Before you start
We can help to plan your website effectively by gaining an understanding of what your site is supposed to achieve for your business, who it is targeted at and how the site will be kept up-to-date are all important considerations which will hugely affect how successful the site eventually becomes.
First and foremost, you need to establish your market - is there a market for what you are selling, and how is your product/store different from everyone else’s? The chances are that there are already other online stores offering the same products or service as you, so yours needs to stand out from the crowd.
Know your goals - if you don't know what you're trying to accomplish how can you convey the right message? Time taken to consider your goals at an early stage of the development of a Web site idea can help to ensure a better solution in the long run.
We have put together a list of question which may help you to get started:
- What is the nature of my business and how can a Web site integrate with an existing framework?
- What is the most important goal for the Web site?
- What will make people come to the site?
- What will make people come to the site again and again?
- What will make people come to my Web site instead of a competitor's site?
- What are the fundamental necessities for the site to be effective?
- What should the site achieve for my business in the short term and the long term?
- Who is the target audience? i.e. age, gender, geographical location, profession, interests.
- What is the overriding message that I want to convey to my visitors?
