PREAMBLE:
Below are my thoughts on how to build out the NT IN website, at least initially.
Saby has said that he wants to give you some input on WebDev. However, he is extremely time-constrained currently, and may not be able to devote much input very quickly. But we are under a lot of pressure to produce a working website very quickly now, because of critical strategic & tactical imperatives. So until you get the specific input from Saby, please feel free to use these notes to guide your NT IN WebDev exercise. Later the site can be modified as needed. If however Saby comes through with his specific inputs, and these are at odds with my instructions, you should go with Saby's directions, not mine.
DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY:
Our website is the primary communication platform by which the world will know us. It is based on our website that most of our future customers and other stakeholders will learn most of the information that will influence their decision to have any relationship with us. If we want to sell shares, or raise debt, the investors and lenders will look at our website to make their initial acquaintance with us, and the very critical ‘First Impression’. And we have only ONE Crucial chance to make a good First Impression. If we miss that window, then we may never get another chance to change their minds to a more favorable impression about us. The good news is -- with the website, we control the messaging, and the agenda. I.e., with our website -- WE pro-actively set the terms of the conversation, instead of having to react to the environmental variables, which may not always put us in a place of advantage. All this is why we must make the best possible impression with our website.
Our website is also dynamic media. As relevant information changes, we can swiftly reflect those changes on our website.
For this, our site must NOT be unnecessarily complex. It is best for it to be very simplistic, direct, to-the-point, and extremely relevant, logical, riveting, and superbly EASY-TO-NAVIGATE. And it must engage its audience as completely as possible, constantly engaging them to dialog with like-minded stakeholders on this forum we are providing them. In the process, they will organically create the content of our webspace, tell us what they want, and captivate the spiders from Google and the other search engines, driving traffic and attention to us, ultimately driving up the price of our stock.
Further, I recommend viewing and treating the website as the Management’s Dashboard to the Company. It should be the tool for even the insiders to view their business, and the company as a whole and the environment in which it exists.
We are currently a small Start-up venture, hungry to grow into a much larger and profitable organization offering industry-leading products and solutions in our chosen fields of endeavor, a company whose stock price is stably high and traded daily on major exchanges and trading platforms across the world. Pursuant thereto, our website should portray us as such an enterprise, the company we want to be, not what we are constrained to be today.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY / PLATFORM:
Since there is no e-commerce Shopping Cart functionality needed right now, we can treat our website as a giant Master Brochure and Visual Map of the business.
As such, I recommend coding in simple HTML / XML, or better yet in PHP, with CSS and Javascript as needed.
Where dynamic content and databasing functionality might be called for, I recommend using a simple MySQL backend databasing environment.
Since you are using WordPress, pick a template with a theme relevant to our core lines of business, as we discussed (and you said that you had identified themes relevant to EVs / Charging Stations / Batteries).
As making professional-quality videos for Youtube can be quite expensive & time-consuming, I recommend using Animation videos instead, in some instances, where the substitution is warranted.
It goes without saying that all content-creation for the entire site must be Social Media- & Search Engine-optimised, and built to reach and please the maximum number of stakeholder eyeballs -- on Mobile Phones, Tablets and PCs.
And the target audience should be considered international, Euro-centric, not India-centric -- with a German-style egomaniacal obsession with Uncompromising Quality.
THEMATICS:
The background / color schema and font usage must be optimized for visual clarity and ease of reading, not Art or aesthetics. The background / color schema should be minimalistic, very business-like, perhaps whites, greys and pale blues, with minimal noise / distractions.
There should be a master top NavBar across the whole site, along with a second NavBar below it (if needed), specific to each functional sub-section or microsite, e.g., EVs, Charging Stations, Batteries, Engineering, etc.
NAVIGATION & PRODUCT-TREE:
Note: Any Item(s) / (Sub-)Category(s) / Page(s) – proposed hereinbelow -- where we have nothing to show yet -- would remain GRAYED OUT, i.e., unlinked / unable to be clicked upon or viewed at this time.
I am including the entries that I know should be included, based on my knowledge / experience / beliefs, even if we don’t have anything to put there, yet. This is because the website being built is analogous to building a bucket, not the water that will be poured into that bucket. The actual product / other data that we have today, is analogous to the water. Tomorrow, we may have more water, but every time that happens, it will be unnecessarily expensive, time-consuming and unproductive to rebuild the bucket, or to build a new bucket.
Also bear in mind that it is perfectly acceptable for a website to be a little forward-thinking. The promises of a greater future is a part of what attracts and engages investors and other stakeholders.
Nonetheless, some of the entries proposed below may not be agreeable to all members of our team. If so decided, these can simply be deferred or left out.
Having said that, below are my proposed (Top) NavBar (drop-down / nested) items, top-left-to-top-right, for the proposed drop-down menu.