Website Planning Guide
Website Planning Guide
Building your website can become overwhelming very quickly. There are many things to consider before you begin the development process. The following website planning guide with help you determine what you would like to accomplish with your website.
Website Purpose
The first step in planning a website is to define the purpose of the site. This will help explain to your visitors who you are and what you do. Write a one sentence summary: "Website Design and Development Company with exceptional customer service offering affordable website design, development, and maintenance solutions." This sentence will be used as your site description in your home page Meta Tag and search engine submissions.Website Goals
What do you wish to accomplish with your website? Set a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-based) goal. Some examples of website goals would be:- Sell $10K of products/month
- Generate 25 new sales leads/week
Target Audience
Define your target audience. Who will be visiting your website? Who do you want to attract to your website? Create a customer profile. This could be an age group, income level, regional, certain interests etc. Keep in mind that your website should be built for your audience.Review Other Websites
What types of design styles appeal to you? What do you like, what don't you like? What is your competition doing? Analyze your competitors' websites to get some ideas to plan your website. What can you do better that makes you stand out?Keywords and Phrases
Many people (including website developers!) don't realize that search engine optimization begins prior to building your website. It is very important to define keywords and phrases in your planning stage. Make a list of keywords and phrases that your target audience would use to search for your website. These words will need to be incorporated into your website content and structure to help with search engine optimization.Website Content
The content on your web pages is what attracts visitors to your website and should be focused around your website goal and target audience. Your home page should describe - Who, What, When, Where, Why. Keep it simple, be clear and concise. Your content should include how your product or service will benefit your customer. When preparing your content, include the keywords and phrases from your list. This will help search engines find you. See our list of website topics that you may want to include in your website.Website Functionality
Will you need any special functionality to interact with your visitors? You may want your visitors to be able to search your website or perhaps you want them to fill out a form when contacting you.Affiliations
Are you a member of any trade groups or organizations? You may want to include a logo and links to them on your website.Domain Name Registration
A domain name is a unique internet address that is registered for a minimum of 1 year through a domain registrar. For information on creating and registering a domain name, see our domain name registration page.Web Hosting
You will need to select a web hosting service to host your website. There are several things to consider before choosing a hosting company. Read our website hosting page for more information.Creating a website is exciting and you probably have lots of ideas. It is important not to get overwhelmed. Start with the most important pages first, you can add the rest gradually. See our Website Checklist to keep help you
