Starting a website from scratch can seem like a daunting task. After you have selected a web company to guide you through and create your website design, there are quite a few additional steps to take into consideration. Many factors influence the success of a website, not just the design itself. Things such as an initial brief, content, hosting servers, domain name, and target audience, are some of the main ingredients to this virtual recipe. Here’s an invitation to do like our Roman friends used to do way back then, “Divide and Conquer”, break up the pieces of the whole into smaller steps to make everything more manageable and clear.
1. Initial Brief
Well, you’re ready to get your website design rolling, are you sure you know what the exact purpose of it is? Do you just need a landing page with basic information? Do you need a site that drives real traffic toward it? Do you need a site where users and clients can interact? Do you plan on making money and monetizing your web enterprise?
Defining what your website is going to do, specifically, is the first and most important step. Let’s learn a thing or too from our friends in the advertising and marketing world. This first step is just like the initial brief an ad agency works on upon landing a new account. Here are a couple of tidbits to think about:
Website profile: Website name (domain name, which we will see in point number 2), mission, vision, and objectives. How long has your product/service been in the market for? Where is it located and how well positioned is it? Make sure you can tell which other websites are direct and indirect competitors.
Target audience: To whom is this material geared towards? We discuss this in point number 5.
Time and Budget: How much money and time are you willing to invest to bring forth this venture?
Examples and References: Are there other sites out there like yours? Are there sites out there that have exactly what you want? Are there sites out there that have exactly what you DON’T want?
This will make everything clear for your website developer and yourself, making the planning process more coherent because you will now know what tools and resources are needed and what direction needs to be taken.
2. Domain Name
A domain is your main calling card. This is how people will remember you and your company. It should be easy to remember and easy to spell. Try to keep it as short as possible and avoid using hyphens, as this may result in mix-ups with other similar names. When selecting a name, stick to your business name, or if that isn’t possible, try to use a word of a select combination of words that best represent your product, service or idea. This will help boost search engine results and will surely develop better memory retention for your target audience.
3. Content
Content is the fuel that drives web engines. If content is not relevant and kept fresh, then your website design, as snazzy as it might be, means nothing. Consider hiring someone to write for you if it’s not your cup of tea. A good way to organize this from the start is to plan out which site sections you will have in your site. (This influences the website design also.) Now you will be able to see and decide which sections of the site will be updated more frequently, so you can plan ahead on how you will be writing content and how often you will be uploading it.
4. Hosting
You need a place to put your files so they can go live and online, and this is where hosting comes in. There are many great companies that offer this services, so it’s a good idea to talk to friends or your web design company to recommend one for you. If you feel comfortable and know your way around this process, go ahead and purchase the hosting package (a yearly package is a good idea) yourself. If not, then your website developer should be able to offer hosting maintenance for a fee.
5. Target Audience
Ok, so you’ve defined what your website is going to do, what domain name to purchase, what content to create, and what hosting company to hire.
Who will be benefiting from all this stuff? Your product or service will give you the first hint (if you haven’t already defined this).
Where is your target audience located?
Age group?
Profile?
What interests are people after?
Motivation?
Where do they work?
Education level?
Hobbies?
Habits?
Lifestyle?
Negative attitudes and barriers your service/product might create?
Positive attitudes your service/product might generate?
Basically, make sure you ask yourself Who, Why, When, Where, and How.
By now you should have a good idea on how and where to start. Remember that planning is essential and is the most important step in everything including website design. It should never be skipped. This will give you the peace of mind to steer you through the process of creating a website.
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