Website Development

For a website to work, the following elements should all be in place --

• Information
  The website must contain the information your customers want to find.
• Ask for the Order
  The website should ask for the order and must accommodate customers' preferences for both ordering product and services and asking questions about product and services.
• Accuracy
  The information on the website must be accurate.
• Finding Information
  The information on the website must be easy to find.
• Re-Find the Website
  The website must be easy to re-find and refer to others.
• Display Quickly
  The Web pages must load quickly.
• Horizontal Scrolling
  The Web pages should display without horizontal scrolling.
• Showing Up
  The Web server must always be online and deliver pages quickly.
• Hackers
  The website must be protected from hackers and protect your customers from hackers when they use the website for orders.
• Statistics - Hits
  The Web server must provide data that shows what parts of the site are being used and where links are coming from.
• Search Engines
  The website must be easily found via the major search engines.
• Own Your Site
  Own the intellectual content. Own the files. Own your domain name.

Your customers or potential customers took the trouble to either search for your website via one of the major search engines or find and type in the URL for the website. In return for their effort you should provide the information they are looking for.

The most likely reason for researching your site is to find the contact information for your business, basically: phone, fax, address, hours and e-mail address. It's important to make it very easy for your customers to find this contact information.

The second most likely reason is to find information about product or services you offer. Products and services for sale should be both summarized and as much detail as you can afford to place on the site should be available. Your customers will be looking for your price for product and service. If it's possible, it's generally a good idea to show pricing on the website.

The third most likely reason is to simply find information about your business. Ownership, years in business, growth history and information regarding key personnel are frequent inquiries.

If you aren't able to actually take an order via the website, at least ask that your potential customer contact a sales person, and, give the customer every option to do this: provide phone, fax, mailing address, e-mail address and an inquiry form. The inquiry form allows you to ask questions up front: e.g. customer's name, business name, phone, good times to contact, fax, e-mail address, the product or service they are interested in and sometimes many other details about their needs. A good example of a detailed inquiry form for a product can be found on the H&H Tube website.

Inaccuracy on a website can kill sales. Other than not finding what they had hoped to find, there is nothing that will frustrate customers more than going to all the trouble to find and read your website, but then later find that the information they so carefully researched is outdated or inaccurate. Even a little inaccurate information can sully the integrity of a website. If you are going to have a website, keep it accurate.

Make sure that outdated information is either quickly removed or quickly corrected. Make sure that all broken links to other Web pages are quickly found and fixed.

Note -- Search engines assume that pages with old update dates are not as contemporary and accurate as pages with recent update dates, therefore, the update date is a factor in ranking. Broken links can lower ranking on search engines. EPCS utilizes software for discovering broken links and encourages utilization of a Contact Webmaster link on the bottom of every page. This link can be used for reporting errors people may discover on a Web page.

Spell and grammar check all pages. Some customers will downgrade their opinion of your business if they find these errors. Your site won't get found via a search engine if the word your potential customer is looking for isn't spelled correctly on your website and therefore can't be found via the correctly spelled word the customer may use in a search phrase.

Design the site so that information that changes frequently can be updated by someone with both the new information and the time to make the update. There are many design techniques that will allow someone with only basic Web browsing skills to update a website. A Web page can be designed to update a database on a server. A Web page can be designed to allow an entire database to be uploaded to a server. Announcements, marquee and other spot information can be easily updated via a Web page form. See the EPCS Data Driven Web Applications page for more information.

Note -- Microsoft would disagree with us here, but using Web page authoring software such as Microsoft FrontPage has not been a good Web page maintenance solution for our customers. FrontPage, like all software, has a learning curve. The person who has the information and time, often doesn't have the skills to effectively use FrontPage, particularly if the application requires optimized graphics (see the Display Quickly discussion below) or the page requires search engine optimization (see the EPCS SEO page). Even if this person gains the FrontPage skills, the software may not be used often enough to remember the skills, there may not be a backup FrontPage expert available, or the FrontPage expert may leave the company and another person has to be trained. This said, we offer our customers the option of maintaining Web pages via FrontPage or pretty much any other Web page authoring software they want to use; but we generally don't recommend these types of products.

Content management systems can be a good solution for dynamic websites that are directly maintained by website owners. EPCS uses the Typo3 content management system for these situations. EPCS creates one or more templates for the website. The Typo3 template

• controls placement of content,
• automatically builds the main menu for the site,
• automatically sizes and optimizes uploaded graphics
,
• controls who is allowed to update which pages, and
• provides access to a variety of tools for formatting Web page content.

