Custom Website Checklist: Getting Started

While website builders are a dime a dozen these days, they aren’t necessarily the best solution. For people just starting out with an internet presence, website builders may seem like an easy and cheap way to go. However, do you want something described as “easy” and “cheap” to represent your business on the internet?

That may sound dramatic; and I’m not saying that you need a website that is complex and expensive. But you do want to put in some thought and consideration to how you are representing your business. After all, it may be the only thing a potential customer knows of you before making the decision to use your service, or your competitors.

 

Getting Started with a Custom Website (Re)Design

Whether you are starting from scratch or redesigning an existing website, there are a few things we need to get started.

We’ve created the list below to help you see that what we need isn’t really much. Most people think that entering into a web design project will be a headache. But, with these couple items listed below, we can take the reigns and bring your business to the next level.

 

Checklist to Help us Start Building Your Custom Website

	Reference Websites Before we get started, we will ask you to search the internet and share with us websites that you like. These websites do not have to be the same industry as yours. We are doing this to get an idea of your design aesthetic so that our mockup will be closer to what you envision.
	Hosting & Domain Setup We will need access to your existing hosting and domain accounts. If you need hosting and domain services, you can create an account and purchase the required package through LightSpace Technologies. We also highly recommend an SSL certificate, whether you are selling or need it for SEO value.
	Logo Files Your logo is an important aspect of your brand. We prefer to work with the raw files of your logo on your new website. This is to ensure that the correct dimensions and pixel density are used. These files should have been sent to you by the person that designed your logo; and, if not, should be requested immediately. The file extensions are typically .ai, .eps, or .pdf. Should you not have a logo, we can offer some design services to get an effective logo for your business.
	Photography Good photography is vital to modern web design. Screens (whether desktop or mobile) are becoming larger, clearer, and given a greater pixel density every day. Using new and modern photography will ensure that your website looks great on all screens, and in all browsers. If you do not have original photography or do not have decent photography, then we can provide stock photography at no additional charge! Logic Tip: Having authentic photography of your business, staff, and services will increase your website relatability. Generally, real photos are better for conversions.
	Web Copy No one knows your business better than you. Therefore, there’s no one more qualified to write the website copy than you. Companies often find this to be a tedious task that no one has time to do. Logic Web Media provides content writing services to fill up your website. In order to do that, we would need to have an outline of your services or key points you want to express on the website.
	Product Images/Specs (eCommerce only) When developing an eCommerce site, your products info and images are the most important aspect. These are the pages that will need to be converting to get you sales, as well as a good return on your investment. We recommend having clear and consistent pictures on the website. Along with the photos, there should be enough information on the page to describe the product to show customers and search engines why people should be buying from you.
	Other Software & Integrations Some clients of ours use various softwares or internet integrations on their current website. If these are reviewed and are deemed necessary, we will need the integration codes or the login credentials to connect it to the new website. Logic Tip: Using Google Analytics? Be sure to give us your tracking code to add to the new website so that there is no break in your analytics tracking!

 

Why We Create Custom WordPress Websites

It’s well known that WordPress is the reigning champion of websites these days. It is a powerful and versatile software that can be used for many applications, and will give your SEO a boost.

However, WordPress websites developed by the wrong people will be a waste of time and money. WordPress templates and plugins may seem easy and cheap (there’s our negative buzzwords again), but they will not bring you long term success.

While some WordPress plugins can be secure and useful, there may be some consequences from relying on plugins.

All Templates Have an Expiration Date

Although not written in stone, all WordPress templates have an expiration date. Templates are created using the technology available at the time. Eventually, that technology will go out of date.

Additionally, all WordPress templates rely on a TON of plugins. We have seen some website templates needing 30 plugins in order to work! And, what happens when one – just one – of those necessary plugins break or is no longer being updated by the plugin author? Well, the site can no longer function. That means that your entire business’ website presence can completely crash if 3.333% of your website build goes bad. Are your leads worth it?

 

Custom Web Design is Scalable for Marketing

Speaking of leads, are you getting enough? Using a WordPress template can be limiting when attempting to do any kind of internet marketing. There’s a few reasons for this.

First, templates are often guilty of bulky code and feature bloat. Too many elements and coding that allow the templates to do a few hundred different things is terrible for SEO and running ads. The code on these templates slow the website down, which causes your site to fall out of the search ranks and ad rolls due to increased bounce rate.

Second, if you need a custom landing page that converts, then you need it custom designed by a credible ad company. Templates are limiting on customizing pages and often give you too much or too little elements to meet your marketing goals.

And, third, optimization is very difficult. A well-seasoned SEO professional will want 100% control of your websites code. Anyone can tell you that content is king. However, an experienced SEO company will know that a large portion of optimization happens behind the scenes.

 

Conclusion

Here, we have listed what it takes to get started with a new website. In reality, there isn’t much you need to do! Simply hand over any existing account information, tell us what your goals are, and we will do the rest!

Redesigning your website should not seem like a daunting task. We will give you a similar checklist to the one above when you sign on with Logic Web Media. Furthermore, we will help you to complete this checklist as thoroughly as possible.