Before you do anything in life it is usually a good idea to have a plan. If you want to go on holiday you will at least have some idea of destination or type of holiday and budget before you start looking. Planning a website should be no different.
The plan needn’t be too complicated and it doesn’t need to be technical either. Rather you need to think about some basics before you start:
1. What is the purpose of the site?
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- to sell something directly i.e. an e-commerce site
- to gather leads
- to position you or your company as the expert
- as an online business card
2. Who is the website for? In other words who are your ideal customers or clients?
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- how old are they?
- what do they drive?
- what newspapers do they read?
- what is their income level?
You may think these are irrelevant questions but if you think about it, these people will be expecting certain things from your website depending on their experiences. It will also help you consider the language you use when writing for your site.
It is also important to realise who the site is definitely not you, your web-designer, graphic designer or your aunty Nelly!
3. This is linked to No.1 the purpose of your site but this is considering the Most Wanted Response (MWR) that you want your visitors to make. do you want them to call, email, sign-up, buy….