• Read more about Part 1: How To Create A New Website

Creating a new website isn’t always as simple as snapping your fingers. You can create a basic website that will give you basic results; however, there are many questions to answer if you hope to optimize its performance. In this series, we'll discuss how to create a new website.

As a project manager it is important that you are asking important questions before you start designing a website. It’s vital to ask questions around the client's goals, internal philosophy and how they envision their end product. Bottom line, you want to know as much about what their business and their end goals before you even start thinking about design.

Below are sample questions along with a few explanations that I ask a client before starting the project:

A website designed to appeal to 30-something professionals is going to be different than one aimed at young newlyweds or retirees. It’s important that you have a good grasp on who your client’s customers are. It affects not only the look and feel of the site, but may also affect usability and accessibility issues

Finding out a client's budget before the project begins is vital, what if their budget does not match what you designed? You have not only wasted time but money is the most important.

It is important to let the client know that a website or an application is a process and not only a project. Will be necessary to put significative budget for maintenance phase in order to keep the project constantly updated.

The project will be complete once it becomes live. Preparing a site for going live is a combination of choices made before the project starts. It is important to focus on tracking performance, using an according methodology and prioritize items.

It is a good practice to know what the client will want to do in the future with their site in order we can make allowances in the design and coding now. This practice allows us to think in advance to avoid a possible site rebuild from scratch.

This is important because you want a client to be able to track their success after the launch of the site.

These are just suggestions, but if your web development company did not ask you some of these questions, you should probably follow up to make sure they have the right vision for your company.

• Read more about Going to Guatemala: One Project Manager Shares His Story

By: Patrick Harrington

This is my third time volunteering with From Houses to Homes in Guatemala. My previous two trips were back in the summers of 2011 and 2012. A lot of people ask me, "Why do you keep going back?" The answer to this question is difficult to put into words, but I'll give it my best shot.

From the second I step off the plane in Guatemala City, I know I have been transported into a different world. The cars are older, the traffic seems to have no rules, and the pollution seems to be a little bit stronger. As I try to find a taxi labeled "Antigua" and a driver that can understand my broken Spanish, anxiety begins to grow and I start to ask myself, "What am I doing here?"

That moment of doubt quickly fades as I begin to remember the reasons that bring me to Guatemala. At first it's the natural beauty of the country. The three volcanoes that surround Antigua are a constant reminder of the earth's strength and power. The cobblestone roads and multi-color houses that make up the city remind me of a time that seems lost in most places back in the U.S. The ruins that scatter the country fill me with amazment as I imagine the ancient civilization from which they came.

But what truly keeps bringing me back to Guatemala is the people.

Today, I met the family that we are helping: it is comprised of three boys (ages 17, 10, and 3) and their two parents. In typical Guatemalan fashion, they also introduced us to their entire extended family and group of friends. It didn't take long for the kids and family to warm up to us. The language barrier dissolved as we used our poor Spanish and hand gestures to play games with the kids (try to throw the rock in the bucket, toss the soccer ball off my head, etc.); we were quickly rewarded with laughter and smiles—a reminder that we are all connected.

While it is easy to look around and see everything they don't have, it is the happiness they share with us that keeps me coming back. It is in these moments that I realize life is truly not about what I have, but rather the people that make up my life.