These days, if you don’t have a website, you’re living in the dark ages, and for fledgling businesses, it can be essential for getting off the ground. Yet, creating a website isn’t something that should be done on a whim. The way it looks and how it works are pivotal to its success, so careful consideration and detailed planning are key before you unleash your site onto the world wide web. Here are six things to consider.
1. Purpose of the site
Think about what you want your website to achieve. Do you simply want to raise awareness of your brand by providing key information, or do you want it to be all-singing-and-all-dancing with multimedia content, a blog and an e-commerce store, to provide a complete user and shopper experience? The purpose will shape the website development and its design.
2. Target Audience
Decide who your target audience is that you want to attract to your website. This is important as it can have a big impact on web design. Colours, fonts, images and page layouts should all be chosen based on your target market. If you sell princess costumes, you might use lots of pink, with girly styles of fonts or imagery, while a legal firm may opt for more conservative use of colours and a classic font, such as Times New Roman. Knowing who your target audience is can also shape your content and keyword research for SEO purposes.
3. Available budget
Websites come in all shapes and sizes, with budget variations to match, so consider how much you’ve got to spend. A website is the face of your business, so allocate as much spare cash as you can to its development. Having a go at putting your own site together may save money, but, unless you’re a web designer, it may prove a false economy. Instead, employ the services of a design agency to create your website. You’ll get a professional, polished look that reflects well on your brand image.
4. Design
Once you’ve recognised the benefits of using a design agency for your website development, you’ll need to decide who is best suited to this job. If there are any websites you like the look of, see if the design agency is credited on the site, and give them a call. Alternatively, ask other professionals who they have used. A good design agency should listen to your needs and will provide the right solutions for your budget. They should also be able to organise hosting for the site with solid security.
5. Content management
Your web design will be dependent on how you want to manage your content going forward, so decide what you want from your site in this respect. Are you happy to just have static content, or do you want to regularly add content to your site, such as blog posts, news or product information, so that it grows or changes? You will then need to decide if you want complete control of managing and adding content yourself, or if you want to leave it in the hands of the design agency.
6. SEO
When planning a new website, it should always be done with search engine optimisation, or SEO, in mind. A reputable design agency will be able to assist with this, but, essentially, it should involve incorporating aspects into your site that will get it ranked higher on search engine listings. Using keywords in your content, having easy navigation, adding social share buttons and being mobile optimised can enhance SEO, so these should be integral to the planning of your new website.
Let Us Help
Blue Llama have created nearly 100 websites for a clients big and small and across a wide range of industries. We love online but understand you might be baffled by it all. We’d love to help guide you through the process of developing your new web presence. Call Phil on 01534 527005 or complete our quick online quote request.
Six things not enough? Check out this infographic with 26 things to consider… Click to enlarge.
From Visually.
