As a long-term designer and developer of websites too countless to number, I've learned to identify a common problem with most web projects: planning failure! This causes the same problems to repeat, so I decided to write these 10 website planning tips that can help businesses of all sizes plan their website needs. Why plan it? Planning is key because it avoids costly mistakes and saves time. Unfortunately, this is often the biggest mistake new website owners make. As a designer I am often approached by prospects who want quotes for web design, sometimes they have a general idea of what they want but other times they just ask for a proposal but don't give not enough detail to get a good estimate. So before you jump into building a website, think about what you want. 1. Needs assessment The most important thing to keep in mind here is that the website is not for you and it should meet your customer's needs. A website is not an event, it is a communication tool that must be flexible and reflect your business positively. 2. Website Must Work With Marketing Efforts The website must work with the marketing plan. Company branding and marketing should go hand in hand with website design. In other words, the designs of ads and sales pages should be similar to those of the homepage. The content should match the company's communication style. Most importantly, graphics and images must interact with written communications. 3. Task management Every Internet project is slightly different, but here are the normal roles of a large website:
Customer Project Manager Writer/editor Graphic designer Web developer or HTML coder Of course, one person can play more than one role, and this does not necessarily affect the quality of the work. 4. Decide on website content contentWhen preparing to add content, think about who will contribute. In a company of 5 people, it can be one or two people. The time needed to edit and proofread generally increases over time, especially if there is more than Phone Number List one person contributing both written and visual content. Keep in mind that content is not just text. It also includes: Pictures Documents (usually PDFs) audio Video (i.e. embedded from YouTube or Vimeo, or self-hosted) Adobe Flash files Content feeds (from other websites, for example) Photos (from Flickr maybe) Twitter feed List of Facebook "friends" RSS feed 5. Good photography goes a long way baby Photos also communicate.
They tell a story about the brand and the organization. If you've moved into a nice building, you may have taken a few photos, but they're not really quality photographs. Add a small budget for professional photos. You don't need a lot, but a few good ones will do. If you don't have the money for a good photographer, find an amateur or contact your local college. Some students will work for cheap in order to gain some experience. In some cases, you can simply purchase affordable stock images for your website. 6. The value of good handwriting good handwriting 1Good writing is like good photos. This requires a skill that not everyone has. Writing for the web is different from writing an essay, memo, or technical paper. You might be good at writing those tech manuals, but that doesn't mean you can write for the web. If you don't have anyone with the skills, you can hire a writer to polish your content.