Like all processes connected with the development of your website, adding useful bespoke functionality requires some research and planning. The type of functionality that will be best for you will depend on what you want your users to do on your site, and how they currently use it.
Brochure sites
If you're planning a brochure site, which just tells the user about your company and your products, you probably don't need any special functionality, but as soon as you want to include a query form or a feedback point, you're looking at creating a page that's customised to your needs. To get it right, you need to write down all the information you'd want to get from the user, and think about how they will approach the form - will they want the option of writing their own message, of just ticking a set of boxes, or choosing options from a drop-down menu? Once the form is submitted, you'll need to know which part of your business it's being directed to so that you can respond to the query as soon as possible.
eCommerce
A more complex site such as an eCommerce site where customers can buy products online, requires much more bespoke website development. Again, you can add functionality to a standard web package, but the more complicated your site gets, the better it is to design it from scratch. Look at successful shopping sites to see what features work well for customers; for example, sites that are full of graphics that take too long to download are likely to lose customers, but sites with useful, clear homepages will encourage users to stick around and purchase.
Know your customer
For sites like these, website developers will spend some time analysing your products and your customers, including asking you about how your customers use your product, what kind of quantities they buy in, whether they buy associated products and what kind of groups your customers fall into. This will help them design functionality that is useful to your customers and helps to drive sales. Talking to a group of customers will also be useful, and they can be used to test the bespoke functionality on your site and give feedback that will help you improve your service. Once you have tested and accepted the functionality, it can be implemented on your site, and with web analytics in place to help you monitor how your site it used, you can watch the progress of your site and alter it accordingly.
It's easy to get carried away by the magical things that bespoke functionality can do to your site, but before you engage in costly website design and development, make sure that it's something your customers need and want, and that it will bring sales into your business.
Talk to The Web Marketing Group about Web Development - click here or call 01733 371750
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