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Web Development Overview

 

Website Development Overview

Website Development is our primary service and specialty. It can be very complicated and there is a great learning curve as you begin to discover the web from the Webmaster's side. We're here to help you every step of the way and take the burden off wherever we can, while empowering you with as much control over your website as you would like to have.

Our web development centers on the structuring of a website that fits your company and branding, fits your marketing goals, and fits your budget while addressing your target audience in terms they can quickly understand and digest to make an honest appraisal of you and connect to further your communication.

 

Essentially, to have a website you need:

  1. A Domain Name. This is the address of your website that appears in the address bar of the browser. Ours is TheDesignsmith.com as you can see in the address bar above. In effect, you rent the name from a Domain Registrar like Network Solutions or GoDaddy. There are many registrars and there is no considerable difference between them as far as acquiring a name, but their costs vary widely. GoDaddy charges roughly $15 for a .com name per year while Network Solutions charges around $45 for the same thing. We suggest you order your name from GoDaddy.
  2. A Hosting System. This is essentially the computer where the files of your website are stored. This computer must be able to read and execute your programmed files, and it should be solidly connected to a main artery of the internet. The system farm should have backups and redundencies as well as other creative protection to make sure that your website is always available to web surfers. Naturally, we offer a wonderful hosting system equipped to handle all your website needs.
  3. Hyper-Text Markup files. These files describe the look and content of your website to the browser which downloads and displays it to the surfers. HTM files can be built without programming, mixed with programming, or created by programming; but in the end it is the html that your visitors see drawn into their browser. Creating these files is what we do best by integrating beautiful graphics, cascading sytles and smart programming!

In order for us to build your website we need to know what it is going to say and do. We've found the easiest way for you to tell us is by creating a flowchart or outline that names each page and describes the content. We're good at presuming the details, so a general description is good enough for us to give you a reasonable estimate. We also realize that this task is a show-stopper for many, so we offer services to work with you to put it together - contact us or look here to find out more.

 

Primary Elements of a Website:

  1. The Template. We build websites for ease of updating and expansion by using templates that are broken up and inserted into each page of the site to assure consistency across the project. The template gives you the 'look and feel' of your website, the navigation, the head and foot, and much more that is a necessary part of each page.  We often design these templates ourselves but to save money for some clients we can also pick from the many pre-designed templates available around the web and integrate our programming and content into one of them.
  2. The Public Area. When someone types your website name into their browser address bar they see your homepage of your public area. The public area is simply not the private area and includes any part of the site that the public can reach through navigation from another public page or by clicking through from the results of a search engine like Google or Bing.
  3. The Administrative Area. Most websites are programmed to interact with a database and to administer the page content a site owner uses an interface . This interface is a set of pages referred to as the administraion area and it is not connected to the public area. For example, if your website has a shopping cart with lists of items the public can browse, the administrative area would be used to keep those items updated with the correct image, price, etc. Not all websites will have an administrative area.

See Also these Website Design & Development Pages:

 

Website Cost Estimator

We have provided a Free Website Cost Estimator which allows you to select from a list of common pages of a website to give us a clear idea of what you are looking for so you can get a quick idea what your website might cost. Keep in mind that we have a variety of ways to cut down costs by talking to you about what your real requirements are so this calculator is only a ballpark model and will probably estimate higher than your actual cost.

Paul Miller was easy to work with because he listened to our needs and respected our ideas. His created an ideal website for my business. It is exactly what I wanted and Paul made it come to life. Our business has increased and our customers say that it was easy to gather the information from our site. I will continue to work with Paul Miller. I love how he is patient and continues to perfect and tweak the website when needed. I am extremely pleased with the professionalism and high level of service.

Maggie Hebert, Owner / Manager - Executive Suites of Baton Rouge

Paul did a terrific job developing and implementing our new firm website. We are all very pleased with the process and would recommend him highly for those in need of similar services.

Michael Robinson, Shareholder - Kantrow Spaht Weaver & Blitzer (APLC)

We hired Paul Miller to do an overhaul on our website. We are very pleased with the finished product--it's attractive, easy to navigate and the cost was well within budget. I enjoyed working with Paul - he's pleasant, patient and professional. I was especially impressed with how responsive he was and how quickly he took care of whatever I needed. Overall it was a great experience! I would use him again and I would recommend him to others.

Kelly Johannessen, Director of Communications - United Methodist Foundation of LA

My name is Scott Lang - owner of Advanced Hurricane Solutions in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I had imagined a concept for our logo and thought it was fairly intricate and wasn't sure if it was right for our business, but was passionate about it. I had approached other logo designers and each mentioned it may be too intricate and were forcing us to go with a more simple concept. I had lost focus on the logo over time and had become discouraged and resorted to a more simple logo design and was about a day or 2 away from implementing it into our company until I discovered Paul & The DesignSmith. Paul asked me to send him what I imagined for our more intricate version of the logo and he came back with a great price and said his team could get it done. A few days later, he sent some rough pencil drafts of different versions, we chose one and through a couple of minor changes arrived at an incredible logo that exceeded our expectations. Paul, you were great to work with, very patient and precise in nailing our concept of our logo. The detail is amazing and I can't say enough how happy we are. Thanks for renewing my passion for this logo and now I know it is right for our company. This definitely gives me a new outlook on our business and am excited to start branding our company with it.