Once the templates are created, EPCS trains the website author(s) in the use of Typo3 design functions.

There are two steps to finding information on a website.

1. The first is to find the site via a search engine; see Search Engines below.
2. The second is to find information on the site once a Web page for a site is displayed.

Site navigation should be kept predictable and simple. The navigation menu should not require drilling (linking) more than two levels deep into a hierarchy of Web pages. Commonly used names should be used for navigation menu links: e.g. Home, About Us, Contact Us and Products. The main navigation menu should appear in a consistent location on all major pages of the website. All pages on the Web site need a link back to a page that contains the main navigation menu.

A search function should be considered for larger sites. See the search option on the Grayling, Michigan Township website.

A Site Map page should be available on larger websites. The Site Map page is useful for people, but often it's major advantage is that the page makes it easy for search engines to find every page on the website. Site Maps can be automatically generated (e.g. www.gaylord-michigan-real-estate.com/sitemap.php).

Once found, the website should make it easy for the customer to re-find the site.

Each Web page on a site should remind the user to add the page to Favorites and provide a one click option to get the job done; see Add to Favorites link below.

The site may provide an option for the user to add (and delete) their e-mail address on a mailing list and the business should use this mailing list to regularly provide information to the customer.

Make sure the pages print without cutting off the right side of the page. Many customers will elect to print the page and use the printed page to find their way back to a website or use the page to discuss the page with someone (also see Horizontal Scrolling below).

Provide a one click option on all pages that will allow the customer to send an e-mail reference to the page to someone, or themselves; see Send to Friend link below.

Web pages must load quickly.

Despite the increase in broadband use, analog modems are still the primary means for Internet access. Therefore Web pages must still be designed for analog modem access, which means that the total size of a page and the graphics it displays should not exceed what can be downloaded via an analog modem within a time period that will not frustrate customers.

All graphics on a Web page need to be optimized, which means that they are large enough to tell the story and no larger. To minimize download time all graphics need to be compressed but not over compressed. Over compression can reduce graphic quality.

The story needs to be told with either graphics or text. The preferred method is text, since both people and search engines can read text (see the SEO - Search Engine Optimization page). Text downloads many times faster than graphics.

Graphics can amplify the text and provide a means to better understand the text. When graphics help tell the story the website is trying to tell, they are worth the download time. Superfluous graphics and unoptimized graphics annoy your customers. If these graphics slow the download to the point where the patience of the customer is tested, the customer will click the Stop button and perhaps move on to a competitor's website.

There are several techniques that can be used on Web pages that will allow the viewer to optionally increment through a set of graphics. Since these graphics can download one at a time at the request of the user, the download time for these optimized graphics is not annoying.

Two other potential bandwidth hogs are Flash Web pages and Adobe Acrobat pages. They both have their place but both should be carefully optimized to minimize download time.

Sound and video displays can be useful when text and static graphics don't adequately tell the story. However, sound and video are both bandwidth hogs and even with maximum optimization are often impractical to download via an analog modem. Background music for a Web page is nearly always a bad idea. The music download requires bandwidth and time. Many people are annoyed by the sound.

Horizontal scrolling is annoying and usually unnecessary.

Web pages can be designed to be flexible and take advantage of the re-formatting capabilities in Web browsers. These pages display without horizontal scrolling in nearly all windows and on nearly all monitors. These pages also print without cutting off the right side of the page.

Pages designed to maximize Web browser re-formatting capabilities typically work well in all Web browsers, to include older Microsoft Web browsers.

A good example of a page that takes advantage of the Web browser's reformatting capabilities is this page. Change the size of the window used to display this page and watch the re-formatting. Print the page and note that text is NOT truncated on the right margin.

Proprietary Web browser features should be avoided. Stick to W3C compliant coding and the page will work well on nearly all Web browser versions.

A famous Woody Allen quote states, "80% of success is just showing up." This applies to a lot of things, but especially to websites.

The website won't show up if the server isn't up to the task. The server needs to be fast and not overloaded. It needs to be properly backed up with data backups, redundant hardware, redundant power and redundant backbone connections. It needs protection from hackers (see Hackers below). It needs 24/7 operators to deal with any failures. For the search engine implications of server down-time, see the SEO -- Search Engine Optimization Web page.

