Web Development

Virtual Property Developer designs web sites with both you and the user in mind.  Our method for developing web content includes the following:

 1. Determine your goals and objectives for the web site.
 All web sites should serve some purpose whether that be actual sales, promotion, customer service,  information exchange, or a combination of the above.  Once objectives are determined, goals can be  set.  Our web sites are designed and built in a way to maximize efforts to achieve these goals.

 2. Determine the Audience
 A web site needs to be designed to cater to it's audience. The the tools (i.e. shopping cart system,  message board forum, automated mailing list system, etc.) used, and the look, feel, and navigation of  the site should revolve around what the target audience of the web site is most likely to need and understand.

 3. Research and Content Planning
 There is an infinite amount of things that can be included on your web site.  We've found that the best  way to determine what the most useful content your site can have is to familiarize ourselves with your objectives.  We browse the web for sites with similar objectives as your own.  We can then decide on what works and what doesn't work, what has been done too often, and what has yet to be tried. 
 Once our research and brainstorming is finished we can decide with you what tools and information will  be most useful to you and your site's visitors.

 4. Build/Customize the Tools
 Once the tool set has been agreed upon, we can customize any of our preexisting tools, or build what you need from the bottom up.  We build and customize our tools as we design and layout the separate pages of the site to give the site a more seamless, less confusing feel.   

 5. Web Site Layout and Design
 We design our web sites with the user in mind.  The navigation should be easy to understand and for the most part standard from page to page. Colors, fonts, and graphics should all coordinate with each other and with the navigation.  The flow from page to page should be logical, with a minimum number of clicks between major sections of the site. Another, often overlooked element of good page design is integrating web tools seamlessly with the rest of the site. For example, shopping cart pages should still maintain the look, feel, and navigation with the rest of the site.

 6. Testing
 We need to make sure nothing is overlooked. Employees, friends, family, and potential visitors to your web site should all be asked to test the web site.  This helps us find any unanswered questions, bugs, or inconsistencies with the site. If any are found,  changes can then be made.

 7. Publish
Once the web site has been thoroughly tested,  we can publish the site on the Internet for all to see. You need need to have your domain name registered, and a hosting service . We can set both of those up for you.

 8. Promotion and Advertising
 A web site is of no use if no one ever sees it. We can optimize your web site for search engine ranking and register you with all of the major search engines and any pertinent link pages. We can also design a banner and set you up with a banner exchange program or help you buy advertising.

9. What you need to get started
You need three things to run a web site:

• A registered domain name.
• A web server to host your site.
• Code to create your web design (the pages and functions that form your site.)