Last week I introduced my personal web design methodology by looking at the first two stages of the process – discover and design.  In this part of the series I shall be tackling the next phase –  develop.

This phase makes up the bulk of what might traditionally have been called web design, and thus it’s tempting to get started on it straight away – particularly since leaving out time consuming elements means you can potentially undercut a competitor or take a larger profit.  So why not skip them?

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This week I thought I’d give you a few insights into the way I go about creating and designing websites. I use a methodology that is based on best practices in the design industry and experience gained as an IT consultant.  Is a formal methodology overkill for a small business website?  Well, I wanted a clear process that would be useful as a framework for delivering top quality, affordable websites that meet the needs and goals of my clients.

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The last few years has seen a rapid surge  of interest in social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, particularly by teens and young adults.  Business has taken longer to work out how to adapt these tools for commercial purposes, though that could be changing.  A recent survey^[1] has shown that small businesses (in the U.S. at least) are starting to take a keen interest in social networking and micro-blogging. Read the rest of this entry »

Footnotes

1. Source: Small Business Success Index, by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. [↩]

Wordpress gives you a professional, flexible yet stable platform on which to build your website.  This enables you to manage your website without needing to purchase any software or learn complex computer code.  In fact, the only tool you need to create pages and change content once Wordpress is installed on your website is your web browser.

This list introduces some of the reasons why I recommend Wordpress to business owners and companies. Read the rest of this entry »

Getting a website off the ground is no easy task.  In fact it’s often something business clients consider to be shrouded in mystery and steeped in complicated sounding terms.  So I thought I’d put together an easy to understand guide that explains exactly what you need in order to get your own website. Read the rest of this entry »

As the release of the next new version of Wordpress is looming in the distance I thought it would be a good time to highlight a few of the features that I can’t wait to get hold of in Wordpress 2.9.

In addition to the usual round of bug fixes, performance upgrades and security patches the 2.9 feature freeze includes a slew of new features.  I’ve been hunting through the Wordpresss Trac database for the most interesting patches in the next edition of the major content management system and blogging platform. Read the rest of this entry »