Planning The Perfect Website
So you are re-designing or creating a new website. Are you ready to get quotes? But you're wrong! Now, take a step back and breathe deeply. Next, write down your thoughts on the following ten points Webdesigner Leipzig.
Planning now will save you time and make your finished product look 100x better. You will also save money!
Our project management team has compiled our top 10 things to consider when looking for a new website.
1) Define your Audience
Know your customers. Are they young? Are they young? Are they professionals? You can learn more about your customers by knowing more. This information can be referred to whenever you make a decision about your site, whether it's a design, content or functionality decision.
You are paying for the website but not for it. This is why it is so difficult. You can paint your house pink if you love pink. But don't make it pink if your website is aimed at middle-aged, male professionals. They won't appreciate it.
2) Get to know your Audience
This is the most important thing to consider when designing a new website. What do your customers want? After defining who your audience was, we now need to determine what they want from your website. Instead of thinking about the end user, companies often focus on what they want from a website and how it looks to them.
Trust is also something you need to consider. What should your website say about you? Instantly, the customer thinks: Can I trust them?" Is their work quality? This decision will be made in seconds. If the first impressions are not positive, click again and continue your search.
It's as simple as it sounds: Ask your customers for this information. What are the most common information requests from your company? What are the most common questions you are asked every week? These questions should be answered and your website should provide the information. Each page will cost you money, so ensure you only choose pages that people are interested in.
3) Define the Internal Purpose of Your Websites
While it is important to think about your visitors first, you should also consider your internal needs. Every website must have a purpose. Does it sell products? Or is it to inform consumers? Is it entertainment? You could use it for multiple purposes.
Your website should make it easier for you to do business online. Do you send clients a lot of documents? You might consider making those documents available online for download. Are you constantly getting the same questions on your phone? These questions can be answered publicly by adding an FAQ to your website.
Another important internal question is who will take charge? Who will maintain the website's integrity or, in the case of ecommerce, run the store?
You should consider:
* Who is going to be involved in the project? What are their skills and availability? * Who can affect the site's progress? Before the site goes live, it is important to get everyone on board and get buy-in early.
4) Content, content, content!
It's great to get a site online, but it's not enough if the content is not up-to-date. You can start preparing your content in advance and then manage it page-by-page. Once you have everything in clear, understandable documents, proofread it and ask the audience you described earlier if they would like it. A website is not a place to view a gorgeous design. They visit it to find out what they are looking for. Your website is not good if they don't find what they want after they visit.
Many agencies offer copywriting and editing services if you are having trouble with your content. Although it may seem like an unnecessary expense, this could save you time and increase your SEO.
There are many types of content. It is difficult to decide which format you want to use for your content. Refer back to your audience's decisions. If your audience is internet-savvy professionals, then you should include videos, podcasts, and tag clouds. Your audience may still be using Internet Explorer 5 but have asked you how to open Word Documents in the past. In this case, you might stick with written text.
5) To Manage Or Not to Manage? That is the question.
Don't confuse Content Management Systems (CMS), with website builders. The CMS should allow you to update content areas within your website. They shouldn't be set up to allow you to modify every image, text piece, and navigation element.
It is easy to make a mess of your website if you try to manage it all yourself. Why would you want to be able to redesign your website if you're not a web designer? Consider which areas of your website you will be publishing to and when. Then, decide which areas you want to manage and what areas you won't.
You can be sure that there are fewer chances of it going wrong. Once the website is live, you will be able to focus on what is most important: marketing it. Instead of becoming a full-time website tinkerer, do it "because I can."
6) Be realistic
Every project is subject to constraints. This is often a time or financial constraint. Be realistic. If funding a project is difficult, try to do a small amount very well rather than spending a lot of money. It's better to start with core functionality and content and then add on later.
Look at the websites that have been successful. They started with basic functionality, and then added on to it. This allows you launch your project faster and more cost-effectively, while you continue to work on the updated version.
Be realistic when developing your ideas. It is possible to make a bad or impossible idea if you are unable to describe it or have never seen it online before. Look for examples of sites that have done the same thing as you do. You can learn from their mistakes, and possibly create something better.
7) Set Goals
Your new website must have a goal, as obvious as that sounds. How will your website's success be measured? Do you want to increase your website's traffic? Do you want to sell more products or services? Are you trying to decrease the number of calls to your office?
You can set goals early in the project to give you a framework for evaluating its success. To be more specific, you can set goals within your goals. For example, instead of merely wanting to increase traffic, you might specify that you want it increase by 50%.
Goals can change over time. Once you have achieved one goal, you might want to set another goal to help you refocus your efforts.
8) Communicate it
This stage will give you a clear idea of your goals and the audience for your website. This is the time to communicate your ideas to a company who can build it. It is often more difficult than you think. This is an important step. This is a crucial step. You don't want all your hard work wasted by not communicating your ideas well and getting a product that misses the point.
Your brief should be written under clear headings. Your brief should be broken down to address audience, purpose, and content. This will allow the company that you engage to clearly see what you plan to post online and for whom.
You save time by writing down your ideas. The web team can then translate your ideas into a sitemap or wireframe.
9) Search Engine Optimization and Marketing
You should consider putting aside money for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Marketing. This strategy should be long-term and include content generation, social media, pay per click (PPC), and link building.
Before you begin to build your website, you should have an idea of how you will get people to it. Do landing pages need to be built into a website if you plan on using PPC? Do you need Facebook and Twitter tightly integrated if you plan to use social media marketing?
The "build it, they'll follow" approach is quick to lead to failure.
10) Analyse
You should set up Google Analytics. Other web stat options .... are also available, but this account is completely free! on the final website. This should be matched with the goals that you have set in step 7. You can increase enquiries by setting an analytics goal on your contact form. This will allow you to track your conversion rate of visitors to your website.
