The first step towards building a website for your business is having a plan. Proper planning helps to give clear direction and prevents delays and mistakes. If you’re looking to establish an online presence for your business and don’t know where to start, here are some tips on how to plan a website.
1. Set Your Goals
Start by determining the purpose of the website. Is it for selling inventory? Or is it for gaining popularity? You also need to identify who the audience of your website is. Once you have these figured out, you can now set some goals for the website. Set a target for the number of visitors you’ll be aiming for every month. You could also set a target for the number of newsletter-downloads you’re targeting if you have one. Make sure your goals are specific and measurable. They should also align with your marketing goals. Use analytics tools such a Google Analytics to monitor the performance of your website.
2. Budget
Do you have a budget for your website? Make one. The budget should ideally include the amount of money you’re will8ing to spend on programming, design, and hosting. Consult with web developers and compare pricing so you get a range of the charges. You might want to avoid comparing providers based on price alone. Base your decision on references, experience, and work portfolio.
3. Assign Roles
Your team will be composed of a web developer, graphic designer, content writer, and the company representative. Everyone should know their role and expectations. Make it clear that deadlines must be met.
4. Come Up with A Content Strategy
Determine the kind of content you’ll have on your website. What sort of information do you want your audience to consume? Is it blog posts, video, documents, pictures, or slideshows? Come up with the way you plan to present your content over time. For instance, you may choose to post only 2 blogs per month. You might need to hire a professional to help you with the content strategy.
5. Come Up with a Website Structure
What pages will you have on your site? What will each page feature? Make sure to include a Contact and About page. Structure the rest of the pages to meet your business needs.
6. Prepare a Mockup
Also referred to as a wireframe, a mockup of your website is an outline of the design you want. Get a pro do this for you using a photo editing software such as Photoshop. The mockup shouldn’t be too detailed as its meant to give you a snapshot of what your website will look like once it’s done.
7. Being Designing
The aesthetics and usability of your website are critical. You want a website that’s easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. Make every page easy to find and make your content easy to read by spacing it out and throwing in some images. You’ll also want your website to load fast. At this point you might want to get a managed cloud hosting plan for your website. This is how to plan a website.
8. Test
Run tests on your website after it’s ready for publishing to check for bugs and hitches in the design. Make sure it displays properly across all types of browsers and devices. Confirm that all links work as they should.
