4 Stages of web design

Stage 1 - Style above substance

The first stage in designing a site that CEOs, venture capitalists, and ad firms would like to see. All modes of design are brainstormed at this stage. The site might entirely be a Flash animated site, or there could be a few good JavaScript mouse over effects or drop-down menus, but the message is always clear - style over substance.

Stage 2 - Designing for online visibility

Here is where you begin to take the hit if your website design were ineffective. Your site will not be indexed by the major search engines, get rejected by major directories, or attract significant traffic or sales. This is also typically when companies decide to try a professional online marketer to promote the site. Unfortunately, many web site owners fall for doorway page companies or fly-by-night operators. Yahoo may have rejected their site, or the site may have been listed in Yahoo but there would be no description next to their company name and the company cannot understand why. But ad agencies or doorway companies would never tell their clients the truth -- they simply did not design and write an effective web site -- because that would entail losing thousands of pounds in business

Stage 3 - Designing for your audience

By this stage, web site owners have figured out that they did not design an effective Web site that addresses their target audience. As usual, web site owners will call upon usability experts to analyze potential problems in the site and present various solutions. But the better option would be to bring in a search engine marketing expert who can come up with web designs&templates that are search engine friendly. This can potentially save the company thousands of pounds in marketing costs.

Stage 4 - Site redesign

After having carefully studied usability and search engine visibility, web site owners finally have an effective web site. So, what is that ‘effective’ website? Well, it’s a site that is written, coded and designed to deliver ease-of-use and search engine visibility and gets the most traffic that drives sales.

So, paramount to designing and maintaining an effective web site is understanding the products/services your target audience is looking for. When you launch a site, you have to make an educated guess as to what your target audience wants. Tools such as site statistics software can help you identify exactly what your visitors are looking for. Content and marketing strategies can then be adjusted accordingly.