Websites 101

There are many things to consider when planning a website. Like a house or building, websites are best designed when built through layers of planning and construction. The first and most important thing to consider is the purpose of the site.

Will it be used as a marketing tool or will it be mainly informational for your current clients? Will it be a local site or a global site? Will you offer products for sale, advice, expertise…You get the idea.

Next, carefully consider what type of people will use the site? What do you anticipate they are searching for when coming to your site? Here be realistic and creative. Think of what your end users definitely want to see when they are on your site. You need to think like your clients here. What are they searching for? Also consider things that they might not have expected but would also benefit from. For example, if you are a bed and breakfast, you might want to consider having links to the local visitor’s bureau, local travel destinations, airline companies, even travel sites. Start with what they want then expand on things they can use. That adds value to your website and will help to seperate you from the herd.

Now consider the features your site must have. (i.e., about us, contact, services, portfolio, news, shopping, articles…) Break the site down into categories on a sheet of paper. This will help you establish a site map and help you develop your main links. If you are anticipating adding other links later on down the line, highlight those for later and remember to leave room for their addition at a later date.

Finally, it is important to consider how often the type of site you are anticipating will need to be updated. Don’t over burden yourself with too much work. If you can't keep up with it you might be letting down potential clients. So if you can’t dedicate a significant amount of time to the site don’t commit to sections that will need to be updated daily or weekly.

Once you’ve given considerable thought to the focus of the site, its end users and its priorities you can move on to developing the content.