Ideas, insights and inspirations.

Fourth of a four part series on web development best practices we have used as one of Pittsburgh’s longest standing web development agencies. These practices have consistently delivered prosperity to regional, national and global clients for the past 30 years. Today, more than any other marketing touch point, a website is the digital soul of an organization. All roads lead to it. As a mission-critical asset, it must be kept current and fresh with an easy-to-use content management system (CMS). There are four types of CMS systems: proprietary, cloud-based small-business, open-source or commercial grade. Which one should you pick? The answer depends on four factors: The Right Features A good CMS system must be: User Friendly – The CMS should be easy to use for both non-technical content administrators and web/technology teams. It should have spell-checkers, content preview, and content rollback features. Customizable – It should be flexible and customizable for standard tasks, but it should also have the ability to extend … Continue reading

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This is the second of a four part series on web development best practices we have used as one of Pittsburgh’s longest standing web development agencies. These practices have consistently delivered prosperity to regional, national and global clients for the past 30 years. Our first crucial web development best practice is to begin with a good plan. The key components of this include succinct articulation and thoughtful mapping of the following: 1. Purpose, Goals and Objectives – Always begin with the why. The list could include: realizing the goals outlined in the strategic plans generating leads growing revenue expanding market reach – to new geographies and new markets building reputation  securing top Google rankings growing donors and donations (for non-profits and colleges) 2. Project Plan –  To establish expectations with project stakeholders, include: timeline budget stakeholders progress meetings 3. Features and Requirements – To ensure clarity and alignment, and to provide a roadmap for development, these lists will help. Features can … Continue reading

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As one of Pittsburgh’s longest standing web development agencies, Elliance has been delivering prosperity to regional and national clients for the past 30 years. Our arsenal of web development best practices includes: 1. Begin with a Good Plan Map out and outline all of these facets up-front: Goals and objectives Requirements – users, business, content administrators Specifications – for interactive components Functional requirements – including a system of calls-to-action Merchandising approach Integration requirements – with third-party applications Navigation and sub-navigation system Domain architecture – including subdomains The right scale (program, department or enterprise) Content-migration and URL redirects – retaining your SEO rankings and building upon them Despite all the planning, be prepared for some surprises along the way such as with third-party integrations and new requirements surfacing midstream. 2. Make it Easy to Use for Content People Content people naturally don’t have sufficient programming know-how. They are looking for easy to use, point-click-and-type interfaces on their web platform. They want … Continue reading

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