Executionists, Inc.

As a project manager at Executionists, Inc., I view website development in three phases: pre-production, production, and post-production. (Can you tell we’re Los Angeles-based?) The quality of the pre-production phase will generally establish how quickly a client’s site will be completed. Clients love to help, sometimes to the detriment of the project (see: Executionists Take on Dogbert). However, this is the stage of the process where client input is crucial and greatly appreciated.

Meaning: content, content, content. The most important way a client can help us help them is by being prepared with content for all sections of the website. During our initial meeting with a client, we will establish a content checklist, complete with a listing of all the approved navigation within the site. While we do our job designing the site based on this navigation, we expect the client to do their job by providing all content that will eventually be placed on our neatly designed pages.

The consequences of not having content ready or sending it to the web designer in pieces could be significant both for the client’s pocketbook and the development timeline. It takes more time to put the content on the site piece by piece than all at once. Additions of new content after the site design has begun can lead to issues with navigation and page layout.

It’s also important for me to note that we, are not copywriters. Nor are we grammatical experts. When the client does have all content ready to go, we strongly recommend hiring a professional editor/proofreader (we can recommend some). In grade school we learn that editing is the most important part of writing. Don’t give a web developer any content that is less than web-ready. The more typos and misspellings there are, the more it eats into the budget originally established for design and technical development.

Want more information about pre-production? See our Kick-off Questions. If you can answer all of these, content writing will be easier. All that’s left to do is to have us make your website.
Julie Dwyer
Project Manager

For all of our competition: please follow this Dogbert tech support scenario (credit to, Scott Adams).

Tech: Help desk, what’s your issue?
Caller: My computer won’t….
Tech: Shut up and reboot.
Caller: Hey! It worked!
Tech: Shut up and hang up. (My call time is improving!)

However, I believe that dealing with problem customers is an art form that should be handled with tact and duplicity diplomacy.

It has been my experience that allowing a client to have access to the hosting control panel before the site is finished and goes live, can continually cause problems. There can be miscommunications which slow down the process or can potentially stop it altogether.

Just the other day, a client changed the FTP password without relating it to me. Unfortunately, this becomes a problem for your web designer when he/she wants to go in and continue building your website. I politely asked the client to please refrain from making any changes during development and instead ask me to do so for them.

The fact of the matter is that I don’t want clients to feel I am prohibiting their involvement in the development process or taking control of the hosting account they are paying for. However, a clients’ help and involvement in technical development generally slows down the process. In order to streamline development, it is best to keep all technical parts of the project in the hands of your technical developer. (Kids, keep your hands and feet in the car at all times during the ride.)

While it would be easiest to imitate Dogbert’s behavior, keep in mind that clients usually just want to help. Paradoxically, their “help” can make the web designer’s job harder. Let the developer do everything and the client will have helped in the easiest way possible.

Phil Cady
Technical Director
“If a pretty picture and cheap sentiment is enough to motivate you, you have a very easy job. One that will be done by robots in the future.”

What is a Content Management System? (CMS) If you’ve ever had a Myspace page, a personal Yahoo!, My MSN or iGoogle page, a membership to a dating site or used eBay, then you’ve used a CMS.

My MSN Myspace

CMS allows a person untrained in web development and coding to upload/edit content on a website. It makes it easy for the average Joe/Jill to manage their online stuff.

We are often asked to build CMS for websites. But here’s the bad news… No matter how “easy” the CMS is designed, it’s still work for the end user. It takes time and focus to log onto an online CMS, prepare your content, text and graphics, and upload it to the system.

Many clients initially think they have the time to do the CMS on their site but usually run into problems like: forgetting username and password, writing crappy text, unable to optimize images correctly, etc. Many times these clients come back to the developer to ask them to manage the content for their site.

So the client pays $X,000 for a CMS and ends up paying a developer $X,000 to make the edits.

We always caution our clients before building a CMS. They need to realistically think about the ongoing site maintenance tasks and determine if the added cost of the CMS and the manpower on their side is worth it instead of paying their developer for edits on an as-needed basis.

ECOMMERCE CHECKLIST:
Everything you ever wanted to know about eCommerce and way more.

Step 1 | Domain Name

• Domain Name Registration – www.yourdomain.com, etc.

Step 2 | Products - Ecommerce Solutions / Smart Web Site Design

• Product Keywords, Title and Descriptions:
  • Good product descriptions and titles are vital to be successful at eCommerce. Generally, you will need a Product Name, SKU, Description, Key Words for search, Weight, Height and Length

• Size and Variations:
  • For example, the Size group could contain: “small, “medium”, “large” and another group called Color: “large” or “red”, “blue” and “green”.

• Product Categories:
  • For example, > Toys > Babies > Bath Toys. Better organization enables people to find what they are looking for faster!!

• Product Images:
  • A thumbnail and a large version of each product are a good idea. Sizes are unimportant as long as you remain consistent - catalogs look more uniform that way. Resolution on large images is important, we recommend 72 dpi. Some shopping carts allow up to four images per product for the larger, detailed pages.

