Multimedia Designs .NET

Create a Website Plan

Create a "Website Plan" by starting a document that will list as much information as possible about the elements you want included on your website. This document will become the most valuable asset you can provide your Web Designer! It not only demonstrates your dedication to the project but also gives your Web Designer a better insight to the goals you have for your web site. Your list will also be a great tool for discussing your plans in meetings with your management team and/or the decision makers in your organization.

QUESTION: Who is your target audience? Build your site to help them, not you.

What is your goal and how will you accomplish it?

Planning a web site basically means coming up with the general concepts for your site. Brainstorm about how you envision a website visitor would use your site. Remember you are creating the site for your customer, not for yourself. Provide useful information that he/she might find useful. Think about the following items.

Begin by creating an overview document that states the goals of the website. Example:

Goals:
Provide PDF docs of product for users to download
Display store hours and after hour phone number
Catalog / Product Gallery with images and prices
Order capabilities

Start with the basics and get your website built. Additional features can always be added later after the initial launch of your website. The more features you request, the longer it takes to get the pages programmed and possibly put you over your budget.  Deciding to add additional features to your project once it has begun will quickly get you out of the scope of the project and your anticipated timeline for completion will not be met.

Consider the following:

Create a sitemap for your web site

Next, create a sitemap  that lists all of the pages you want your site to have. This is similar to a table of contents in a book. A sitemap serves several purposes. It can help you decide if specific web content will be included on a specific web page or if there is enough content about a subject that warrants a new page being created. A sitemap also helps you to categorize pages in a logical manner which you will find helpful when creating your navigation menus later on. Sitemaps are also beneficial for Search Engine Optimizing.

Create your web content

And finally, begin creaing your website content. Although you can hire a web developer to create a web page layout designed with nice graphics and programmed to complete advanced tasks, what you need on your web site in order for people to find you on the internet is good web content. A common saying in the web development world is "Content is King, SEO is Queen." Provide content about the information people would be searching for in researching to purchase your products or call for your services. Select a few "keywords" that you can use to specify what each page is about and then create textual content that includes those keywords.

Start by giving each web page a title and writing a brief summary of the content to be included on the page. This summary will later be used as your meta tag "description". Add sketches of the graphics to be used and write a brief description of what this image displays. This summary will later be used in the "alt" tag of your images which aide in your search engine optimization.

Determine your Budget

After you know what you want, you will probably want to know how much it will cost. It is best to already have a budget in mind and be flexible in the number of features you want. Prioritize and eliminate if necessary to stay within your budget.

You will have a development fee and a web hosting fee. Web hosting fees can be paid monthly but some web hosting companies will give you a big discount if paid annually. Web development fees are usually a one-time start-up cost but the total amount can be spread out over time if you allow your site to be developed in stages, adding features along the way. You will also need to determine who will do any updates to the website once it is launched. Keeping your site fresh with new content increases visitor loyalty. Be sure to ask your website developer about the possibilities available for update capability.

Before going any further, you should know the answers to the following questions: 

What is the budget for your project?
There is often more than one way to accomplish a goal and  obviously there are simple, less expensive ways and there are sophisticated and more expensive options. Knowing your budget will assist the web designer/web developer in knowing which features to make available for your project.

What is your time line for completion?
What is the date that you would like to launch your web site?
Keep in mind, it always takes longer than you think!

Legal Requirements & Privacy Policy Statements

Copyright / Trademarks

You need to have your content copyrighted and you need to make sure your website does not include copy/pasted information from someone else's website. Make sure your site only contains graphics you own or that you have the right to publish on your site. If you will be selling products that are name branded be sure to get permission from your vendors, suppliers and/or manufacturers to publish their logo and/or pictures of products on your website.

Privacy Act

If you gather user information you need to include a page that tells the user what you use that information for.

Section 508

Learn about the government requirements for your website. KNOW if your site needs to be in compliance BEFORE your web designer begins creating the first page!   Educate yourself on 508 Compliancy.