So, you’ve made the decision to get a new website or revamp the old one.
What are the kinds of things you should consider in the planning stage?
Well the first is exactly that; a plan. Before you approach a web developer, you should have an idea about what kind of website you want. Otherwise you may be steered in a direction you hadn’t thought of or don’t really require.
A good place to start your plan is with some simple questions.
Why do you need a website?
What is the purpose of the website?
Who are your audience?
What do you want them to do when they come to your site?
What may they expect to see or be able to do?
How will they find your site?
Starting with some good questions, can help frame a plan and make your discussion with web developers much more productive.
So, let’s work through these to prompt some thoughts and ideas.
1. Why do you need a website?
You may be running a business and want to take control of your online presence. Directory listings for your service are great but don’t allow the opportunity to elaborate on what you do and why someone should choose your service over a competitors.
You can use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter but many people don’t use these (they tend to have particular demographics for example or the increasing concerns about privacy). It’s also easy to get lost in the constant feed of content people are shown. They can be quite time consuming to keep on top of, with all your other commitments.
If your website content is well thought through from the start, it may just need tweaking, or updates, but not at the frequency that social media accounts can require.
Perhaps you have a hobby or niche interest and wish to share that with interested parties? You could help cover the costs of servers and maintenance with affiliate marketing if it becomes popular enough.
So this leads neatly into the next question..
2. What is the purpose of the website?
A simple website allows you to have the opportunity to be found in search engine results for keywords relevant to your service or interest. And also to control what people see when they do find your site. You can display the content you wish in an appealing way, with attractive images or even video clips. You can explain about yourself and provide all important contact details for potential clients.
If you wish to sell online you can display your products, prices and methods of delivery or collection.
Tutorials on anything from D.I.Y to learning a musical instrument are very popular and can attract large audiences. In this way, giving something, or adding value to your site content, can generate brand loyalty and lead to repeat visits from those whose interest you have sated.
3. Who are your audience?
If you are a Painter & Decorator in Dublin, Ireland, your likely audience are in that vicinity. So you would want to target keywords and content relevant to searches that people are likely to make. Say, House Painter, Killiney, Dublin. So in this way your target audience are Local and also adults.
For other services a Local or even National geographical limit may not matter. Why limit yourself to one when you can have billions for a potential audience? For example if you sell Fitness eBooks which people can buy and download, the world is your oyster.
The demographics of your potential audience are something to consider too. Some content and services are very child centred and some, like our Painter & Decorator example, are specifically adult. Have a think about who your audience may be. A good way to do so may be to create one or more personas for potential visitors and use this to help you think about how they may search for you and what content they may expect to find.
4. What do you want them to do when they come to your site?
Many small local businesses will want potential customers to get in touch using their Contact page or using the telephone number provided. It can be as simple and powerful as that. Matching a need with a service to meet that need.
More complex businesses may wish the visitor to browse their services, make comparisons about their offerings, book or purchase. So, in this instance you would need to have a lot of attractive content and the ability to book or purchase via your site.
5. What may they expect to see or be able to do?
A person searching for a music teacher wouldn’t expect their search results to turn up pictures of pretty cats! They would very quickly hit the back button and this will tell Google that your content doesn’t meet their expectations.
So put yourself in the shoes of your visitor and think what would they wish to find?
A person looking for a guitar teacher would probably expect to see a picture of them (more personable), some background on their qualifications and experience, teaching style, venue, times etc. How would they get in touch or book a lesson? Perhaps some reviews from current or former students.
Using this approach can help you create content that will match expectations and therefore satisfaction for you, the website owner and your happy visitors.
6. How will they find your site?
So, you’ve planned, designed and built your website. Job done. Sit back and welcome the visitors. Hopefully, and ideally, but there are a lot of websites out there, so you need to do a little work to get found. Create links to other sites, list your website in the right places and update and refresh your content. Google loves new content and rates sites accordingly (among other metrics). But that might be time for another Blog post!