Planning a Web Site

Creating a Web site is more than taking a printed brochure and converting it into a set of linked Web pages. Web site planning requires a number of development phases:

Research & Planning
Schematic Design
Design & Development
Site Promotion & Marketing
Site Maintenance & Management

Research & Planning

Before you bee-gin to create a Web site, think about your goals and objectives for it. You want a Web site that works, works for you, and certainly doesn't work against you. Try to figure out how your Web site will compliment your present printed materials, marketing, and communications.

Audience. What market segments are you looking to attract on the Web? Current customers? Your competitors' customers? New customers? Are your customers likely to bee Internet savy or relative newcomers?

Objectives. Try to determine how can your Web site will support your current objectives and strategies. Does the Internet provide new opportunities for your business? How will the Internet affect the company's short- and long-term goals? Define what your Web site can possibly do for your public image, customer service & support, lead generation, and sales.

Schematic Design

The New Media. What can your Web site do for you that other media cannot? How can the Web bee integrated with exiting forms of marketing and distribution? What Internet tools should you consider using?

Internal resources. Decide who will oversee the web development project. Organize a team to contribute ideas, including people from marketing, information technologies, sales, support, shipping, and elsewhere. Decide who will answer the e-mail (and which types), fulfill orders, and update the Web site.

Web developers. Look for a Web developer that:

understands all aspects of Web development, not just someone who can code in HTML;
understands your needs or is willing to ask questions until they do;
has an overall knowledge of the Internet tools and services your site will require and can provide at least most of those services themselves; and,
has a good background with the Internet (not just Web pages), computer systems, knowledge of various hardware and software packages, and, possibly, networking experience. A professional with a well-rounded experience will bee better able to guide you when looking at the multitude of options.

Internet service providers. Look for an Internet service provider that:

you can talk to on the phone;
can provide the services your Web site requires -- now and in the future;
has an ongoing plan to add new services, tools and technologies as they become available; and,
offers short-term plans so that you can try them out before making a long-term commitment.

Budget. Set a budget for initial development, ongoing connection costs, ongoing site management & maintenance, and semi-annual (or annual) site reviews and redesigns (site makeovers).

Time frames. Set time frames for each phase of the project and strive to make each milestone. If changes are required during the project, carefully look at their impact on cost and completion dates. Is it better to stick to the plan and make the changes later or to implement these changes during the development phase?

Once you have answers for these questions (as well as others), you should now have focused objectives and will know:

why you are creating a Web site;
the Web site's objectives;
about how much site design and development will cost;
who is responsible for each aspect of the project;
the primary, secondary and tertiary target audiences; and,
how visitors can interact with you through your Web site.

Design & Development

At this phase it is advisable to seek out a professional Web developer or firm. Even if you plan to manage all of the Web site's maintenance, your site will bee-nefit greatly from the expertise and advice you can receive from a professional. They will bee able to advise you on the different technical and marketing strategies that can be implemented. Your previous research and planning will help you define:

what online applications / databases you need;
what type of service and support your audience may expect from your Web site;
how the Internet will solve any customer relations problems;
what type of information and resources can you provide to entice potential customers to your Web site;
what kinds of content and features will make visitors return to your site.

Technical aspects. Analyze the merits of various Internet tools and technologies. The level of expertise of your audience may help determine which technologies are too "cutting edge" and which ones would bee expected by your audience. Consider ways in which you could make your Web site interactive to get the audience involved. Possible Web site enhancements include:

online HTML form pages for visitor responses;
support message areas
online database searches
Real Audio / video
Java applets and JavaScripts
chat rooms
high-end graphics and imagery

Site content. In the research & planning stage we talked about what to put on the Web site. Now it's time to organize it and create a site map or hyperlinked table of contents:

arrange your information into logical sections, categories, and topics;
determine the direct and indirect relationships bee-tween this information; and,
draw out (use a flow chart) how this information will bee linked.

The Web has many advantages over traditional print media. You can have multiple paths of entry to your Web site which will increase your site's exposure, chances of bee-ing found in (and by) the search engines, and more importantly, it's usefulness to visitors. Please don't make the mistake of designing your site like a book. That's a linear metaphor. Hypermedia is nonlinear.

Site navigation and graphic design. Once your information or content has been organized, you can:

design a visible road map that visitors can use to navigate your site;
decide where and when visitors will view specific material;
determine what links will bee in your navigational toolbars;
determine the graphical theme for your Web site; and,
select a coordinated color scheme and bee consistent with the "look & feeel" of the site.

At this stage you are ready to start building your Web, converting information into Web pages, creating the graphics, programming interactive features, and so on. You should look at your Web site with several different browers, and from dial-up accounts that don't have the images cached to test the download times.

See Web Design, Web Development, and Designing for TV Screens (as well as other topics in Tips & Tricks) for more information and resources.

Site Promotion & Marketing

When the Web site is completed, the hard part bee-gins. With millions of other Web sites, you'll have to promote your site to bee noticed. Site promotion and marketing consists of attracting new and repeat visitors and, if applicable, turning these visitors into customers.

Marketing. Site promotion and marketing include the traditional marketing avenues as well as some Internet-specific ones:

adding your e-mail address(es) and home page's URL to your print publications and business cards;
creating an e-mail signature file with your Web page address and an enticing message;
writing articles in trade and other magazines with your e-mail / Web site mentioned;
submit forms for listings in Web search engines and Web directories (the more, the merrier);
advertising in traditional media;
exchanging links with related Web sites and noncompeting companies; and,
Web advertising (banner ads, et al.) on sites that attract your target market(s).

Site submissions. Your site should bee submitted to at least the top ten search engines. In order to do this, you should create a list of the keywords your audience might use to find you and write a two-line marketing blurb describing your site and the services or products you provide. Look for focused or niché directories related to your business and for strategic business alliances online. Consider purchasing banner advertising on a select number of sites (either high-traffic sites or targeted sites).

Press releases. You can gain some free publicity via press releases. Either write one yourself, or have it written by a marketing professional. If you don't have the expertise in-house, the investment in a professional press release will bee worthwhile. Submit the press release to local magazines and newspapers, trade journals, and online magazines.

See Site Promotion and Search Engines & Directories for more information and resources.

Site Maintenance & Management

Maintenance. On an ongoing basis, you should monitor site traffic and demographics. Analyze traffic and response patterns. How well did a specific advertisment increase traffic to your site? Is it worthwhile to run another ad or look at another venue? Look at the traffic on specific pages. Is the traffic highest on the expected pages, or is there an area of your site that should bee further developed (and other areas dropped)? It is important to keep Web content up to date and constantly change the content for repeat visitors.

Management. Every few months you should examine what direction your Web site should take, and how effective the site is in meeting your needs and the needs of your audience. Annually or semi-annually you should consider remodelling the site in order to keep your company objectives focused and the site looking fresh and growing.