NEWS
15 DecemberPlanning a website, Pt. 1
Before you setup a website, there are two key questions that need to be answered, one from the owner's (your) point of view, the other from the potential visitor's point of view:- What could a website achieve for your business / organisation?
- Why should anybody visit it?
What do you want your website to do for you?
In our business, this is usually the first question we ask. Amazingly, many businesses / organisations with websites can't give a clear answer - they often created a website simply because their competitors had one. Does it surprise you that such a website is usually rather dull?
There are 4 main pruposes that a website can serve it's owner:
- Making money (directly, by selling things online, or indirectly, by encouraging purchases offline)
- Saving money (eg. by providing information that you would otherwise need to pay for)
- Helping you achieve non-financial goals by having people change their attitudes or behaviour (eg. persuading potential customers to approach you)
- Providing information as a service to help people improve their lives in some way (encompassing a wide range of altruistic motives)
Why should anybody visit your site?
There are millions of other websites available at the click of a mouse - so why visit yours? The simple answer is that your website must be unique in some way that is valuable to your potential visitors - in the part of the world where you operate.
Can you finish this sentence convincingly, by adding no more than about 10 words?
Our website is unique in the area of ___________________ because it ___________________________.
How can you tell if your proposed website will be unique? The easiest way is to use a search engine - such as Google. What terms would you expect people visiting your site to use to search for it? For example, if you have an Estate Agency business, the terms might include "property" "cape town" and / or "property" "sea point". How many pages do these search terms turn up? Take a look at the first 10 pages the search engine displays. What could you offer that will better meet the needs of your potential visitors?
Do you really need a website at all?
Not everybody does. What? We're in the business of selling websites, why would we say that? Well, can you explain clearly and briefly why you need a website, and what it will do for you? Did you have trouble filling the blank spaces above? Are you unable to state concisely why you need a website? If so, perhaps you really don't need one. Instead of thinking of a website, try thinking of an online presence - of which a website is just one type. Maybe email is enough. Or maybe all you need is a presence in an online directory, or a single page on somebody else's website - it could be an industry association's, or it could be one from your local area.
How to get a website
Having decided how having a website could help you, and why anybody would visit it, you are now ready to work through this simple guide to setting up a website. These steps are divided into three main groups: preparing, building and launching.
Preparing
How can a website help your business - and vice versa?
Checking out the competition.
Deciding how large your site should be.
Production
Planning the site's information architecture.
Designing the page layout.
Creating high-quality content.
Building and checking.
Launching
Naming the site.
Finding a host.
Uploading for publication.
Letting the world know it's there.
Keeping your site up to date.
The above order is a logical one, but there's no need to follow that sequence exactly as the site is planned and built. Each of the 3 areas - preparing, production and launching - can be started separately, but all 3 strands all need to come together at the end.
Planning a website, Pt. 2