Essential steps to planning your website

Thinking about investing in a new website, or a re-design for your current one? Not sure where to start? Use the following points as your roadmap to make sure you stay on track.


Goals

It may sound obvious, but the first step before selecting a designer is to lay out your website’s goals. You can use your list in your discussions with possible designers, and then refer back to it throughout the design process to keep you focused. After the website is complete, you can look back at your goals to gauge the success of the project.

Some questions to ask yourself when developing your goals:
➢ What do you want your website to accomplish?
➢ Who is your audience?
➢ What is the purpose of your website? Will it provide information, advertise, sell your products, or entertain?

A clear vision of your site is essential when you bring your idea to your website developer.


Structure

Consider what you want your website to look like and how it will be organized. A well planned and structured site that is easily navigable will help your visitors find what they need right away. Think about websites that you’ve visited in the past: when you can find what you need quickly and easily, you can be sure that serious time and effort went into planning it.


Design

The style and tone of your site conveys information about your company to your visitors. It is vital to work with a designer who can work with your goals and produce a design vision that matches your company’s needs.

Do some research on your competitors. Choose 3 – 5 websites within your field and do a quick analysis of the design: what do you like or dislike about the overall look or specific features? This information will help your web designer define your tastes, which will translate into a website that looks good and feels right.

It’s important to be clear about what you want, but also to be open to suggestions and possible changes from your designer, as well. They’re combining your goals and design tastes into an effective visual tool. Flexible creative control allows your designer to produce a refined website that fits within your vision as well as industry standards. A recent study by Consumer Reports Webwatch discovered that the design of a website is the number one factor used by consumers to decide whether or not to trust a site: professional designers are skilled at determining what that trustworthy look is.

If you already have a logo, business cards and/or marketing materials then these should be supplied to your website designer, preferably in digital format. Consider how these existing materials will tie in with your website: consistency is key.


Content

Good website design will provide a great first impression with visitors, but that will fade quickly if the content doesn’t back it up. Fresh and interesting content will keep your visitors coming back, your product selling, and your message out there.

Remember that content doesn’t just refer to the text on each page; it can also include promotional animations, interactive product demonstrations, images, music, or video, just to name a few. The web offers almost limitless options for tailoring specific portions of your site to better meet your and your vistors’ needs.

Content is undeniably important. It’s beneficial to hire a good content writer, or at least an editor if you plan on preparing the content yourself. Your web designer should be able to recommend writers or editors they’ve worked with in the past. Matching your visual tone with the proper voice further establishes confidence with your visitors.


Production

Take the opportunity to use and experience your website after it launches. Additions and modifications can be made at any time. If you have analysis and tracking statistics available, use these to see where improvements can be made, and how successful any changes are. Remember not to lose sight of your original goal, and allow it to guide what types of changes you request. A website isn’t a static tool like a business card or magazine ad - one of the benefits is that it can be constantly changing.


Marketing

Now that your well-designed website with its great content is live, you just have to make sure people see it.

➢ Make sure your designer optimizes your website for search engines with descriptive titles, metatags, and a site map. These small details can determine whether your website turns up on page 12 or page 1 of Google search results.
➢ Consider pay-per-click ads in popular search engines.
➢ Your designer can prepare a few banner ads that match the look and feel of your website for you to strategically place on portal sites for your industry.
➢ Your URL should be added to everything your company sends out: business cards, letterhead, e-mail signatures, telephone on-hold messages, even your holiday cards.


Maintenance

Keep customers coming back by updating your website – no one will come back a second time to see the same stale content. You’ll likely want to update homepage features, calendars and events, news, new links, photos and other items as well.

While maintenance may be one of the last steps in creating your website because it won’t start until after the site is live, it is one of the most important steps and should be considered at the same time you lay out your goals. There are two main options to consider: your designer can do updates for you, or you can build your site on a content management system (CMS).

The option I don’t recommend is the former. If your designer makes updates for you, you are at the mercy of their work and holiday schedule. Your news may not be so new anymore if you happen to send it over during their summer holiday and it gets posted in the fall. The better your designer is, the more likely they are to be busy, and unless you want to pay for the full-time services of a webmaster, a CMS is likely a better option for you.

A content management system allows you to maintain your website yourself without any knowledge of HTML or design. If you can use a word processor and browse folders on your computer, you can use a CMS. These programs integrate your website design into them, and allow you to edit only specific sections, such as your blog, podcasts, photo galleries, online catalogs, forums, FAQs, events, and any text-based sections.

In some cases, you may need the skills of your designer to keep certain aspects of your site in check even with a CMS in place. Make sure to ask your designer about this possibility, and consider establishing a maintenance contract so that you’re both upfront about timelines and costs.