Lform's process is results oriented, enabling you to reach a broader audience with a compelling message. Lform focuses on four key phases; research, design, production and deployment; ensuring that your project will remain on time and on budget.
Research
Clear communication and the identification of project goals is one of the most important first steps in our process. Lform believes that every client should be involved in every step. By asking a series of in-depth questions we will gain an understanding of your needs and desires. What makes your company unique from the competition? What are the three major obstacles to selling your product or service? Lform also analyzes the successes and failures of your competition. We study your competitors' interactions with their audience, their use of technology and their position in the marketplace. We also try to understand your potential clients. Who are they? What are they looking for? How can we add value to their online experience?
We will analyze your marketing materials and discuss required approaches for your target audience. Lform will closely review sites that currently take the right approach to servicing all your goals and needs. We will be sure to note pros and cons of each implementation. Furthermore, aesthetics (layouts, graphics) of existing sites will be shown and discussed to gain a better understanding of your visual style.
Then we will outline the new structure of the Website, defining features and the site map. The resulting documentation clearly outlines the goals and requirements.
Design
Design is subjective but you must be guided by several different aspects: appearing in the search engines (a site is irrelevant if people cannot be found); ensuring that your lowest common denominator can properly view the site; and site load time (speed of download).
Next we will hit our canvases running and develop home and interior pages. Two to three digital mock-ups will be presented via a link. They may look and feel like a site, but will only be images developed via Photoshop. Discussions about the initial examples may occur via a phone conference or an in-person meeting. All necessary revisions will be made.
Production
Once conceptual directions are decided upon, static and dynamic coding begins. Projects may require the integration of a content managment system (Lform CMS, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.), incorporation of e-commerce (ZenCart), Flash programming (Actionscript), mobile site development, and/or custom web-application development. Our sites are written in cascading style sheets (CSS). The site will be tested on Windows (Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Chrome) and Macintosh OS X (Safari 4.0, Firefox 3.6). We are also able to accommodate older browsers (Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 5.5, Safari 2.0, etc.) if necessary.
Deployment
Clients may get hands-on training with the content management system, adding and deleting text and images ensuring that the client is comfortable using the CMS, helping to facilitate an easy transition from beta to live site.
Once the interactive campaign is launched, it's all about the results. Lform provides access to in-depth statistics and recommendations to attain future goals. We are there to support our clients with any necessary tweaks or alterations as needed and we will continue to assess the success of the initiative throughout its lifespan.
