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Where
Do I Start?
Congratulations!
You have made the decision to establish your internet
presence for your business or organization. Now what?
Not knowing quite where to start is very common. Planning
and maintaining an effective web site can seem a bit
overwhelming, so we have created this quick reference
to help you out. Feel free to print out this page to
refer to when discussing the planning of your site with
other members of your organization. If you would prefer
individualized assistance, please don't hesitate to
contact us. KLB Web Solutions
will help you develop a customized plan for your web
solution.
You
may be wondering if you even need a web site? Since
creating and maintaining a web site does incur an additional
expense, some companies and non-profit organizations
do wonder if additional revenue will be incurred to
cover the expense of creating and supporting their web
site. There is not just one specific answer to this
question. However, if you have a well-planned and effective
web site, the benefits
greatly outweigh any cost.
KLB
Web Solutions stresses that not every business requires
the same web solution. For more information about the
various options for a web presence, please visit our
FAQ section.
However, for most businesses and organizations, a web
site is the most beneficial and flexible solution, so
the steps to achieve a web site are outlined below.
- Basic
Goals for Your Site
- More
Detailed Planning - Your Site's Purpose
- Define
Target Audience
- Look
and Feel of Site
- Content
Strategy
- Logical
Site Design
- Gather
All Content
Basic
Goals for Your Site
What
do you want from your site? This is a very broad area
to think about, so we have put together an entire subsection
to discuss your site's goals.
When
asking these kind of questions, unless your organization
is a one-person shop, coming up with the answers to
these questions should be a group process involving
not only the implementers, but also other important
decision makers, such as board members.
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More
Detailed Planning - Your Site's Purpose
What
do you want to achieve by creating a web site? Do you
want greater visibility and accessibility? Do you want
a greater attendance at events? Do you want increased
sales? By identifying what you want your site to accomplish,
you help to ensure that it won't try to do too many
things at once, because then it tends to do none of
them especially well.
This
naturally falls from your site's goals and helps to
lay the framework for the following steps. There are
3 most common purposes for a web site:
- An
On-line Brochure
- Customer
Service
- On-line
Sales
Each
one of these main purposes calls for its own unique
strategy for the planning of the web site.
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Define
Target Audience
Who
do you want to attract to your site? Employees? Customers
or Potential Customers? Group Members?
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Look
and Feel of Site
What
kind of personality do you want your site to adopt?
Should it be proper, conservative, professional, almost
institutional? Or should it be more liberal, even to
the point of having an "attitude"? These questions
are rather broad, so please refer to this list of detailed
design questions. (Note: Unless you have a competent
art designer on staff, you should seriously consider
outsourcing at least this portion of the development
process.) Also be thinking about any guidelines that
may exist on color schemes, or if you have a company
or organization logo, how to incorporate this into your
site design.
A
crucial part of this stage is to browse the web, gather
ideas and sites that appeal to your organization, make
notes to share with your team members for consensus
and then with your internet consultant or web designer.
Start looking at how you want to navigate between functions,
and how each function will help your site achieve its
goals.
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Content
Strategy
This
step can best be started during the above step, as while
you surf through similar sites you can also begin developing
your content strategy. Useful content is one of the
main features of an effective web site. It is important
to lay out and plan what content you think is important.
You then can find out if it already exists, or if it
doesn't how you can get it. Ideally this information
should be in digital form as text, a word processor
document, or a digital image (as in a logo or photograph).
This allows your team to evaluate the information it
also allows for organization in terms of "pages".
It
is best to solidify your content strategy before
the pages are actually created. That way your navigation
structure is final, it eliminates rework, and you will
see your logical structure of your site and verify that
it really is useful to the user. Your resulting web
site will be simpler and more effective.
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Logical
Site Design
This
step allows you to make sure your content is effective,
and also placed correctly into the chosen look and feel.
Is all information in the places where it will be helpful?
Do you need links to additional information? Look at
other sites that are similar and gather ideas. Make
notes on all "pages" where there should be
a link to another page. For example, a products page
should have a button that you can use to add the item
to the shopping cart, and also a link to a Payment Options
page.
Try
to visualize the path that the user will take through
your site and make sure that the most pertinent information
is available at any point in their journey through your
site. At this point the web site designer can begin
to make a design template and the foundation for the
eventual final pages of your site.
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Gather
All Content
As
you have already created your content strategy, now
you can actually be gathering your content. Some companies
choose to gather it along the way during the planning,
as gathering your content often takes more time than
you think. Once the content is gathered and in electronic
format, it can be easily placed onto the final pages
without any delay.
During
this site planning process, many small business owners
and non-profit organizations wonder about the expense
of outsourcing the project and whether or not it is
worth the expense. Keep in mind that while often times
it looks like the most cost-efficient approach is having
an inhouse person handle your site's creation, keep
in mind that there are opportunities costs involved.
That person will be focusing his or her time and energy
on web design rather than their other responsibilities,
the ones they are better suited for. To ensure a well-designed
and functionally stable site, it often makes sense to
leave the site creation up to a professional company.
KLB
Web Solutions will be glad to assist your company through
any of all of these planning stages. We also provide
training for self-maintenance of your site, if you so
wish, so that after we complete the design and development
of your web site, you can maintain it after the initial
implementation. Please contact
us today if you would like further information.
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