Web Design
Whoa there Nellie! Aren't we living in the brave new WYSIWYG world? After all, the days of the computer nerd entering line after line of characters looking like a pigeon pecked corn of your keyboard just to produce a web page that resembles a middle school newsletter are over. Aren't web design and web development pretty much the same thing? You don't have to know how to make paint to paint a pretty picture.
True, if your aim is only to paint the picture for yourself. True, if you don't care how your "picture" looks on your visitor's web browser. And true, if you don't give a fig if anyone finds you, flips through your site, buys from you or recommends you to someone else.
Web development is engineering your web site to look and perform the way you designed it. Web development is making your site easy for your visitor to move around in and comfortable enough for them to want to hang out in. Web development is using the right code and language so it performs the way you expect it to across all browsers. Good web development increases user participation makes it easy for the user to interact instantly. With web design you have oh-so-much-fun creating stuff with software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Painter, and Flash. A web developer has even more fun with XHTML, CSS, XML, DOM, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP, Coldfusion, and more code and languages that look like a Scrabble match between the terminally vowel-challenged. A web design without the proper development is like a sleek, sassy sports car with nothing under the hood. All show, no go.
A web site is developed to serve a specific purpose and will fall under these broad categories.
eCommerce site
The objective is pretty simple. The visitor should fill a virtual shopping cart with your products. The web developer's job is to make it easy for the customer to seek and find what he is looking for, shop for more if so inclined or enticed and then proceed smoothly through checkout. There should be no question in the consumer's mind about what and how he pays and when the product should be received. The consumer should be confident his personal information is protected and the integrity of the retailer is inviolate.
The site also needs to be developed so the retailer can manage his virtual store. Data needs to be transferred smoothly. Inventory can be managed. Customer information made accessible. Payment gateways created. Security administered. And, most importantly, the site needs to cater to needs of the retailer in ways that make it easy and transparent to make changes in the inventory, shipping rates, tax structure and all the details needed to manage a profitable on-line retail operation.
Content sites
This is probably the biggest and broadest category of web domains. It can include everything from the site containing your cousin's wedding album to the next presidential hopeful's spin on his latest transgressions. These sites are there to entertain, inform, persuade, and influence. Right now you are visiting a content site.
Development for this type of site can be as simple as a static site filled with compelling content or as challenging as creating dynamic user interfaces that will involve the viewer at every step. The goal for design and development of a great content site is for the user to remain, return and retain.
Lead generation sites
There are some things that are pretty hard to sell in the digital world and need the final touch of the analog experience. Real estate companies and car dealerships know this better than anyone. Brick and mortar stores have found this type of site a very effective way to increase in-store traffic through on-line promotions, incentives and coupons.
Development of this type of site includes both static and dynamic inventions to help the consumer overcome their objections. Ultimately the goal is to have the viewer make contact and an appointment.
Self-service sites
Self-service sites have probably saved companies more time, money and customers then any other business solution in the modern era. They have eliminated much of the need for 800 support lines and made the mantra of "customer service" no longer totally oxymoronic. Your customer now expects to be guided through the process of on-line support. You can create an atmosphere of immediacy through real time "chats", feature video "tutorials", offer upgrades, and offer more trouble shooting options then a single human operator could be expected to know.
Your customer expects clear solutions when visiting this site. You must develop this type of site with a sense of virtual ergonomics. Everything is developed to be user friendly, quick, informative and satisfactory while providing you with the feedback necessary to keep improving the customer experience.
Buzzdog Creative will look at your individual needs and tailor a unique fit for your business and your customers. You will own web real estate that will not only be found but explored and enjoyed.