A Quick Guide to Website Development

February 15, 2010 | Web Design

Your website can play a vital role in the success of your business. Today, regardless of your business type, the route source of your income may be from your website. Your site can be an under-utilized expense, or your greatest sales tool. Before you begin the development of your site, the following issues need to be addressed in order to produce a website that is both cost-effective and result-oriented.

Website Purpose

The first step should be determining the purpose of your website. This explains to your visitors who you are and what you do.

Website Goals

What is your number one objective with the site? What action should visitors take in order to convert them into customers?

Target Audience

Identify the demographic of your website. Who will be visiting your site? What type of customers are you trying to attract?

Review Other Websites

What design styles appeal to you? What are your competitors doing? What is least and most appealing to you?

Keywords and Phrases

Determining the keywords and phrases that prospects will use to search for your products or services will play a vital role in the success of your site. It’s important to not only utilize the appropriate keywords and phrases but to research and choose the right words that will produce the best results.

Website Content

Writing content for the web is much different from writing content for printed sales material. Content should be informative yet concise. Web visitors demand information that is relevant and easy to find. And as such, your website should be designed to accommodate future growth and organization of your content. This will help prevent the site from becoming an uninformative and hard to use website.

Website Functionality

The visual graphics are the first thing a visitor will see however, streamlining the visitor’s experience will help convert them to customers. Determine what you need to interact with a visitor. What actions or information is needed from the visitor?

Domain Name Registration

A domain name is a unique label for a website address. Domain names can be registered from various companies known as Domain Registrars. Domain names can be registered for a minimum of 12 months. Choosing the best domain name is very important. Generally speaking, your domain name should, give a clear description of what you do yet is easy to remember, and is a 2-3 word phrase. The selection of your domain name may greatly impact your search engine results.