Website Design

Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA+ Accredited Tax Advisor Past President Alabama Society of Enrolled Agents Past President Alabama Association of Accountants

Redesigned Website Launched With Eye To Future

We began an aggressive rework of our main website in January of 2011 with a target launch date of March 1. When we started the planning process in August of 2010, our primary objectives were three-fold; 1) to convert all of our html code from "transitional" to "strict" paving the way for the new coming standards in Html5, 2) endeavor to hard-code all of our links and image files for use with a Content Delivery Network (CDN) which will make our site much faster for users worldwide and even users on opposite ends of the United States, New York to California, and 3) make our site more usable and presentable to new devices such as the iPad and touch screens, where users don't use a mouse and frequently use the zoom feature.

Although not a prerequisite of our redesigned site, an added benefit will be the likeness of the current website to our new Client Portal I hope to launch in the Fall of 2011. We had simultaneously upgraded our hardware and software from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 and our SharePoint server from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010.

The new SharePoint 2010 server will be the foundation of the coming Client Portal. There will be many new features and services available to our clientele through the new Portal and when they leave our public website and enter the Portal, the change won't be quite so dramatic. Cook and Company provides public accounting, tax, financial and technology services from their office in Arab, Alabama to clients in all fifty states and nineteen foreign countries. Cook & Co., Enrolled Agents are licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Greg Cook is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed by the states of Alabama and Tennessee.

On a final note regarding the Cook and Company website, since 1994 we have transitioned through six different iterations of our website. I would like to think that we have made significant improvements all along the way and not just cosmetic changes to keep our content from appearing stale. Major upgrades every three years have been undertaken, but I feel like we've accomplished so much more with this rework than in times past. We've certainly done more under-the-hood upgrades that aren't necessarily visible on the surface this go around. Technology has radically changed the way we do business and interact with our clients. New technologies are coming along every few months and we will be taking advantage of those that will be a realizable benefit to us and our clients.

Things Every Small Business Owner Should Know About Designing, Launching and Developing a Website
In 1996 we created our own website and joined the millions of others on the world wide web. Since that time, we've learned a lot about the right and wrong way to do things on the internet. I'm going to share those lessons with you on this page in a brief synopsis that you can read in less than ten minutes.

The first question every small business owner inevitably asks is: Do I even need a website?
Maybe not, I can think of some businesses that would gain nothing or perhaps having a website could even work to their detriment, (i.e., you work under contract for one customer and the contract precludes you from performing services to any other customers, or your work is so secretive and proprietary that you don't want anyone to know what you are doing).

If your business doesn't fit one of those categories, then these are the questions you should ask yourself:

Do I provide products or services to the public or other businesses?

Is my business listed in the telephone directory?

Do I use business cards?

Do I use email in the normal course of my business?

Do customers, vendors, suppliers, subcontractors or business partners visit my business location?

Do I advertise or promote my business in any way?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you should have a website whether you feel you "need" it or not.

What can I expect the cost of having a website to be?
If you search the internet I'm sure you'll find someone, somewhere, saying that you can have it for free. You may get a free page from your internet service provider or email provider. Generally though, you can expect to spend as little as $200-$300 upfront and $100-$600 per year thereafter. Of course, depending on the features you want, the costs can go up from there. A static site will cost less than a dynamic one (frequent changes to content).

Lessons we've learned: Follow these few easy tips and you will be much more successful.
Choosing a Website Name
Use your business name if it is available (with the dot.com extension, dot.net or dot.us if you are located in the United States)

If your business name is already taken, use a name that describes what you do

Creating the Website
Start with good quality content and information that your target audience is interested in

Utilize "meta tags" to the fullest extent - spend extra time and effort on the "meta tags"

If your site has more than one page - Use a theme (css style-sheets are best) to keep the colors, fonts, pictures and layout uniform)

Launching & Developing the Website
Once you have designed, created and published the site (here's the most important thing!):

Let people you come in contact with know it is there by adding the website address to all printed material (i.e., business cards, letterhead, envelopes, signage, advertisements, etc.)

Let people you don't come in contact with know it is there by using Search Engine Submission Software

Review, update and make changes to your site at least once annually (even if it is a static single page)

Design the Website for Best User Experience
Because internet users have a very large variety of computers, monitor sizes, connection speeds and browsers, all of these with many adjustment settings; users will see your website very differently. Webmasters are faced with many decisions during the design process, all of which are a "compromise" to provide the best user experience to the largest audience.

First, let's look at screen resolution with a snapshot of recent visitors to this site:

Rank	Screen Resolution	Number of Visitors	Percentage
1.	1024x768	4,317	42.83%
2.	1280x800	1,565	15.53%
3.	1280x1024	1,515	15.03%
4.	1440x900	619	6.14%
5.	1680x1050	544	5.40%
6.	800x600	401	3.98%
7.	1152x864	261	2.59%
8.	1920x1200	178	1.77%
9.	1280x768	167	1.66%
10.	1400x1050	89	0.88%

In the early days we designed this site for 800x600 screen resolution. Many webmasters still design for that resolution today. That is why many of you will have visited sites that have either a very large blank (colored background) space on the right side of the screen or blank areas around a small web page that is centered on your screen.

Why would we design for 800x600 when less than 5% of our visitors are using that setting? We don't anymore. However, many webmasters will argue that users with higher screen settings are viewing sites with a smaller window that is equivalent to 800x600.

We have made a compromise by designing our pages with automatically adjustable (re-sizable tables), that will take advantage of all of the screen real estate while scaling down when necessary. Ever visit a website that has a statement that reads "this site designed for and/or best viewed with xxx browser at xxx screen resolution"? Just don't put such a statement on your site.

Next, Let's Look at Connection Speed...

A sampling of the last 10,000 visitors to this website:

Rank	Connection Type/Speed	Number of Visitors
1.	Cable	3,301
2.	Unknown	3,001
3.	DSL	2,071
4.	T1	1,305
5.	Dialup	261
6.	OC3	125
7.	ISDN	15

In the old days we created web pages with a minimum load time of 20 seconds at a Dial Up speed of 28.8 Kilo-Bytes Per Second (KBPS). Today, we don't even reference Dial Up speeds during creation and design of pages.

And Finally, Browsers...

The Breakdown of Different Browsers of the Last 10,000 Visitors:

Rank	Browser	Number of Visitors	Percent
1.	Internet Explorer	7,472	75.99%
2.	Firefox	1,753	17.83%
3.	Safari	347	3.53%
4.	Mozilla	125	1.27%
5.	Chrome	95	0.97%
6.	Opera	25	0.25%
7.	Konqueror	4	0.04%
8.	Mozilla Compatible Agent	3	0.03%
9.	Netscape	3	0.03%
10.	Playstation 3	3	0.03%

Which one would you design for?