Development
Branding + Website
Developing a website is like building a house. We start with the groundwork.
The FIRST question we always ask is… What is the goal?
Websites can sometimes be simple, and yet getting to that simple site can be a process of dozens of decisions. Of course, the more complex the site, the more there is needed to develop, test, tweak, and re-code.
Videos and interactive media have their own development process; such as the use of story-boards, keyframes and tap vs, swipe interfaces.
There has never been a simple easy one-click process to develop for any one of these kinds of deliverables. Because all projects have specific purposes, they require thoughtful approaches.
Frequently Asked Questions about Website Development
In order to break this down, let’s use a common request to understand more about development; the contact form.
Do forms need to be complicated?
Contact forms collect basic contact information can be improved to do more. Therefore, it’s important to first ask some questions.
- Who gets the information?
- Is that a different department depending on the subject or purpose of the visitor’s inquiry?
- What type of notification is received?
- Does the form have a conditional option depending on the answer to a simple question like “do you like dogs, cats, or both?”
As you can see, development helps us answer these things in order to build a form that serves your goals.
How long will it take to develop a contact form?
What the website does affects how much time it takes to develop that functionality. In other words, time. It takes time. How much time? Well, a donation form can take up to an hour or more.
- We first have to make sure the payment and email system is set up and linking.
- Then we have to create the fields and conditional options based on how levels of giving are selected.
- Then we need to create the various notifications for both the accounting department and the donor.
- Lastly, we need to test the form on both desktop and mobile devices.
So, as you can see, the time it takes is affected by the functions that are needed to achieve the desired goal.
Why can't we just use some 3rd party form builder, like Formsite?
Of course, you are welcome to use 3rd party options when creating forms, event announcements, etc. Most not-for-profit organizations and small businesses find these an affordable solution.
Using multiple online services to collect your site visor data will quickly become difficult to manage and see the big picture.
Spreading your marketing and communications funnels into various online services will quickly become a bear to manage, and are not tied together. This also becomes a lost opportunity to make connections before your announcements, your blog posts, events, promotions, and more.
3rd Party form sites are great to start but you will hit a roadblock when you want to add more functionality.
Developers like myself are experts with looking at the large big mega picture and creating an in-house manageable and connected system. This will save you time, headaches, and give you flexibility and control that you can not get through using multiple resources.
Sending site visitors to other websites takes your audience away from your main stage.
It does not take a genius to understand that keeping your site visitor on your site is the better. I don’t think this needs explanation.
Where Do You Go From Here?