Note -- although there are certainly good reasons for running in-house Web servers, it's often a mistake. It's very rare for a small or medium size business to have the multiple backbone connections, expertise and on-site 24/7 operators necessary to keep a Web server online. It's also rare for a business to have an application that can't be better offered on a properly configured and supported Web server rather than an in-house server that doesn't have all the components necessary to make the server reliable.

They are out to get you.

Both the Web server and the applications that are hosted on the server must be protected from hacking attempts.

Web servers are targets for hackers. They will attempt to make the server inaccessible. They will try to infect the server with malware that will capture keystrokes and other data that may be used for identity theft or fraudulent use of credit cards. They will attempt to look at files that are not designed to be seen via the Web.

Much of the mischief (usually criminal behavior that law enforcement mostly ignores) attempted by hackers can be frustrated by encrypting sensitive data, securing passwords, using passwords that are difficult to crack, denying access to files that are not designed for public access, keeping firewall configurations up-to-date, keeping virus detection up-to-date, keeping operating software up-to-date, and paying attention to logs.

All pages that ask the customer to enter sensitive data (particularly credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and other information that aid identity theft) need to be encrypted. A closed yellow lock displayed by the Web browser indicates that all data being displayed or sent via the Web page are encrypted. Knowledgable customers won't use your form for sensitive data if it isn't encrypted. Sensitive data captured via Web pages should not be placed in e-mail messages unless these messages are also encrypted.

Without statistical reports you probably don't know if your website works.

These statistics are sometimes referred to as hits, but there is more to it than simply counting hits on your home page.

Logs need to be maintained that record access to Web pages. One of these logs, the referrer log, should record the address (URL) of Web pages that link to your Web pages. Reports need to be run that extract information from these logs and provide monthly and annual summaries.

The reports should offer monthly and annual statistics regarding --

• Hits for each Web page
• Hits from search engine links
• Hits for individual search phrases
• Hits for links received from other Web pages
• Hits for pages that didn't exist on the website

EPCS uses AWStats for statistical analysis of Web page usage.

A website that can't be found via the major search engines is near useless. This is a topic unto itself and is discussed on the SEO -- Search Engine Optimization Web page.

Take ownership of the content of your website. Make sure it is your website, not your website developer's website.

Don't hire a website developer who claims copyright privileges or any other ownership of the files you pay this company to create.

Own your domain name. It's your domain name, not your website developer's. Make sure the domain name registrar shows your business as the owner. To check the ownership of your domain name, go to the www.whois.sc Web page and enter your domain name.

