Website Design

The first step in making your website work for you is developing a site that looks professional and gives your customers easy access to the information they want. Customers in today's market have high expectations. If your site lacks visual appeal or if customers can't find what they want quickly, they'll move on with a fast click.

A Solid Foundation
Most of us think of web design as the graphic and visual elements making up the look of the website. Effective design is really much more complicated than 'what meets the eye.' Let's compare the visual design to the landscaping around a new home. Before the landscaping work is completed, extensive consideration is given to the structural elements of the home.
Datahost has worked hard to develop quality software that will provide a solid foundation for your website.

We will place an emphasis on the following FANTASTIC elements of your website's design:

Functional
We work hard to stay abreast of new developments to keep our websites consistent across different browsers and platforms.
Attractive
Keeping your color and design preferences in mind, we'll create a visually appealing site that will draw customers to your business.
Navigation
Straightforward tools, buttons and shopping cart features - your customers will love to visit your site.
Traffic generation
From the ground up, we build your website with search engine strategies in mind. Our shopping cart system even provides the tools that let you change or add keywords yourself.
Accessibility
We're pros at determining the best way to organize and present your company's products and services. Shopping your website will be simple and fun.
Security
Datahost will take every precaution to protect sensitive information exchanged through your website.
Technical Savvy
Our combination of programming and hosting technologies will keep your website running quickly and reliably.
Intuitive
We approach website design and layout from the viewpoint of the customer.
Creative
Let our expert designers make your business presence stand out on the web.

Website Planning

Jump start your website by using our ten-step quick planning guide. At Datahost, we can help you identify your needs and guide you in making decisions that will help you meet your goals.

Of course, we are happy to answer any questions you have and help you every step of the way. You can phone us at 1-888-257-2567, send us an email or fill out our Request a Quote form.

10 Step Website Planning Guide

This 10 Step Planning Guide will help you get started in planning a successful website.

1. Define the Objective of your Site: Is it to generate qualified business leads? Offer resources and information to your current customers or the public? Are you launching a new business? Do you want to sell your product or service on the web? Defining your goals will help shape the design, functionality, and marketing plan for your web site.
   
   
2. Consider your own resources: Are you a computer buff that likes to do stuff on your own? Are you busy with other obligations and a bit overwhelmed by the internet? Are you an experienced internet user or a novice? Regardless of where you find yourself on the spectrum of internet expertise and the time you want to invest, there is a optimal solution that will work for you.
   
   
3. Make a Budget for your Website: Your website budget needs to include the costs for initial setup and design, monthly website hosting fees, future changes and enhancements, and marketing of your site. Consider what level of return you'll need on your website investment. As with many investments, you should expect that it will take some time to recoup your costs. You'll find a general idea of the costs and options we offer by looking at our Pricing Page.
   
   
4. Decide on a Service Provider: Depending on what conclusions you reached on the above considerations, choose a service provider. If you have a low budget and like to do things yourself, you can create your own website and have your web pages hosted by your dial-up ISP. If you want more support and guidance, Datahost can provide a solution that accomodates both your budget and the level of involvement you want in the process of planning, designing and maintaining your website.
   
   
5. Decide on and Register a Domain Name: You'll need to find a Domain Name that is available and pay the nominal annual fee ($25 a year or less). We're happy to offer advice on choosing a domain name and we can take care of registering your domain for you. If you already have a domain or website, and would like to use our services, we'll take care of transferring your domain for you.
   
   
6. Consider Site Features: Make a list of features you want on the site. Do you want to provide estimates, let visitors shop, accept catalog requests, or publish a calendar of events? Take a look at our portfolio, or search the web for businesses like yours to help you clarify what your own website might provide.
   
   
7. Think About the Content For Your Web Site: Write a short paragraph or sketch a simple drawing of what you want on your home page and how you want it to look. You can use your current print materials if you have them, or simply write out your business ideas and plans. Think about what you want to communicate to website visitors. Come up with topics to cover, such as 'About Us', 'Services', or 'Industry Resources'.
   
   
8. Assemble Site Content: Gather together any text, graphics, your product database, or other materials you want on your website. Datahost can create a website design and build your website using whatever materials you have available. Check out our Design Process page for more information on how we can help create and assemble your website.
   
   
9. Research the Competition: Perform searches for similar website businesses. Make notes about features you like or dislike. If you see an appealing design, share it with your designer to give them an insight into your preferences.
   
   
10. Develop your Marketing Strategy: When your website is ready to go, you'll want to let the public know about it! You need to get the word out in as many ways as possible. Add your website address to any printed material you have. Send a letter to all your contacts telling them about your website. One important way to get traffic to your website is through search engines. Think of search keywords and a site description that will help your customers find you in the search engines. Datahost offers keyword research and search engine optimization services to help get you top listings, as well as other internet marketing tools to help boost traffic to your website.

Dynamic Websites

Dynamic - it's way cool

One of the most important aspects of many of the sites we develop is not readily apparent at first glance: much of the content you see is dynamically generated from web databases. Using a database to dynamically generate web pages makes it easy to manage and update your own web pages using any web browser.

What does that mean for my website?

FLEXIBILITY! If you want to be in control of maintaining your own website, we provide a super easy way - and you don't need to learn complicated programming language. With our system, you simply type in the text, save the changes, and see immediate updates take place on your website. Having dynamic content keeps your website up-to-date and helps bring visitors back to your site again and again.

Examples of how dynamic areas can be utilized in your website:

• Post announcements
• Calendar of events
• Advertise current specials
• Update images on your homepage
• Showcase new products or services
• Add (and later hide) seasonal products
• Galleries
• Post customer testimonials
  

The Design Process

When Datahost builds your website, we will work with you to develop the best presentation for your online business. We will take the following steps to draw new customers to your business:

• We will create a vibrant and original design to provide a good first overall impression of your business.
• We will feature a compelling message that promotes your products and services to draw visitors beyond the homepage.
• We will construct a clear layout and flow of your website's pages to make shopping your site a simple and inviting experience.
• By creating effortless (even fun!) exploration of your website, we'll help you turn a curious visitor into a repeat customer.

How do I get started?

Once we have received a signed Website Development & Hosting Agreement along with your deposit, our designer will contact you to discuss the goals, design and organization of the site. We will provide you with a checklist of items we will need from you to develop your site, such as photos, q & a text, product information, and policies.

Mockups

Next, we will create a mockup of your homepage, and send you the URL (address), so that you can see the work in progress. We encourage your feedback, and will be happy to make changes before submitting a final mockup for your approval.
For your Ecommerce site we will implement the most straightforward, simplest shopping method for your customers. We will present you with a mockup of your product pages. Once we have your approval, we will finish adding product data and images to your site database.

Finishing Touches

When design and development is complete, we will thoroughly test your website, its shopping features, forms, email addresses, shipping calculations, and payment methods. We will ask you to perform those same checks and to run a test order. Once we are confident that your site is complete and you have reviewed it to your satisfaction, we will bring your website live. If your website is dynamic, we will teach you how to use your site manager, so you can maintain and update your website. It generally takes three to four weeks to complete the website once we have received content from the customer.

Request a Quote

Please fill out the form below to give us an idea of your requirements. Or give us a call to discuss your project
The questions below are designed to give us a better understanding of your goals. Fields with an asterisk (*) are required.