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| 10 things to consider
while designing a website |
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| 1. Be clear on your purpose. |
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| Building a website can be
a long and arduous procedure if you are not
sure what you are doing. However, if you have
a clear focus as to what you expect your website
to do for your business/organization, things
will flow much more smoothly. The purpose can
be anything from selling widgets online to keeping
members of your soccer team updated. Regardless,
figure that out before setting sail on your
journey. |
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| 2. Establish your target audience. |
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Your target audience will
affect what sort of content your site includes
as well as how it will look and function. Obviously,
writing for kids will be much different than
writing for adults. For business websites, a
narrow and specific target market, will not
only make it easier for you to market your product
or service, it will also make it easier for
customers and clients to find you.
Also, consider how many graphics and "bells
and whistles" you'll want. If your audience
is not very computer literate and generally
includes people with slow Internet connections,
it doesn't make sense to include large, slow-loading
graphics, animations, and video clips. You want
your site to be user friendly and don't want
your visitors to leave because they've become
frustrated with the navigation or because your
website loads too slowly. Conversely, if your
audience is the younger generation, including
flashy graphics and other "fun" elements
might be more appropriate and even necessary
to grab their attention. |
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| 3. Determine your budget. |
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| One can spend anywhere amount
of dollars on having a website developed. Your
purpose should help you decide on your budget.
Remember, a website should ideally be a work
in progress. Don't worry if you can't do everything
you want with it initially — you can always
add to it later, and it will work better for
you and your customers if you keep it up-to-date
and fresh. |
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| 4. Assess the value of your
time. |
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| Many people have undertaken
to create their own websites, especially with
the advent of desktop publishing programs. Still,
they expend a huge amount of time and energy
and end up unsatisfied with the results. While
it may be true that "anyone" can design
a website, the same could be said about any
type of work. If it takes you hours and plenty
of frustration to cut your own hair, wouldn't
you be better off going to a barber or hairdresser?
If you have a flair for design, feel confident
in your writing and marketing skills, and
have the time, knowledge, and passion to build
your own website, go for it! If your time
would be more productive doing your own work
and contracting out the web creation, that
might be worth considering. |
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| 5. If hiring a professional
website designer, make sure you are comfortable
working with him/her. |
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| Do you feel he or she understands
your vision? Does he or she provide useful ideas
and solutions you hadn't thought about? Have
you looked through his or her past work? Do
you feel like you're getting professional service?
Is the price right for your budget? What is
included in the fee you will be paying? |
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| 6. Think about how you'd like
the website to look and function. |
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| Often you will have a logo
and/or other graphics you'd like to build a
design around. You probably have some colour
and style preferences. Perhaps a certain font
has caught your eye. If you're stumped and lacking
ideas, go surfing! Look through a wide variety
of websites — both your competitors' and
other successful businesses/ organizations.
Write down (or bookmark) the sites you like
and what appealed (or didn't appeal) to you.
Do the same with magazine ads. You'll get a
lot of inspiration. |
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| 7. Organize and formulate a
layout for the information you'd like to include. |
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| Assign page names to each
distinct "chunk" of information and,
if the total number of pages is sufficiently
high (over 12, as a rule of thumb), group them
into sections. This will make navigating through
your site that much easier. Your designer should
be able to make some recommendations in this
area. |
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8. Make
sure you understand the importance of effective
website content. |
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| Your website copy will be
determined by your purpose and your audience.
On the Internet, people have very short attention
spans. If they don't get the information within
a few seconds they'll usually move on to the
next website — possibly your competition's.
Furthermore, the more you know about writing
web copy, the more customers you will draw in.
You can learn some basic copywriting skills
yourself, or you can hire a professional copywriter
to write it for you. Always make sure you know
what you want to say and say it concisely. If
you have the need for a lot of text that can
always follow further down the page or on another
page. |
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| 9. Choose a domain name and
find a hosting company. |
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Your website will need
to reside somewhere so that others will be
able to access it. And, you'll probably want
to register a domain name, such as Mybusiness.com.
Doing so rather than using the long, awkward
name (and free web space) provided by your
Internet Service Provider (ISP), sounds much
more professional and is much easier for customers
to remember. Choosing a good domain name can
also help you get found in search engines,
such as Google. You'll also get related email
addresses, such as info@mybusiness.com, which,
again, sound professional and reinforce your
domain name. There are plenty of hosting companies
out there at a variety of prices. Find one
that suits your needs. Your web designer or
marketing consultant should be able to help
you with all of the above. |
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| 10. If you have a business
website, develop a strategy on how you will
market it. |
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| Having a website without
visitors will get you nowhere. An analogy is
writing a fantastic book, hiding it in the library,
and not telling anyone about it. You will need
to drive traffic to your site. There are numerous
ways to do this. You can either learn to do
this yourself, or hire a marketing professional
to help you. Although hiring someone will increase
your initial costs, it can pay off in the long
run when you have more potential customers visiting
your site, and ultimately increasing your sales. |
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| Tips
on How to Design a Usefull Web Site ! |
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