Setting Up A Website – Ten Lessons Learned

By Author: Martin Lawrence
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How difficult can it be to set up a website? Having just spent the last seven months doing just that I think it’s fair to say that it doesn’t have to be that difficult but it is very involved! For anyone thinking about doing the same here are the top ten lessons that I have learned.

1. Be Passionate – if you start on this journey make sure you have an idea that you totally believe in and truly feel passionate about because there will be times when you will question why it was that you started this!

2. What will your website offer? – are you looking to provide an information service or you planning to sell a product or service to your customers? The complexity of what you want to offer may impact how you undertake the development. If it’s really complex it may be worth creating a model before you start writing any code.

3. Think about using a Web Design company – if you’re planning on setting up an ecommerce website or want something slightly different or unique I would seriously recommend investing in a specialist web design company. They can offer a level of expertise that you just ...
... wont’ get using ‘DIY’ set ups or the help of friends. They will offer best practice advice and help you to avoid some of the pitfalls of web design.

4. Select the right company – if you decide to use a web design company the select on that you feel happy working with. Although price is always an important consideration, don’t let this totally dictate your decision. You need to trust the company you’re working with, be confident that they can deliver what you want and that they can help and support you along the way.

Do some background research on the company and its performance, review their website to understand the range of clients and services they offer and most importantly meet the people you will be working with before going ahead.

5. Capture and document your requirements – be clear about what it is that you want your website to offer and what experience you want to give your customers. This is invaluable in helping you to think through your customer processes and help design an appropriate solution. Ask for design examples and make the screens come to life.

6. Develop your Brand – this is the exciting bit but make sure you look at a range of design options from a number of designers. Seek the views of others before you make the final choice. If you opt to use a web design company they can help with this.

7. It’s not just about the site – don’t forget all the periphery and supporting processes that you need to arrange and manage such as logistics and payment processes. Key questions to ask:

What delivery options do you want to offer your customers?
What are companies offering and what is best for me?
Are there minimum delivery expectations?
Do you need a specific pick up and drop off time?
What payment options do you want to offer?
What are the charges involved?
What are the timescales involved in getting these processes set up?
This all takes time and needs to be factored into your development timescales.

8. Undertake detailed testing – test, test and then get someone to test again! Make sure you test every part of the site and every end-to-end process. Ask friends and family to help.

9. Search Engine Optimisation – the buzz words of the moment and absolutely critical for any business to be competitive online. Unfortunately you won’t be on the front page of Google from day one (we were hidden away on page 19!) and expect to work hard to improve this. This appears to be a science (or dark art!) all by itself.

10. Don’t underestimate how much work is involved. Make a project plan with realistic timescales but remember to try and enjoy it because what you develop ultimately represents a very large part of you!

Our website was born out of a love of photography and our experience of what can often be the complicated world of DSLR cameras and lenses. We did some of the things about really well, there are some we could have done better and a couple we didn’t do at all! Where we proved to be really lucky is that we selected to work with a web design company called Limetree who we trusted explicitly and who held our hand and guided us through the entire process.

We’ve learned so much over the last seven months, we’ve developed our website www.lenslocker.co.uk that we’re exceptionally proud of and feel in a much stronger position to face the next website challenge!

I am a big fan of photography and this has prompted me to learn more and find ways of helping others learn as well. I have found a great website that lets you hire lenses and even camera hire. The lens hire site is www.lenslocker.co.uk