Related Websites Maintained by EPCS
Name	Location	Description
Bay City Michigan Real Estate	Bay City Michigan	Realtor serving Bay City Michigan, Bay County, Essexville, Pinconning, Linwood, Crump, Duel, Willard, Kawkawlin, Fisherville, Auburn, Munger, Bangor, Beaver, Frankenlust, Fraser, Garfield, Hampton, Merritt, Monitor, Mt. Forest, Portsmouth and Williams township.
Otsego County Michigan Forum	Gaylord, Vanderbilt, Elmira, Johannesburg Michigan	The purpose of this forum is to provide a method for Otsego County Michigan residents to discuss what is going on in Otsego County.
Saginaw Michigan Real Estate	Saginaw Michigan	Realtor serving Saginaw Michigan and other communities in Saginaw County.
Amusements
Loose Strings	Gaylord Michigan	Traditional and folk music
Virtual Motion NASCAR Racing Simulator Rental	Traverse City, Michigan	Full sized Monte Carlo NASCAR racing simulator rental for parties, corporate events, grand openings, malls and lock-ins.
Appraiser
Kenneth R. Arndt & Associates, Inc.	Gaylord Michigan	Northern Michigan Commercial and Residential Appraisers. Commercial and Industrial Appraisal, Business Valuation, Home Appraisals, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Appraisals, Relocation Appraisals, Consulting Services, Litigation Support, Appraisal Review, Valuation Mediation.
Attorney
Gaylord Michigan Family Law Attorney, Karen E. Wells-Krusell, Attorney, P.L.C	Gaylord Michigan, Otsego County, Montmorency County, Crawford County, Charlevoix County, Emmet County and Cheboygan County	Divorce actions, Custody actions, Juvenile proceedings, Guardianships, Adoptions, Paternity actions, Simple Wills & Trusts, Debt Collection, Referrals
Auto Parts
Lous Unlimited VW Dune Buggy Online Parts Store	St. Helen, Michigan	BUGPACK, CNC, EMPI and SCAT performance parts, accessories and manuals for Volkswagens and dune buggies.
S-G Imported Car Parts, Inc.	Farmington Hills, Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Roseville, Michigan Berkley, Michigan Lincoln Park, Michigan Grand Rapids, Michigan Waterford, Michigan	Aftermarket imported auto parts distributor for Airtex, AJUSA, Akebono, BANDO, Beck / Arnley, Berryman Products, BOSAL International, BOSCH, Castrol, Centric Parts, Continental Contitech, Crown Remanufacturing, Inc., Cyclo, Daikin Clutch Corporation, DENSO, Energy Suspension, Exide Technologies, Gates, GMB, Haynes Repair Manuals, Hella, Inc., K & N, KYB, Mintex Racing, NGK Spark Plugs, PIAA, Precision Parts & Remanufacturing, Python Injection, Inc., Sachs / Boge and SKF foreign car parts.
CPA
Davis and Davis CPAs PC	Southfield, Michigan	Certified Public Accountant firm offering full service accounting, business valuation, US and foreign tax preparation, expert witness testimony and computer consulting services.
Deer Hunting
Redpine Whitetails	Vanderbilt, Michigan	Michigan trophy whitetail deer hunting ranch
Manufacturer
Allegan Tubular Products, Inc.	Allegan, Michigan	Aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel and carbon steel tube forming and fabrication from 1/8 inch OD to 3 1/2 inch OD.
Baker Metal Products	Spring Lake, Michigan	Tubular fabrication and manufacturing services include tube bending, forming, fabricating, assembly welding, parts washing, notching and deburring.
CSI Emergency Apparatus	Grayling, Michigan	Manufacturers, customizes, refurbishes and services fire truck tanker and pumper emergency apparatus and other emergency specialty vehicles
Dundee Products	Dundee, Michigan	Manufactures cold and hot rolled welded steel tubing in all shapes and sizes
H&H Tube and Manufacturing	Vanderbilt, Michigan	Brass, copper, aluminum, steel and stainless steel tube redraw, fabrication, hydroforming and tubular product design.
Michigan Canoe Livery
Baldwin Canoe Rental	Baldwin, Michigan	West Michigan Pere Marquette River canoe livery and campground offers canoe, kayak and raft rental.
Hinchman Acres AuSable River Resort	Mio, Michigan	Mio Michigan Au Sable River canoe livery and fishing resort offers cabin, canoe, kayak, raft and tube rentals plus fish ponds.
Penrods AuSable River Resort	Grayling, Michigan	Michigan Au Sable River family oriented canoe livery and resort offers canoe, kayak, and mountain bike rentals plus cabin and cottage rentals.
Whites Canoe Livery	Sterling, Michigan	Michigan Rifle River canoe livery and campground offers camping cabin, canoe, kayak, raft and tube rentals.
Northern Michigan Real Estate
Gaylord Michigan Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Schmidt Gaylord	Gaylord Michigan Michaywe Garland Resort	Homes, condominiums, lots and acerage for sale in Gaylord Michigan, Michaywe, and Garland Resort in Lewiston, Michigan.
Lakes of the North	Mancelona, Michigan Gaylord, Michigan	Real estate sales, cottage rentals, and amenities available in a secluded northern Michigan planned community
Midland Michigan Real Estate	Midland Michigan	Realtor serving Midland County, City of Coleman, Village of Sanford township, Warren, Edenville, Hope, Mills, Geneva, Jerome, Lincoln, Larkin, Greendale, Lee, Homer, Jasper, Porter Mt. Haley, Ingersoll
