The Website Design and Development processes are crucial for business owners to think about before talking to the Website Designer. This process can take 1-8 weeks (or more), depending on the complexity of the website. You need to put a lot of thought into the process. Before talking to the designer about what you want on your website, you need to have some ideas. Do you have corporate colors and fonts? If not, you must consider what colors and fonts you like. What about the content? Do you have content to get your website started? What is the domain name you want to use for your site? Who will be hosting your site? How much does it cost to have a website? I will try to answer them here.
Website Design and Development Processes:
#1: Domain Name
When you enter the web address into the address bar on the web browser, you enter the URL ( Uniform Resource Locator). You might have seen “https://541webdesign.com,” a URL or the complete address of a website. The “541webdesign.com” is called a domain name. The domain name is like an address to your store. You will purchase a domain name that describes your business the most. For example, youbusinessname.com is a common domain name for businesses. Since the World Wide Web has existed since the early 90s, you may not get the domain name you want. In this case, you need to be creative and try to find a domain that describes your business. You should pick a few domain names before talking to the web developer. You can check if the domain name you want is available by going to the GoDaddy website. A Domain name can cost between $0.99/year to infinity.
#2: Web Hosting
Web hosting is the facilities that maintain your website and make it accessible over the World Wide Web. Think of web hosting as your landlord. You rent the space in the web hosting to conduct your business online. Can you host your website? Yes, you can, but it’s not simple. You need to set up a WWW server, have your computer on 24/7, and have enough bandwidth capacity. To have your website with the hosting service is much simpler.
If you want me to design your site, you can host your site by setting up an account with one of the following companies. I host my clients and my websites on Blue Host. Of course, I can host a website for you, but if you want to know more about web hosting, you can check them out.
Samples of Web Hosting Companies:
#3: Colors and Fonts
Does your company have corporate colors and fonts? If you don’t have them, it might be time to consider what colors and fonts you like. You can look for fonts at
fonts.google.com. Google fonts are free for commercial use.
dafont Dafont has some free fonts, and for some, you have to pay or credit the creator.
There are so many places to get inspiration for colors, and these are my favorites.
You can also get inspiration from Pinterest by searching for your business categories and seeing what might inspire you.
#4: Content
Your web designer/developer will need content from you. You are the one that knows your business best. You will write something about your restaurant or yourself for your designer.
