When you think about getting a website a lot of people under estimate the planning involved in creating a good website. As the old saying goes “fail to plan – plan to fail” and never is this more true , then with web design.
Building a website is not just about putting something on-line , its about thinking your way through the process. Knowing that it will work and knowing what you want it to do.
I have put together a few pointers to get you started with what you need to do before you actually get anything onto the net.
The websites goal
You need to know, what you want your site to do, i.e. is it selling a tangible product , an Idea , service, capturing names for a mailing list to name a few. Without knowing this your designer will be aiming without a target , defining your goal will make it easier to design something that will meet your needs.
Your target market
Who are you selling to and how are you planning on reaching them. Marketing options for a website are Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click Marketing, Social Media and of course traditional advertising. Knowing your demographic will help the web designer to design appropriately, if your selling to teenagers you need a design that ties in with there values.
Research
Before we do any project we query the search engines for how many searches a day are taking place for that service or product. If nobody’s looking, then the project would be a waste of money. We don’t take on projects that do not stand a good chance of making a return, nor should you. If you find there is no searches for your product, move on to a new venture because you will not make any money
E-commerce
With regard to an e-commerce site take a generic core term related to your industry to find out the size of the market.
Colour schemes
Do you have a particular corporate identity that you would like to stay with, or is this a totally self contained site giving more freedom to the look.
Copy
With regard to written text for the site you would need to provide your designer with the text in electronic form, it would be preferable in rich text format , or you can source a professional copywriter.
Next stage
After you have ascertained that there is a market for your product or service contact your web designer who would then produce a mock-up of the design. and send it to you via email for your approval, once you have a design that everyone is happy with, you can then move on to getting the website built and implemented