Pinckney Michigan Real Estate	Pinckney Michigan	Pinckney Michigan Real Estate Listings in Livingston County, Washtenaw County, Putnam, Hamburg, Dexter and Webster townships.
Online Store
Lous Unlimited VW Dune Buggy Online Parts Store	St. Helen, Michigan	BUGPACK, CNC, EMPI and SCAT performance parts, accessories and manuals for Volkswagens and dune buggies.
Serving Michigan
Davis and Davis CPAs PC	Southfield, Michigan	Certified Public Accountant firm offering full service accounting, business valuation, US and foreign tax preparation, expert witness testimony and computer consulting services.
EPCS	Gaylord, Michigan	Offers Web page design and development, website promotion and northern Michigan DSL Internet access for businesses.
Kenneth R. Arndt & Associates, Inc.	Gaylord Michigan	Northern Michigan Commercial and Residential Appraisers. Commercial and Industrial Appraisal, Business Valuation, Home Appraisals, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Appraisals, Relocation Appraisals, Consulting Services, Litigation Support, Appraisal Review, Valuation Mediation.
Lous Unlimited VW Dune Buggy Online Parts Store	St. Helen, Michigan	BUGPACK, CNC, EMPI and SCAT performance parts, accessories and manuals for Volkswagens and dune buggies.
Michigan Association of Township Supervisors	Michigan	M.A.T.S. - An independent, representative organization for and of township supervisors which provides education and facilitates networking on contemporary township issues, and serves as a legislative watchdog and lobbyist on issues of critical concern to supervisors.
S-G Imported Car Parts, Inc.	Farmington Hills, Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Roseville, Michigan Berkley, Michigan Lincoln Park, Michigan Grand Rapids, Michigan Waterford, Michigan	Aftermarket imported auto parts distributor for Airtex, AJUSA, Akebono, BANDO, Beck / Arnley, Berryman Products, BOSAL International, BOSCH, Castrol, Centric Parts, Continental Contitech, Crown Remanufacturing, Inc., Cyclo, Daikin Clutch Corporation, DENSO, Energy Suspension, Exide Technologies, Gates, GMB, Haynes Repair Manuals, Hella, Inc., K & N, KYB, Mintex Racing, NGK Spark Plugs, PIAA, Precision Parts & Remanufacturing, Python Injection, Inc., Sachs / Boge and SKF foreign car parts.
Virtual Motion NASCAR Racing Simulator Rental	Traverse City, Michigan	Full sized Monte Carlo NASCAR racing simulator rental for parties, corporate events, grand openings, malls and lock-ins.
Serving Gaylord, Michigan and Otsego County
EPCS	Gaylord, Michigan	Offers Web page design and development, website promotion and northern Michigan DSL Internet access for businesses.
Gaylord Michigan Family Law Attorney, Karen E. Wells-Krusell, Attorney, P.L.C	Gaylord Michigan, Otsego County, Montmorency County, Crawford County, Charlevoix County, Emmet County and Cheboygan County	Divorce actions, Custody actions, Juvenile proceedings, Guardianships, Adoptions, Paternity actions, Simple Wills & Trusts, Debt Collection, Referrals
Gaylord Michigan Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Schmidt Gaylord	Gaylord Michigan Michaywe Garland Resort	Homes, condominiums, lots and acerage for sale in Gaylord Michigan, Michaywe, and Garland Resort in Lewiston, Michigan.
Loose Strings	Gaylord Michigan	Traditional and folk music
NCCI North Central Construction, Inc.	Gaylord, Michigan	Commercial and industrial builder and general contracting firm specializing in Metallic pre-engineered metal buildings, conventional masonry and steel construction, pole buildings, build to suit lease and land development.
The Friendship Shelter	Gaylord, Michigan	Otsego County Michigan homeless shelter
Serving Grayling, Michigan and Crawford County
Crawford County Commission on Aging	Grayling Michigan	Offers services to Crawford County Michigan seniors age 60 and older
EPCS	Gaylord, Michigan	Offers Web page design and development, website promotion and northern Michigan DSL Internet access for businesses.
Grayling Township	Grayling, Michigan	Crawford County Grayling Township contact information, zoning ordinances, meeting agendas and minutes and department information.
Loose Strings	Gaylord Michigan	Traditional and folk music
Penrods AuSable River Resort	Grayling, Michigan	Michigan Au Sable River family oriented canoe livery and resort offers canoe, kayak, and mountain bike rentals plus cabin and cottage rentals.
River House Shelter & Domestic Crisis Services	Grayling, Michigan	Offers emergency shelter, counseling and legal services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and abuse in 4 Michigan counties: Crawford County, Ogemaw County, Oscoda County and Roscommon County.
Spikes Keg O Nails	Grayling, Michigan	Family oriented tavern and restaurant.
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and South China Tours
See Asia Co. Ltd.	Chiang Mai, Thailand	Guided Thailand tours, guided Vietnam tours, guided Cambodia tours, guided Laos tours and guided southern China tours.
Website Design
EPCS	Gaylord, Michigan	Offers Web page design and development, website promotion and northern Michigan DSL Internet access for businesses.