• Pricing Information:
  • Be sure to include base price, B2B price, volume pricing, static pricing, prices of various options, costs, etc.

Step 3 | Payment Methods - Ecommerce Solutions

• Merchant Account
  • This will be necessary for any credit card authorizations online or Brick and Mortar stores.
• Payment Gateway Provider:
  • If you want real-time online authorizations, you’re going to need this. Internet Protocol (IP) payment gateway services that enable merchants to authorize, settle and manage credit card or electronic check transactions anytime, anywhere are handy. For example: Paypal, Verisign, Authorize.Net
• Business Bank Account:
  • Simply put, it’s a necessity for any business.

Step 4 | Currency - Ecommerce Solutions
Take a minute to ask yourself:

• What currencies do you need to support?
• Does your merchant account / payment gateway provide support your required currencies?

Step 5 | Taxes - Ecommerce Solutions
We know you wouldn’t want to overlook the tax policy for purchases:

• What state / country will operations be based out of? Does the company have more than 1 “node” (an office, warehouse, or distribution center)? If yes, where?
• What is the sales tax rate (or VAT if you are in Europe) in your state or country?

Step 6 | Shipping - Ecommerce Solutions
It’s a good idea to consider shipment possibilities and which would serve your company and customers the best:

• Package tracking via UPS, FedEx or USPS.
• What carriers will you use? USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.
• How will you charge for shipping? By value, by weight, a fixed rate based or a formula?
• Will you allow international shipment? If so, how much will you charge? Will the customer be responsible for paying customs charges (we recommend that they do)?

Step 7 | Technology Requirements - Ecommerce Solutions
When building an eCommerce website, these are some important decisions you will need to make.

• Do you have any technology requirements as far as a programming languages (Cold Fusion, PHP, ASP), operating platforms (Unix vs. Windows), or database platform (MS Access vs. MySQL vs. MS SQL)?
• Do you have/need your own dedicated server, or do you need a hosting provider?
• Do you have adequate space for your product catalog images?

Step 8 | User Experience - Ecommerce Solutions
These are some other questions you’ll need to answer before you launch into your design and development process:

• Will you want your customers to have the ability to register with a username and password so that customers can view previous order history and track orders?
• Will your site require a search engine for finding products, articles, etc?
• Will you have a newsletter for users to subscribe to? Will they be able to manage their own subscriptions? Will it be HTML formatted?
• Will you have sales and specials?
• Will you have auctions?
• Will you offer discounts or promotions?
• Will you have affiliates?

If you contact us, we can give you a free personalized consultation and make some great, inexpensive recommendations based on our years of experience!

www.executionists.com
rparr@executionists.com
(310) 754-3807

DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY

Step 1 | Client Needs Assessment

By meeting with you, we define the primary goals and project schedule, identify the
target audience, and tailor the design solution to your industry.

• Understand who will use the Web site (Target Audience)
• Understand what Web technologies you will require
• Identify content
• Produce project schedule

Step 2 | Research and Discovery

We gather all available data content from you, such as company profiles, product descriptions, or in-house publications and brochures. Thereafter, we research the Internet and all other relevant information sources to familiarize ourselves with your
industry and your competition. We also spend time researching the competition, both online and offline.

• Identify the tasks users need to complete
• Consider the processes required to support Web site features and functions
• Develop technical scope and sitemap

Step 3 | Design Concept

During this stage, we begin the process of developing the site’s look and feel, the flow of content throughout the site, the logical organization of the site’s information, and its functionality. These concepts are presented to you for your evaluation and approval.

• Prototype Delivered
• Web Site Organization
• Color Schemes and Menu

Step 4 | Development

With your approval of the Design Concept, we develop the site in full using approved graphics, content, navigation, database design, etc. Of course, one of the questions asked by new clients is “how long will it take to create my site?” The answer is, “it depends.” Specifically, each client’s needs are different, and many needs present unique challenges that may require more time than anticipated.

• Client staging site and status
• Web server is setup and configured
• Databases modeled and pre-populated
• Domains are transferred and email accounts are setup

Step 5 | Testing & Launch

We test your web site to ensure it is cross-browser compatible and to evaluate its performance. This is the time when we may modify the site for performance gains. Thereafter, we transfer the web site to a web server for the public’s access.

• Web sites are tested at various stages of the development process
• Review of Web page content, functionality and graphic consistency
• Usability testing - measure how well the Web page allows a user to accomplish goals

Step 6 | Promotion

Your development plan may include forms of pre-production, offline promotion to generate interest in the launch of your site. Online promotion takes place after the site has been placed on the web server.

• Content optimization
• Code and meta tag optimization
• Search engine submissions and registrations
• Web statistics analysis
• Email Broadcasting

Step 7 | Post Production

After the web site is fully functional, we provide complete support to our clients, including evaluation, training for site management, upgrades with the latest technologies, and any required updates.

• Determine who is responsible for updates to the Web page
• Limit the ability of certain users to update the Web page
• Re-evaluate goals based upon business objectives