Our Website Design and Development Process

We consistently follow proven best practices that ensure our clients are successful and profitable online. Below, we explain the steps we follow and give you an idea of what you can expect when working with us.

Strategy and Planning
Strategy and planning are essential to a successful website project. Without a proper strategy in place your marketing objectives will not be met.

• An experienced team of professionals is assigned to your project. Your team consists of a project manager, web designer, one or more developers and a SEO specialist.
• You will be provided with a “Project Planning Guide” that lists each team member’s roles and responsibilities. This guide describes what to expect along with each major project milestone and frequently asked questions.
• We work as a group to complete design questionnaires and a search engine optimization worksheet so you can identify important search keyword phrases.
• We develop a cohesive plan and and use our collaborative project management software to document schedules, goals, requirements, and marketing strategies.
• We study your competitors and get to know your target customers so we understand what engages them and makes them respond.

Website and Graphic Design
The Smart Solutions design team will develop and present visual design concepts for your website. We consider your marketing goals, unique selling points, target customer, usability, content organization, design trends and competitors. Design concepts are revised based on your feedback until approved and ready for development.  In parallel, we document the site map and recommend the best content management solution and technology for your project.

Our concepts are designed to include:

• A professional look and feel
• Menu structures that are easy to navigate
• Appropriate "calls to action"
• Areas that highlight content written to engage your target customer and generate interest
• Presentation of your unique selling points

Website Development/Programming
Our experienced programmers choose the appropriate programming language and technology for each project. We ensure the technical architecture is extensible and accommodates growth.  Inflexible coding techniques such as Tables are replaced with standards compliant practices including CSS. Our programming style makes websites easier and less costly to maintain and they load faster.  During the development and testing phases, your website will be available online for regular reviews and testing.

Content Preparation and Integration
Good content is critically important to the success and marketability of your website. The words you use and how you use them will also have an impact on your search engine positioning. We will provide you with a Site Map listing every page of your site and discuss general guidelines and what is needed for each page.  You can choose to write and prepare the content yourself or you can take advantage of our professional copywriting services.  We will also provide white papers and tips on organizing and preparing effective content.

Search Engine Optimization
Smart Solutions will manage the technical aspects of the website optimization and fine-tune the programming of the website to make it search engine friendly.  Smart Solutions will make sure the website’s core messages and phrases are in text, page titles, and Meta tags as well as the ALT text used to provide textual descriptions of multimedia. This approach is ideal for search engines which use text to find relevant search results.  It is also beneficial to visitors who may have images disabled in their browsers or who might be using screen readers or mobile devices.

Testing and Launch
The Smart Solutions project team will ensure the website is ready for deployment and meets or exceeds your expectations for design, usability, functionality, and performance.  Your website will be tested on all popular browsers and screen resolutions. We will publish the website and assist with configuration of host servers, DNS and email. We offer website hosting services if you need them.

Maintenance
We strive to maintain long-term customer relationships based on integrity and trust. If you ever need new programming, website maintenance or search engine optimization, we are just a phone call away. Our integrated content management solutions allow website administrators and content editors to manage all aspects of the website.