| 10
Steps to Planning a Good Website
©
2004 Susan M. Totman. All rights reserved.
Proper
planning of your website is crucial to building
an effective website for your business or
purpose. Some initial basic questions to
consider are:
Use
the answers to the above questions as you
begin to put together the outline for your
site.
1.
Write down all those people you
are trying to target. Make a complete
list and then make a sublist of those traits
that they have in common.
2.
Write down the purpose of your site
in detail. What is your ultimate goal? To
sell your products? To sell your services?
To get a message across? As much information
as possible will aid your designer in making
sure that your site is appropriate for your
purposes and your target audience.
3.
Determine your budget range.
This is one of the most crucial aspects
of your web plan. You must know where you
will fit in the "need to have"
v. the "want to have".
4.
Draw up a chart (flow chart)
as to how you see your site working and
begin to organize the structure of your
site. Consider this a draft, changing and
"fixing" things as you go. Have
a rough idea of the number of pages you
will need and how they will be laid out
when you sit down with a designer. Make
a list of all of the possible pages you
want on your site and what headings/subheadings
they should go under.
5.
Go and view other sites
you like or dislike and write them
down, listing why you like them
OR why you dislike them. What is it that
draws you to them or doesn't - specific
features, colors, useability, etc. Be very
specific.
6.
Next, consider aesthics.
Do you have an idea of the fonts you want?
Understand that most people only have basic
fonts loaded on their machine, so if you
use "funky" fonts, you may be
one of the only people who will see your
pages the way you intended - the rest will
see the default fonts on their own computer
in their place. Will you want animation
such as flash or just a basic interface?
Colors are crucial to getting your message
across. You will want to maintain consistency
of the look and feel of your site throughout,
which helps the viewer stay "connected"
throughout their visit to your site. In
other words, you don't want, one page with
pink background, one with yellow, one with
green, etc. The general look should stay
the same throughout.
7.
Useability & Interaction.
Do you want feedback forms? Do you want
to have the current date on your site? Do
you want people to be able to communicate
with other customers on your site (i.e.,
a forum or guestbook)? What type of navigation
do you want? What will be easiest to use
for your clients/customers? Keep this in
mind particularly if you cater to a specific
audience that focuses on people with any
disabilities.
8.
Images, content, etc. What
will you want for images? Do you already
have a logo or will you need to have one
designed? Will you want it to work with
printed materials you already have? If so,
be prepared to give your designer a digital
copy to work with. Most designers will not
provide copywriting for you. If you want
to have copy written for all of your site,
do a search on the web for copywriters.
This can be a very expensive aspect of your
website if you hire a professional copywriter,
so do a good deal of research and ask for
samples of their writing (i.e., sample sites
they have written copy for, etc.) Will you
want flash or other media on the site? If
so, be prepared to provide extensive details
to your designer.
9.
Advanced features. Will
you need a shopping cart or need to collect
donations on your site? Would you like scrolling
announcements? If you need a shopping cart,
have you looked into online merchant account
options? A good place to start to learn
about how they work is: http://www.mals-e.com/services/help14.htm.
10.
Hire Your Designer. Once
you've compiled the above and feel comfortable
with your rough layout and ideas, contact
a designer. Review that designer's work
to see if that person's work is what you're
looking for. Look for clean, professional
designs with consistent flow between pages.
Look at the imaging - does it look professional
or like something out of a child's coloring
book (keeping in mind that some people INTEND
their site to look child-like, of course)?
Designs with lots of animation like images
that constantly move (other than flash -
I am not referring to flash designs) tend
to deter people from hanging around. Also
look at their WHOLE portfolio if you see
things you don't like in one of their samples
- lots of times clients will request
and insist that many of these things that
are on their website remain there even though
they are not recommended by the designer
and since the site is owned by the client,
the client is the final say. Lots of designers
are very versatile and can work with many
completely different design ideas and formats,
while other designers stick pretty much
to the same layout all of the time, and
don't offer much flexibility.
Do
your research and you should have a successful
outcome.
We
can work with you to build a professional,
affordable website for whatever your needs
are if you choose us to be your partner
in building your website.
Click
here for a no obligation, FREE quote on
your next project.
©
2004 Susan M. Totman. All rights reserved.
This
article may be reprinted with written permission
from Susan M. Totman only. All copyright
information MUST accompany the article wherever
reprinted. All links must stay in place
and live if reprinted.
NOTE:
Do NOT remove copyright information for
any purpose whatsoever.
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