Launching a World Wide Web Site

by Bill Sweetman, June 1996

What are the stages and timing of developing a site?

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Web Site Development Cycle

What follows is a breakdown of the key stages involved in launching a typical corporate Web site. For the sake of clarity, I have separated certain functions that in a real-world scenario might occur simultaneously.

• Concept Development (business, creative, technical) (2-4 weeks) - This is the most important stage. Time spent here will save a lot of money and headaches down the road. All parties should agree on the objectives. Then, prioritize them and turn them into a detailed Design Document, the architectural "blueprint" of the site, outlining the key components. Who is involved? Ideally this would be a Project Manager of some kind, representing your company, and the Web Developer.

• Specifications & Planning (2 weeks) - Here's where you iron out the technical and process details of who does what and when. Set deliverables and time-lines, which help form the budget. Once again, this is a collaboration between the Project Manager and the Web Developer.

• Creative Direction (1 week) - A Design Bible needs to be created, outlining the general look and feel issues, as well as navigation, of your site. Out of this could come templates for the various key pages, as well as a colour palette and other visual branding definitions. This stage might involve your in-house Art Director and/or Designer, the Project Manager, and the Web Developer.

• Content Production (2 weeks) - If you have existing content such as graphics and text, it will need to be converted into file formats used on the Web. Despite all the apparently "easy-to-use" tools on the market, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. New content will need to be created as well, which is likely to involve the work of Graphic Artists, Writers, and Editors.

• Content Integration (1-2 weeks) - All your content needs to be formatted for Web pages. Doing this right takes considerable time, plus at least one pass by a proofreader. The Web Developer and their HTML layout people will handle this.

• Software Integration (1 week) - Unless your site is extremely basic, various programs will need to be tweaked or written specifically to allow certain interactive features, such as online forms. The Web Developer and their CGI, PERL, or Java specialists usually handle this.

• Testing & Quality Control (1 week) - Rigorous testing must be performed on the site, both from a technical and a content perspective. Will the hardware stand up to the demands of a lot of visitors? Are there spelling errors and typos on the pages? Can Macintosh users view the pages as easily as Windows users? Everyone should be involved in this stage.

• Launch & Marketing - If you build it they still may not come. Your Web site requires continuous promotion, both via traditional media and on the Net. The Marketing folks in your company can prepare the official press release, but it's unlikely they have the expertise to promote the site online. Look to the Web Developer or a "CyberPublicity" firm to handle this very delicate task.

• Content and Technology Maintenance (on-going) - The content of your site needs to be updated frequently and checked for accuracy. Ideally, you will have someone on staff willing and able to do this, even if all they have to do is answer E-mail. Farming new content development out to the Web Developer is another option, albeit an expensive one. The computer hardware also requires care and feeding. This means either hiring a Webmaster to monitor and maintain your in-house equipment, or arranging for your Web site content to be hosted on a third party Server Farm. The latter is usually the most efficient.

• Tracking Usage (on-going) - You are going to want to gauge the activity on your site so that you can determine what is working and what is not. For simple statistics and visitor information, look to a number of off-the-shelf software packages (such as WebTrends). If you require detailed auditing of the results, perhaps because you are selling advertising on your site, you will probably need to hire a Web Auditing Firm (such as AC Nielsen).

• Table of Contents
  
• Does having a Web site make sense for your business?
  
• What are the pros and cons of in-house development versus out-sourcing?
  
• How do you choose a Web Developer?
  
• What are some of the common mistakes to avoid?
  

Bill Sweetman is MultiMediator's Founder.