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If you are a web developer then you may wonder how you can make your business more streamlined. If you find you are having a number of small businesses coming to you who just want a 3 or 4-page basic site, then you may consider building a template that you can resell to them. Often smaller businesses do not have the funds to be able to spend thousands on a website and many programmers offer them something that is beyond what they want or need. Some businesses only want a website to refer clients to through word of mouth, networking and business cards and although it is important to build it so it is search engine friendly and can be adapted over time, initially they may want something that is quite static.

If you use an off the shelf content management system such as WordPress, then you may decide to build your own theme. This theme can then be duplicated on a number of sites and adapted accordingly. It is essentially a plug and play system that can have elements hidden or bolted on to fit the client’s needs and budget. This also makes it easier to upsell other functionality at a later date as the website has already been programmed in such a way to work with it.

Most websites that are programmed today are done so with a content management system attached to it. This CMS system may be a bespoke one which has been made by that programmer or the web company or It may be an off the shelf one such as WordPress or Drupal. A CMS system is there to allow people to make changes to the website with easy and without having to go in to the code all the time. Often web developers will give their clients access to a content management system to allow them to add / edit or remove certain pages or products on the site. Some developers will still do the changes for their client but will do so through the CMS instead or though code.

When giving CMS access to a client it is important that you give them the right level of access. You may be tempted to just set them up as an Admin so you can be sure they have access to everything they need to but this may mean they can make changes that will have serious implications on the site (if they don’t do them correctly).

Always give a client the minimum level of access needed for them to complete the tasks they may need to. You may even decide to hide all other areas of the CMS system to keep the process simple for them to navigate through.

If you are a web designer and have been given a project to design a new site for someone you need to try and find out as much information as you can about what it is they want? Firstly try and find out about their existing branding, do they have a logo, have they got certain colour ways they want to use? They may already have this but be looking to change everything in which case I would suggest quoting for a rebrand first of all then the website designs as a separate job.

When ding the designs be carefully to not spend too much time, especially on one design until you have had some feedback from your client. You may find that they have little idea of what they want, but when they see a visual for the first time will instantly be able to tell you what they like and what they don’t like. It may be worth showing them a draft visual of the home page and then once they are happy with that start to visualise a few other important pages such as a product page. When costing the project try and specify how many visuals you will create.

Social media marketing can be a brilliant marketing tool and Facebook is often one of the most popular ways in which people promote their business and their products or service. It may seem easy to set up a Facebook page but managing and promoting it is not always straightforward and if the account is set up incorrectly to start with then you may struggle even more.

Ideally, you need to consult someone who is experienced in setting up and managing Facebook business accounts as they will either be able to do this for you or give you training on what to do. You will need to link your business page to a personal Facebook page in order to promote it and this needs to be a genuine account. You may want to have a Facebook account that is purely for business, you do not need to maintain this account that much but it does need to be real and allow you to communicate with other people.

You may want to start by joining a number of local groups which allow business postings and then start to share your business page including any events that you have coming up etc.

Quoting for work as a web programmer or designer can be tricky. You often need to have a good discussion with your client about what it is exactly they are looking for. Website projects vary so much in costs from a few hundred pounds upwards of tens of thousands of pounds, all depending on what the website needs to do. If you are a relatively small start-up business that wants a five-page brochure site then you can expect to pay from about £500 up to £3000 depending on if graphics need to be purchased and copy written etc. For an e-commerce site, you might expect a range of £2000 up £10000 for a small to medium business.

When speaking to your client try and establish how many pages they want and what the purpose of those pages are, for example, if they just want images and information on each page then this will take a lot less time to build than creating calculators or login areas.

If it’s worth making a sitemap to show the pages, the functionality on each page and how they will link together. Once you have done this, have it agreed by your client before commencing programming.

If you currently have a website but are going to be making some major changes to it then you have a few options. You can, of course, make the changes straight on to the live site but this is often not recommended as if something goes wrong you may end up bringing your whole site offline. Also if your viewers visit the site as you are making the changes it can be quite worrying for them to see it suddenly change or they may find it crashes whilst they are on it.

The best way to make changes on a site is to have a development test site that you can work on. You can then check everything is working thoroughly before you swap it over on to the live site. You can also then allow your client t see a fully working version of the site allowing them to check it over and make changes before it goes live to the rest of the world.

When making any changes to a site it is vital to have a recent back up so you can revert back to it quickly should you need to.

Most websites now are built with some sort of content management system attached to them. This system will usually allow the end user to make some changes to the website often without having to know or understand any code.

There are a number of off the shelf content management systems you can use on a website or some programmers will have designed and built their own. There are pros and cons to both as off the shelf ones often tend to be a bit easier to use and are very easily and regularly updates but bespoke ones can add in functionality you may struggle to find with an off the shelf CMS. This may also mean that the website can cost less money than if a programmer has to try and change an off the shelf content management system to integrate the functionality you need.

If you are using an off the shelf CMS then you may find it easier to move to another website programmer if you need to in the future. Programmers who have designed their own CMS system tend to only give you the front end files of the site and you would need to pay for someone to adapt it to another content management system so it works.

When a web designer has to create a visual for a website it can be hard for the designer and the client to be able to visualise and understand exactly what the other person means. This can often end up with designs having to be changed a number of times as the client does not like the layout that has been visualised. All this can add time to a project and can sometimes result in extra costs for the client or time lost for the designer. Before any project goes to programming it is vital that the layout and functionality have been agreed to avoid delays and alterations at a later day.

A wireframe is simply a frame which shows where pieces of information and links etc will be displayed on a page. Unlike a visual, there will often be little or no graphics or colours, rather just boxes with headings in describing what will be in that place. Having a wireframe will allow both parties to see how the site may look once complete and to play around with the design and layout before it is taken to the next stage. Once the wireframe has been completed, it can then go to the visualisation stage.

As a web design/programmer you may find that you have clients that come to you with a firm idea of what they want their website to look like and to do. This may be helpful in creating visuals but if you do not agree with something on their design then you need to let them know. As they expect they may look to you for advice on what works and what doesn’t work, but even if they don’t ask you, you may still need to speak up.

Explaining to a customer why something won’t work can be tricky and if you can have alternative solutions to show them that you can prove have been successful then they are more likely to go with it.

Make sure that both parties know exactly how the end website is going to look and function before going into programming. Give your client a clear understanding of what is included in the price right from the start. If the client starts to add in other functionality whilst in the programming stages, advise them that it will be additional. If the added extras are getting too much it may be worth suggesting that you do them as a stage 2 project once the website is live so as not to hold it up any longer.

Historically web developers just need to be able to code websites, but with so much information and code available online, there are more and more developers that have come on to the scene that has little coding ability but can still build great websites.

As a developer, you need to understand the bigger picture and be able to advise your clients accordingly. If you are self-employed or setting up a business, you will need to know how to sell your services and what you should be advising your clients on. You need to know what it is they actually need rather than just what they think they want.

Marketing is such a major part of how successful a website is that to be a good programmer you need to be good at marketing too or at least work very closely with someone that is to allow you to offer the full package to your clients. SEO, for example, is vital and although your clients may not be able to see how much or little you have done behind the scenes in terms of SEO they will soon start to complain if their new website is not getting found on the search engine website.