware of. Below is a list of the things that every client should know about.

Like all things in life you get what you pay for. Yes there probably is a bloke who lives round the corner who dabbles a bit in web design that could make you a website for you. On the surface it might look ok but it probably wouldn’t work very well. The internet is becoming more and more important to the success of businesses. Often your website will be the first time a potential customer is introduced to your company and it is important that you make a good first impression.

In order for a website to be successful it takes time to design and develop as it needs to work in all browsers and platforms, be search engine friendly, meet current web standards and download quickly to name but a few of the many factors which need to be considered. And then there is the design and navigation of your website do you require special features and functionality to be added? These things all take time and cannot be rushed if you want a quality site.

Behind all websites there is a large amount of code. When you visit a web page you are only seeing the end result and behind this there will be HTML, style sheets, php scripts, java scripts and databases. All of this is invisible to the end user but is essential to ensure the site functions correctly.

Before you visit your web designer it can be really beneficial if you have some ideas of what you want. Think about the different feature you want your website to have. Do you have corporate branding and colours that you want the site to stick to? Maybe have a look at your competitor’s websites and take note of what you like and dislike about their sites. If you can give your web designer some initial ideas of the sort of things you are looking for this will make their job a whole lot easier.

Internet Explorer is not the only browser. There are now more browsers than ever and different people will use different browsers to view your website. The problem is that not all browsers display sites in the same way. So a site viewed in IE may look different to when it is viewed in Firefox or Safari. Therefore it is the job of the developer to ensure that the site operates in all the different browsers.

Not only do different users use different browsers but they also use different sized monitors and that monitor may be set to a higher or lower resolution. Again this will affect the way a site looks to different users. The graphics card and colour settings can also impact on how the site will look. It is therefore important that your site is designed to take this into consideration and no matter what size screen or resolution a visitor is using they will be able to view the site.

Different fonts may look different on different computers. There are some fonts that are standard across all browsers that will work fine. However, if you opt for a font which is not standard and that font is not installed on the web browser in a computer it will display a different font. The issue is that different fonts are different sizes, short, tall, fat ,thin therefore when a different font is displayed it can upset the layout of a page.

It is no point in having a fantastic website if nobody ever gets to see it. Appearing within the search engine results pages is essential to the success of a website. Almost 90% of all web users use search engines. The major search engines have guidelines which must be adhered to in order for a site to appear within the search engine results pages. Once your site is live the work has only just begun. The site needs to be marketed to ensure it is a success. You will need to ensure that the site appears when people enter keywords relating to your industry into the major search engines this is known as search engine optimisation or SEO.

Have you considered adding a news section or blog? The most successful websites are those that are updated regularly and have valuable content which people will keep coming back for.