Website Planning is Essential – But How to Begin?

You’ve decided creating a website is a must, but why and how to start?

First, the why:

Is it just because it seems to be the “in thing” to do or is it because it’s needed to accomplish a particular goal or set of goals? And, if goals are involved: 1) What are they? and 2) What is your timeline for accomplishing them?  If a website is integral in your success, let’s get started!

Second, the planning:

Planning is essential and it takes time and effort. At first it may seem overwhelming, but done right, it can save you a lot of unnecessary and unexpected surprises and headaches.

What is its purpose?

• Begin by establishing the purpose of the website. Will the site be created purely for fun or does it have a business purpose? If it’s for business, have you developed a business plan? In the plan,
  • have you identified a vision, mission and a set of core values for your business? How will you convey them? Do you have a logo or ideas for a logo?
  • what is your budget for a website? Does it include the cost of initial set-up, hosting, images, illustrations, videos, security monitoring, renewal of domain name(s), content updates, software updates, and ongoing maintenance? Have you obtained a domain name?
  • will products be sold or services offered for a fee? What are they? What are their descriptions and pricing?
  • do you hope to partner with others to grow your business?
  • do you plan on creating
    • an interactive or membership website?
    • a “for profit” or “non-profit” business?
    • a warranty for your service or products? If yes, what is the warranty?
    • Gift Certificates?

What will it look like and contain?

• Have you decided on a color scheme, format, navigation or how you’d like the content to be organized?
• What type of content do you plan on sharing? Do you want to share ideas and experiences or display your work? If yes,
  • how do you intend to share your ideas and experiences? Through text, images and/or videos? How will you obtain them?
  • will you enable downloads of your work?
  • how are you going to engage others so they visit your site and help you reach your goals? Will you be setting up social media accounts?

Testing before launch?

When a website is in the process of being created, it’s considered to be in “development”. Once it goes public or is “launched”, it is considered to be in “production”. Before it’s launched, it’s important to test the website to ensure visitors have a good experience when they use it. This is referred to as UAT or User Acceptance Testing.

Most people are very busy and very unforgiving when it comes to inconveniences suffered while exploring a website. It’s important to remember that a good experience brings people back while a bad one can literally stop them in their tracks and prevent them from not only continuing to explore the website, but keeps them from returning.

Therefore it’s important to have a plan in place to test the site thoroughly before it’s launched. To that end, you may want to request the following individuals test the site and provide you with feedback:

• business associates
• friends
• family

And a quick hint…they should be at varying levels of “technically savvy”.  After all no two visitors approach a website the same way. Some people are very apprehensive or nervous about using technology while others appear to have been born to it. The goal of any website is to make visitors feel at ease when visiting and looking forward to visiting again. So, having a mix of “testers” is highly recommended.

What Needs to be Done Prior to Your Site’s Launch?

It’s very discouraging to spend time, effort and money to create, test and publish a site all the while not knowing if anyone will see it or who will take care of content and application updates as well as any technical glitches that may come along. So, prior to launching your site, you may want to address the following items.

• What steps have you taken to ensure your site is Search Engine Optimized? If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it simply means what steps will be taken to ensure your website shows up fairly high on a major Search Engine page (Google, Bing, Yahoo) so potential clients pick your site ahead of others to access for your services and/or products?
• What have you decided about establishing a presence on Social Media such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, etc.?
• Will you be maintaining your site or will you have someone else do it?
• What security precautions or services will you enlist to keep your site safe and secure?

All of these questions need to be addressed so you can be assured you’re getting the best results possible from your investment into your website.

Ready to talk more about the details? Feel free to contact me and we can set a date and time to chat.