In this month's newsletter, we'll keep it short and sweet. We are going to cover an aspect of website construction that 90% of web development companies completely miss. The issue at hand involves website construction and how developers succeed or fail in building websites that can readily adapt to their clients' future needs.

To start, let's do a play by play on how the typical web development project goes:

1-Client recognizes need for new website.

2-Client gets three bids and picks either the cheapest company or the one with the "coolest" designs. Also, the client is swayed by how "artsy" the developer seems to be. Extra points are given for wearing black, for turning down the coffee offered at the meeting because it is not from Starbucks and for wearing those really chic black rimmed glasses.

3-Web developer gets contract because he is the guy with the "coolest" designs. Can this guy and his firm actually build a website that can server as a business tool? Who cares? This firm's designs are cool. Also, the client just wants to get the website “up and going.”

4-Web developer then works feverishly to produce cool designs and attempt to get the client to sign off on one.

5-Client, impressed by relative coolness of one of the designs, signs off. The layout selected is really nice. It is really tightly constructed and really has a finished, polished look. In fact, you might call it a piece of art.

6-Web developer, pleased as punch he obtained a first round sign-off, constructs the website, imports content and submits it to the client.

7-Client, still stuck on being cool, loves the design and goes live (posts the site for the public). The client now has a new website and all is well. But it hits the fan two weeks later. Read on…

The squeeze play:
Not long after going live, the client wants to have a new product offering highlighted on the homepage. The client wants the offering front and center on the website homepage for the next three weeks. But while looking at his website, he can't really figure out where his notice should go. So he calls his web developer to figure out how to squeeze in the notice about the new product. The developer, aghast that the client wants to “mess with” his design, resists the client’s wishes and proposes just putting a small link to a subpage about the new product. Why? Because his company's cool design is so tightly constructed that it does not allow for “on the fly” changes that will inevitably follow. Unsatisfied, the client just tells the web developer to “squeeze it in there somewhere.” The disgruntled web developer does just that. The website’s design and visual appeal are damaged, but not so badly that the client realizes the problem brewing.

One more time:
A few weeks later, the client remembers he needs to promote the company’s new acquisition. To help educate customers, client wants this news to also be prominent on the homepage. Again, he calls his designer and tells him to “squeeze it in there somewhere.” The developer, snobbishly sipping his $5 coffee on the other end of the line, tells the client that the change will wreck the design. Unimpressed, client just says, “get it done." Defeated, the web developer then goes about executing the client’s wishes for the website while at the same time executing (in a different way, of course) the visual appeal of the site. May the visual appeal of the website rest in peace.

The moral of the story:
The moral of the story is simple. When your company chooses a web developer, take caution to choose one that will do the hard work of developing a visually appealing site that is (1) intuitive, (2) easily navigable and perhaps most importantly, (3) flexible enough to grow along with your company. If your developer fails in doing so, your company will be faced with two options: (1) a fragmented, confusing, unappealing site layout OR (2) a costly redesign. So when you choose a design, select one that could easily be changed to include 2-3 additional sections of content without being completely torn apart. How can you test this? Well, toward the end of the design process, try throwing in 2-3 major sections of content to see how your developer accommodates them. Doing so will give you a good idea of what your site will look like six months down the road. If you don’t like what you see, go back to the drawing board with your developer. At Icon, with 90% of our web projects, we portion some real estate on the client's homepage to be reserved for future content additions. We don't necessarily keep this space blank, but we build it in a manner that will allow it to be parsed up into multiple content areas, to act as a single message billboard or to merely be blank and look good (the supermodel option).

At Icon Marketing, we obviously build our sites with solid visual appeal. But we seek to put functionality and business utility on equal footing with artistic goals. Most developers favor “form” over “functionality.” This causes them to develop pretty, but rigid layouts. We always take care to design certain sections of the page in a manner which allows them to be flexible enough to adapt and accommodate inevitable new content. Striking the balance between “form” and “function” is tough, but it is critical to building a website that will have staying power. If you have questions on web development or if you would like some constructive feedback on your company's website, feel free to call or e-mail our offices.

For assistance in this area feel free to contact our offices at 714.990.5909 or info@icon-marketing.com.