I would like to provide some information about creating the web site for your business. It is difficult for most small businesses to start working on your web project without any preparation. A marketing plan and an understanding of what steps are involved in it are critical. These 12 Planning Steps will help you to get an idea about what should be considered before you are ready to make a contact with a web design company. By planning out your strategy carefully you will be better prepared to work on your web site project. The “Planning Steps” will save your time and will help you to make educated decision.

 

 

Your Web Site

  12  Planning Steps

 

 

Step 1. Reason to Create Your Web Site.
Why you can’t afford not to have a web site anymore? Why do you need it?

• To inform the public about your interests (personal site or blog)
• To inform about your company’s services, products and news
• To collect an information from visitors (online forms)
• To sell your products online
• To get new or keep your existing clients

 

Step 2. Web Site Idea.
What type of web site do you need? What content will be included on your web site?

• Design, Look, Futures, Technology, etc…
• Static web site, web gallery
• Dynamic web site with database and dynamically generated pages.
• E-Commerce web site with shopping cart.

 

Step 3. Content of Web Site.
Do you have it ready? Who will work with your content?

• Pictures of products, graphical images, your business logo
• Text for your web site. What languages?
• Documents, media files (sound, forms), articles
• Links to other web sites relative to your business

 

Step 4. How many Pages?
How big your web site will be? 4 or 44 Pages?

How do you call your Pages? Some of them can be: Home Page, About Us, Gallery, Our Services, Our Products, News, Testimonials, Contact Us…

 

Step 5. Your Target Market.
Where and who your visitors are? This is really important who your visitors are, what they are looking for online, and where from they are. Think about:

• Location area / Country / Industry
• Audience
• Age group
• Interests (sport, travel, music, cars, books, heath, pets …)

 

Step 6. Promotion & Advertising of Web Site. Free and Paid Ads.
How your visitors will find your web site?

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Links from other related web sites.
• Web Directories, Emails, Blogs, Banners, Pay Per Click (PPC), Pay Per View (PPV), Pay Per Action (PPA) ads
• Flyers, Business Cards, Media, etc.

 

Step 7. Communication and Contacts.
Do you have a time for contact to web master, creating news letters and new text?

Who will manage you web site content, translation, text and pictures updates, site promotion, and coordination?

 

Step 8. Your Web Site Domain Name and Registration.
Is your domain name (web site name) available yet? Domain name can be selected:

• By business name
• By your company services or products
• Extensions available: .com, .ca, .net, .info, .org
• Think about your E-mail addresses. It can be info@yourname.com, sales@yourname.com, etc.

 

Step 9. Web Site Hosting.
Who will be a Hosting company for your Web Site? What kind of hosting you need (shared, dedicated)?

 

Step 10. Time Line for the project.
When do you need it done?

• How much time do you have for the Web Site Project development?
• Will you start with small Web Site now and add more pages in future?

 

Step 11. Your Web Site Budget.
How much are you willing to invest in your Web Site? More programming and more futures will increase the web site cost.

 

Step 12. Results Measurement.
How will you measure your web site success? This will depend of what results will you looking for:

• Number of visitors – web site traffic amount
• Number of news letter subscribers
• New clients
• Profit from online sales

 

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Copyright 2007 Sergey Pavlov
Certified Digital Media Specialist.
Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization.

Sergey can be reached at 519-746-3239 or email: sergey@vendorland.ca