Before jumping on a server or your own workstation, take the time to create a plan. Don't get hung up on creating a plan document. Creating a plan is about planning, not writing. Know what you are going to do, how you're going to do it, where you're going to do it, and how and when you will involve your client.
Thinking Through a Plan
There are two competing issues for a website development plan: 1) What the website will look like and 2) What content will the website host. You’ll pretty much have to work on both issues at the same time.
Your client may have some ideas they would like to copy from a website they have seen—colors, menu structure, images, etc. Pay attention because those issues may affect how you organize the content.
You can list the major topics on sticky notes and arrange them in some logical order on a wall. While it should not define your menu just yet, you will gain an understanding of how the content relates.
Assuming that you plan to use a content management system like WordPress or Joomla, make note of some special requirements that go beyond a common HTML page. Those requirements call for a special plugin or extension for things like event calendars, contact forms, polls, forms, photo galleries, and links to social media.
Managing Content
If you have deep pockets, a good developer can create a website that works exactly as you like. There will be design issues and skills for front-end development—the user interface. There will be design issues for back-end development—the underlying code and database where the content is stored. Be prepared to spend serious dollars and time. Otherwise, consider a content management system.
When it comes to choosing a content management system, there are many choices. The CMS you choose will be with you for a long time, so avoid making a choice because of CMS popularity, the apparent ease of use, or initial cost.
Here’s how I relate the CMS to the automobile industry.
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Quick and Easy, Pre-packaged, Do It Yourself Systems. Most website hosts have one of these systems that make development quick and easy for simple sites. When relating to the automobile industry, I consider a beginner-friendly website template to be more like a mountain bike.
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Big Name, Easy to Develop Systems. This includes systems like WIX or Weebly. They can produce efficient, attractive websites that meet a lot of needs. You may be locked into a particular web host with extra costs for hidden maintenance charges and other constraints. I consider them to be more like an exotic sports car. You can go in style, but versatility and capacity are lacking.
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Popular Blogging Systems That Double as Powerful Websites. WordPress fits here. Among all CMS systems, it’s by far the most popular. But, most of the websites are about simple blogs and simple web pages. I consider WordPress to resemble a sedan. You can add features to give it a lot of capacity, but you lose the easy to use and develop capacity quickly. It’s like adding a trailer hitch on the sedan to carry extra luggage.
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CMS Designed for Robust Websites. This is Joomla and a few other lesser-known CMS systems. Relatively easy to use, robust, and with plenty of easy to add options, these tools will create a very powerful website. I compare Joomla to an SUV. It will pull a trailer easily. It will haul lots of people and luggage. Four Wheel Drive is built-in. It’s flexible. You can beef up WordPress to reach this level, but it will not resemble a sedan, and you’ll pay for the extra complexity to reach the capacity that Joomla has built-in.
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CMS Developed for Complex, Enterprise Systems. This is Drupal. It’s a beast with lots of power that can handle the largest, most complex of needs. It can resemble a big SUV or a Mack Truck. WordPress can be turned into a powerful system with bunches of extra coding. Joomla can be beefed up to a truck status, but it’s going to take some serious design and a complex hosting environment. Neither Joomla, WordPress, nor Drupal is for cheap web hosts either.
Thinking About Content Storage
It takes one or several servers to manage your website. Some share their hard disks with thousands of websites all spawned from the same IP address. Even if that sounds scary, powerful servers can manage most small business websites easily at a reasonable cost. With steeper requirements, you can obtain your own IP address for better performance, or you can use a host like Amazon to spread your website among many, redundant servers in the cloud. In any case, look for the kinds of support that will be available. Some servers and hosting companies specialize in specific kinds of websites.
With deep pockets, you could create and manage a complex website with your own HTML, Javascript, Ruby on Rails, or Php. Almost any server can support that kind of website, but you’ll have to manage your own code.
In short, do the research about levels of support, security, performance, and optimized delivery.
