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Planning a Website
Failing to Plan
...Is planning to fail. OK, that is 'management speak' of the highest order but it certainly rings true when you are planning a website. Website planning is essential whether you are considering a self-build or approaching a web designer to create your business website. There are fundamental things that you will need to understand before contacting a designer or opening your favourite graphics editor or web design programme and these can all be planned using a piece of paper and a pen. So, step away from your PC/Mac and follow the simple steps I have laid out here. Especially in the case of employing the services of a web designer they will be really impressed if you turn up to a consultation with a plan. Imagine going to a lanscape gardener without a clue what you want your garden to look like! 'Build me a website' doesn't quite cut it in the same way as 'make my garden look nice' doesn't.
Target Audience
A website is a piece of advertising or a shop front and, as such, will need to have a target audience. Your audience will have a bearing on how your website looks and operates. If your target audience are 18 - 25 year olds who enjoy outdoor sports then your finished design should appeal to them. Alternatively, If your audience will be made up of finance managers for large companies, your design will look very different indeed.
It is often useful to have an idea of age range, gender, ethnic origin, likes and dislikes and even how comfortable they are likely to be with using the internet. For example, if your target audience are predominantly going to be in the 50+ age range they may take a little more persuading or 'hand-holding' to make an online purchase. You will never be able to nail down or quantify your entire audience in this way but a level of 80 - 90% accuracy will certainly give you or your designer a starting point for a look and layout.
Function
What is your website for? Will it be a static advertisement for your business or would you like customers to be able to make online purchases? Is it a blog about your hobby? Would you like others to be able to contribute like a discussion group or forum? Many people come to us at Yoto Creative and say 'I want a website' but they aren't really sure why or what they want to achieve.
If you have a clear idea about what you want your website to do for you then your web designer should be able to suggest some technologies you may wish to take advantage of. Consider these as 'platforms' for your website in order to keep the cost down. For instance, Wordpress is an awesome blogging platform that you or your web designer can alter the look of to suit your plans. They may also recommend shopping cart or e-commerce platforms if you want an online store. However, if you don't really know what you want to achieve and then suddenly think of a function you want half way through the design process then your designer would be well within their rights to charge you for the work that has already been carried out before putting your new plans in place.
Colour Scheme
You may not have a clue about what colour scheme you want for your website so it pays to do some research before you start. Websites such as colourlovers offer thousands of colour palettes for you to choose from. You may already have a company logo or a flyer to draw inspiration from. I am a big believer in consistent branding. It is amazing how a colour scheme alone can identify a company. For instance, the AA logo is yellow and black and so is their website! There would be no mistaking that you are on the AA website, even if you took the logo off.
Imagine that planning your website is like planning how you will decorate your living room. Interior designers will encourage clients to create a 'mood board' with magazine images they like or swatches of fabric or paint colour samples. I would encourage you to view your website colour scheme in a similar way. Create an electronic 'mood board' by surfing the net and saving links to websites you find appealing and where you would like you or your designer to draw inspiration from. Never ask a designer to copy a website you like but this kind of guidance will be welcomed by most designers who care about what they produce for you.
How Many Pages?
I hope that this will seem like an obvious one but I have lost count of the number of clients who have come to us and said 'I want five pages in my website' and then turn around when the design is almost complete and ask for three or four extra pages. Any web designer worth their salt should make a design that is flexible enough to increase the amount of links. But bear in mind that this can mean certain elements of the design will have to be changed to accommodate this kind of request and this may well increase the final price of your website. If you are building your own website it can just be frustrating and time consuming to alter your layout.
The usual things to look out for are when selling online. You will need to have pages that cover 'Terms and Conditions', 'Privacy Statement', 'Contact Details' and 'Returns Policy'. You may have considered only a 'Home Page' and then categories for your various products and forgotten about the rest. Don't rely on your designer to advise you on all of this. They may well do so at the point of consultation but, to save embarrassment alone, it is well worth you looking at other websites doing what you want to and making a note of the pages that they have included.
Navigation
Following on from the question of 'how many pages?' is navigation. This is how a visitor will get around your website. The golden rule for website navigation is that each page should be no more than two 'clicks' away. I personally believe that every main page should be accessible from every other page, i.e. one 'click' away, but I realise that this is not always possible as you can see from this website which has a main menu and then sub menus down the left hand side.
If your website will have quite a few pages and links then you might also try creating a website 'tree' (see right) that shows your main headings and then other sub-pages and how they link together. Make sure that visitors can always access the important pages from every page. If you have a contact form to generate enquiries then build your navigation to encourage potential customers to visit this page at every available opportunity. If you have a 'killer' product or article then don't hide it away in a complicated menu structure. It makes no sense to do so.
Text and Images
The next pre-build step involves writing some text and sourcing some images. You shouldn't expect your web designer to be a copy writer as well. Some may offer this service but it will cost you extra on top of the design itself. Especially if you are starting out in business. If you can't atriculate what your website is about or what your business does then what chance does a web designer have? You have a passion for your hobby or business and this will only come through in your text if you write it yourself or give very precise instructions about what it is you want to say. In the case of online stores and such things as the UK 'Distance Selling Regulations' then a web designer should be able to offer guidance on what you need to include. If they have a few online stores in their portfolio then, the chances are, they will have examples of this kind of text already.
A web designer may well present a mock-up design to you which makes use of 'Lorem Ipsum' text. This is designed to give a good representation of what a standard block of text will look when included in a design. It means that they are expecting you to go away and write your own text to fill this spot on the page. You must also write your text in an electronic format, such as a 'Word' Document. Write it as you would expect it to be displayed on the page so don't write it all with 'Caps Lock' on and then expect your web designer to re-type it and certainly don't present it to them as hand-written text. You will appreciate this if you are building your own website.
Images are a tricky one. Make sure that you have access to enough 'royalty free' images to make your website looks good. Web designers may use an image stock website, such as istockphoto, where you can purchase images without fear of breaching copyright. A web designer should already be a member of one of these sites but you will be charged for the images if you cannot provide your own. You can join resource sites like this if designing your own website. If you plan to run an online store and you are selling other people's products then contact your suppliers and ask if they mind you using catalogue images in your website. I have never come across a company who has said 'no', you are selling their products for them afterall. If you are selling your own products or designs then employ a professional photographer to create product images for you. This may be fairly expensive but it is worth getting it right. Again, do not expect your web designer to spend hours in Photoshop touching up your naff product shots just because you didn't want to do it properly or wanted to save money. They will work with what they have been given.
Advertising and SEO
The final piece of the puzzle is considering how your website will be promoted and how you will make sure you have good visibility or 'high ranking' in Search Engines. If you want to use services such as Google Analytics then you will need to tell your web designer or include it when you build each of your pages. Google Analytics is a powerful tool but it requires a small 'snippet' of code to be included on every page to make it work. You will be kicking yourself if you make 100 pages and then have to go back through them all or pay to have the code added by your designer.
Think about listing all the ways that you hope potential customers will find your website. Some will have an influence on design/build and some won't. Take this list to your website design consultation and your designer should advise you on which promotion methods will require work on their behalf.
Conclusion
I hope that you have found this article useful and, having taken the time to read it, it saves you from lost hours or extra expense as you begin purchasing or building your website. Don't forget that a good designer will guide you through all of this and should be able to offer you help and advice. Otherwise, what are you paying a professional for? They will, however, appreciate it if you arrive at the initial consultation with a plan including everything I have covered off here. Afterall, you wouldn't go to a builder to ask for a house to be built without an architectural plan, and your website should be no different.
