What is a website? You might compare it to a digital version of a magazine or a brochure. Although may have been the case for years, the new reality is different. Websites are more like a digital version of your oven, stapler or car. That probably doesn’t make sense at first, but stick with me.

An oven is a product, which contains certain features and capabilities that enables you to cook that delicious dinner when you are home tonight. The oven must meet the minimum requirements for you to cook a meal, but additional features will make your cooking experience easier and more enjoyable.

A website also is a product--a digital product. It comes with a set of features and capabilities, designed to help users complete tasks. When it’s time to build your next website, shift your thinking in this direction and you will be able to focus on what’s truly important.

Your website must contain all the information, features and capabilities that support your users’ needs. So, don’t think about your website only in terms of pages, but rather in terms of features and components. Website features include the ability to shift layout across all screen sizes (responsive design), CRM integration, and user-friendly signup and login. By contrast, a component can be an image gallery, text, video, calculator, graph, etc. Multiple components would interlock and create the core of any section within your website.

When Dwaiter designs and build websites, our team takes this thinking to heart. We work with our clients to define the crucial features and components needed to make a robust and responsive website that successfully meets users’ needs and helps them achieve their tasks.

Next: the Dwaiter process for building websites.