Plan Your Site....

If you follow the steps below, you should come to a fairly clear vision of what you want your site to be (if you don't already have one)

1. Determine your budget....both what you can afford and what you're willing to pay based on your expected return. Don't spend a lot of money on things you don't need, but don't skimp on the things you want to highlight!
    
2. Determine your TARGET audience. Not every site has the same target group. Both the common age(s) and interest(s) of your target group should be taken into account. Reflect this in your content, design, and expectations.
    
3. What content should your site have. Based on the above 2 notes, your content should be a strong balance of both what you want them to see, and what they expect to see on your site. If you're selling objects...show them. Give details and prices. People expect to find all the information they're looking for on your site. They don't want to be left with a "phone us or email us for prices and details." They'll almost always carry on to another site that gives them more information if they can't find it on yours.

Determine Your Requirements...

Now that you've decided what basic direction your site should take, it's time to lay out a simple map of it (see sample) and determine what features you may need.

Some basic features you "may" require are listed below...

1. A large site would likely need an internal search engine
2. Photo Galleries
3. Contact & Order Forms
4. Slide presentations
5. Database information retrieval
6. Shopping Cart
7. Newsletter and Mailing Lists
8. ...and the list goes on.

Ideally, you should have a "reasonably" clear idea of what you want before you hire a designer. This will save you from being unpleasantly surprised when you get billed.

 

Have a Strategy...

Find ways to make your site work for you. The old adage of "if you build it they will come" is not even remotely true. There are more web pages than there are people on the planet, so you have to determine how to get your target audience to visit your site.

If you expect business from a local area only, then be certain to include your Domain Name (URL), in all your documentation, advertising, business cards etc. Get your site seen.

If you want to expand to larger markets (nationally or internationally), you may want to look into purchasing things like Google AdWords etc. so your site gets noticed more.