Under the Hood of Your Website
Why should you care how your website is built
Like a lot of things out there, there is a right way to build something and a wrong way. The troubling thing is that sometimes the website that is built incorrectly looks great! So then why should you care what's under the hood of your website? As long as it looks good, who cares? Right?
WRONG!
Having your professional company branding is only half of the battle when it comes to web development. You have to care how your website is built because from the small business owner to the corporate business - a poorly built website will WASTE money and time!
Why will a poorly built website waste my money and time?
A website that is not built using the latest code standards and the appropriate language for the business and marketing application* will run into the following issues:
- It will not display properly in all the web browsers
- It will be expensive to update
- It may not be universal so that only certain web developers or companies can work on your site
- It may not be visible on PDAs and cell phone web browsers
- It may not be visible at all in any web browser as technology advances and your website is stuck in old technology that is no longer compatible.
Having a website that was built poorly in the last 3 - 5 years may also mean your web developer does not really know what they are doing and you shouldn't be with them any way.
How does this effect your business:
- It will cost you more money to update your website
- When you do want to update it you may have to throw away the whole thing and re-build it the way it should have been built in the first place
- You may lose customers because they cannot view your website properly on the web
How do I know if my web developer is building my website correctly?
Most likely your website is being built using XHMTL and CSS. This is the most common language and styling technique. Here are somethings to ask your web developer about:
- Are they a Web 2.0 company?
- Do they write W3C compliant code and can you see the validator report for your site?
- Do they produce a separate universal style sheet (CSS)?
These may not mean anything to you, but throwing out these industry buzz words not only will make you appear to be an educated buyer, but you will also find out pretty quickly if your web developer is worth his/her salt. The answer for all the questions should be a big YES, - no if's, and's, or's, or but's.
I don't want to get into this stuff. I just want a professional website for my business!
Well, if you want a professional website for your business that is going to last, you had better know some of the basics, because there are still "web developers/designers" out there that do not build websites properly and will charge an arm and a leg for a pretty, worthless piece of you-know-what.
Graphic Design firms are notorious for this. Since a website is a logical progression from designing a business card, letter head, and everything else in your company identity package, graphic design firms often build websites, too.... big red flag! Design firms design websites - not build them. You need to make sure you have a professional web developer that ONLY builds websites and will be able to take the professional design and turn it into a long lasting marketing and business tool.
Many design firms partner with web development companies to ensure that their clients get the best services. Others don't. SonicSpider uses a professional design team to construct professional user friendly web designs and layouts.
In Conclusion
In summary it is important that you are an educated business owner who knows enough so that you will be able to pick a web developer that will bring value to your business. Even if you already have a web developer it is not too late. Get in touch with them and get to know how they operate a little better. Use the issues outlined above to assess whether they are taking the right steps to serve your best interest.
At SonicSpider we build all of our websites to W3C Standards, Level 1 Accessiblity to bring all of our clients the benefits of a well built website.
*There are many code languages used to build a website, the most common being HTML. If you are not using HTML there should be a specific business or marketing reason why you are going with a more robust, expensive language to build all or part of your website.