Posts Tagged Web Design

Now you may ask why do I need a website design plan? Well, would you hire a builder for your vacation home before seeing the blue prints?  Would you take a trip to Brazil without setting up a travel itinerary?  A web site is a similar investment to which you will devote significant time and other resources.  Any investment, if it is to succeed, requires detailed planning.

The steps you take before you actually start the design or coding will save you a lot of wasted time, energy and money in the long run. You will be able to determine the major objectives for your web site as a result of defining its purpose and identifying the audience.  Stating objectives for a website is similar to setting up goals for a business, in that doing so gives structure and direction. The document you create serves as a reference point throughout your project and keeps the planning and creating phases on target.

Before you start planning your website, take out a pencil and a sheet of paper and do some preliminary research to help you answer some questions:

• Explore other websites and identify those that impress you
• Describe elements that contributed to that positive impression
• Identify means by which information was presented to you - photos, text, video, sound
• Describe what made the information easy to find
• Why would you want to return to the website?

After this exercise, you should have a better idea about the direction you want to take and how you are going to approach your website.  Start your planning by creating a site specification document. This is the blue print for your site. The site specification will serve as a reference point and guide as you build your site and will help to maintain your focus. Answer the following questions in your site specification:

• What do you hope to accomplish with your website? Write a two or three paragraph mission statement that briefly states the site’s goals. Your goal may be to increase communication with your audience, increase your online presence, provide a new service or attract new customers and business. No matter what your end game, your website will require lots of work, therefore it is essential that you have viable and achievable goals for your website.
• What do you or your company or organization hope to gain from creating and maintaining a web site?
• How will you judge the success of the website?
• What are the measuring factors you can use to assess the effectiveness of the site?
• How will people find out about your website?
• Who is the target audience?
• What characteristics to they share?
• How will you find out more about them?
• What are the limiting technical factors affecting your site?

Clearly define and understand your websites goals.  It is likely that through this discovery process you will want to achieve most if not all of your goals.  Prioritize these goals as you define the purpose and  carefully consider what type of site you are building.  Do you want to communicate information, educate, entertain, or sell a product or service?

Keep in mind, what you want the site to accomplish and what your users want from your site may differ.  Adopt your user’s perspective and think about the type of content you’re presenting.  Look to the web for examples of how best to present it.  As you continue to develop your design plan, choose content, and create your website, keep the purpose at the forefront of your planning and let it guide you as you make those critical decisions.