Planning Website
Content
Before creating a website there you need to determine what your business needs out of the website. You also need to plan out what content your want your website to display to visitors. Do you have text or documents you want on your website? Are there images or videos you need on your website? Knowing all this beforehand will make the creation of your website go smoother and faster. As a design company, we’d like our clients to understand what we need from them beforehand so they can be prepared when we ask for site content. We can design and create custom content but, that will add to the final cost and production time for the website. Whether you are using a design company or not, doing a little bit of planning beforehand will help you create a great website that does what you need it to and pays for itself in no time.
Do you have hosting or a domain name?
Your website needs a domain name like www.google.com or www.microsoft.com. Do you have an existing domain? Do you already have a domain picked out and do you know if it is available. Your website will also need to be hosted somewhere. Do you currently have a web host? Do you need one? We can help with that if you need hosting or a domain name.
What do you want your website to do?
There are many features available for websites today. Do you need to sell products? Then you will need an e-commerce plugin like WooCommerce. Do you need the ability for users to signup for newsletters and the ability to send out newsletters to your customers? Then you will need your website to be set up to do these things.
Do You Have an Existing Style Guide or Marketing Material?
Do you currently have a branding or style guide or logos that need to be on your new website? If you have a certain look and feel that you need to adhere to for your website, you need to gather together examples of your existing marketing materials and logo. Do you have images that compliment your logo and current brand?
What pages do you need content for?
A basic no-frills website will have a home page, an about page, a services page and a contact page as a bare minimum. Each page will require content. It is your responsibility to provide content to the web developer. If the developer has to create content for you, the cost will add up quickly.
What items will be included in your primary navigation bar?
Most websites, WordPress sites included, have a primary navigation bar that is visible across all device types. If your site has many pages and a lot of content, everything might not fit on this bar unless it is nested below a main menu.
Do you need a multi-language site?
If you need your site to have content in a language other than English, you will have to provide the content for your alternate language as well. For example if you would like an “About” page that is presented in both English and Spanish, you will have to provide the text content for both languages.
Do you need a team page?
A team page generally includes a photo of each team member, a short bio and contact information like a website, email or phone number. If you are going to need a team page, then you will need to provide your web designer with all of this material.
What do you need on your contact page?
Do you need a map? Gone are the days when you could just simply embed a Google Map into a website. You must have a Google Maps API key to have maps on your site. You can set up this account before work on your site begins.
Who will be managing your website?
Will you be managing your website alone? Will other people be developing content for you or taking care of your website? You can create users with specific roles or permissions. You should map out exactly who will be doing what on your site.
Want more Information?
Learn about our Budget Website or call us today to talk about your website needs. It costs nothing for a consultation.
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