Scott Lang, Owner - Advanced Hurricane Solutions

I want to thank Paul @ the Designsmith for taking my website out of the stone age. He did an amazing job!! The site is easy to navigate for which we have already had complements on. I would recommend Paul to any of my friends looking to revamp or do minor updates to their sites. Very professional to detail. Myself being someone that has never done any of this type of work before, Paul took the baby steps with me until I caught on. Again thanks to The Designsmith for such an amazing site I have now.

Danita DiMartino, - Carnival Mart, Inc

I was very pleased with The Designsmith's creativity and ability to adapt the web design to our business' practical needs. A job well done!

Jeff Starkey, Operations Manager - Iberville Companies

Paul Miller, The Designsmith, is an outstanding web site designer who has built two excellent sites that have been very good for my business. Lapolitics.com, launched in 2002, has stood the test of time by continuing to look and work very well. Howtogetelected.com, in 2011, achieves the very professional look that befits the national audience it aims to attract.. Paul works quickly to offer and modify design ideas, collaborating with me at every step. He has a strong sense not only of what looks good but what sells. He is also very patient with his more technically challenged clients like myself. In all, Paul Miller is a consummate professional and creative talent. I would recommend The Designsmith for any web design project.

John Maginnis, Publisher - LaPolitics Weekly / How to Get Elected

It is always tough to pull together a group of people who need to agree to one idea for a website to accurately represent their business. I found that Paul really understood our vision and continued to give us ideas until we were satisfied. Once we were ready to pull the trigger on the project, Paul consistently followed up to make sure we completed it! We are very pleased and highly recommend his company.

Valerie Bargas, Partner - Kinchen, Walker, Bienvenu, Bargas & Reed

Miller Studios web, ad layout and logo designs have given MK Promotions the boost it needed to compete on a national level. We have enjoyed excellent initial results and continued support. It's been great to have Paul on our team!

Mark Kuehn, Owner - Newspaper Kiosk Sales

Paul Miller is very responsive, very organized, and when you have a concern regarding the web page you get him and not any intermediary. He usually corrects any areas of concerns or new additions with in days if not hours. Obviously, the complexity may make revision take a bit longer but I want to emphasize his efficiency. We have looked to other vendors for comparable services and Paul has always been the one to rise to the surface. His pricing is extremely competitive and in this area, he has always come out on top as the most cost effective (for web page design, maintenance, and web page hosting costs) of any vendor we have interviewed. The Baton Rouge Clinic's relationship with him has gone back many years and I have personally worked with him for over 4 years now. The most important part of any web page is who owns the web page itself (not just the content) at the end of the day. Paul's firm does the work, but the purchaser would own the web page. For most design firms, the web page is licensed to the purchaser and its presence on the web is contingent upon an ongoing contract with that web design firm. As you can imagine, owning your own page offers much greater flexibility thus this is a very valuable asset. (Plus it speaks to the firm's level of confidence that he does not try to anchor you to him by a licensing arrangement, it is his service, value, and creative product that will keep you with the firm. Paul's pricing has always been fair for both programming as well as hosting the web page for us. You are welcome to visit our site. While we keep it straight forward (in part due to the older patient population we serve), it works well for all of our patients.

Harold D. Brandt, MD, FACP, Medical Director - The Baton Rouge Clinic, AMC

I came to Paul with a website that someone had designed for us years ago and now needed some changes. The problem was we didn't know how to get into the account and couldn't locate the previous designer. Paul came in and rebuilt the site and helped clean it up. We never had any down time for the website and Paul had it fixed in a timely manner.

Bryan Jastram, - STI

We needed to redesign our website and had a very difficult time dealing with our previous web designer. After our first meeting with Paul, we knew he was the perfect guy for us! He was very easy to work with and he made the whole process a much more enjoyable experience! We love the design he came up with and look forward to working with him again on more projects! Thanks Paul!

Bobbie & Danny Baker, Owner - Delta Bravo Properties, LLC

In today's world a website is such an important marketing tool for a company. I highly recommend The Designsmith to anyone who needs a professional, top quality website. Paul is a pleasure to work with and very knowledgeable. He offers creative ideas to ensure that your site is the most effective it can be.

Carter Hill, Owner - Carter Hill Construction

When it came time for a new website, I came to Paul with the goal of creating a website that would reflect the experience of visiting our gallery in person. The end result is even better than I anticipated. Equally as important, Paul was a pleasure to work with in the design phase and really took the time to understand our business and the message we wanted to send. The end result is a website that we are proud to have our name on. Thanks Paul!

George Clark, President - Taylor Clark Gallery

Paul Miller helped us take our web site from average to extraordinary! He took the time to understand my business and profession to customize our site for greatest impact. He arranged for awesome photography and crafted everything together to create a wonderful website. He has been there for us helping us every step of the way. I could not be more pleased. I would highly recommend Paul Miller and The Designsmith to anyone needing help with website design and advertising.

Richard Appleton, DDS, MS, Prosthodontist - Appleton Prosthodontics