Planning the Design of Your Web Site

You are all set to give your business global exposure through the internet. Its about time you started building your web site, right? Wait. Have you planned your web site? Planned?

Yes, imagine what would happen to a house if you built it without planning it first. Web sites meet the same fate if they are not planned before they are built. And yet, most web sites are obviously being built that way. They appear confusing and haphazard and have no focus. But you want your web site to be different, right? Then lets get to the process of planning a web site.

Planning a web site is not difficult. All it requires is a little thought, and it is certainly well worth the effort. The planning process can be completed by answering the following questions, and then basing the design of your web site on the outcome of these questions.


1. What is the purpose of the web site?
We come to the foremost question in our planning process. You must determine the purpose of your web site to ensure that you would achieve that purpose.

The most usual answer to this question is " to sell my products/services". But what would you do to make sure that you sell? Here are a few possible responses: -By drawing a lot of visitors to your web site -By encouraging repeat visits from the visitors -By offering useful information which would interest the visitors By displaying attractive photos and interesting descriptions of your merchandise -By offering unique product features/benefits -By offering special prices/deals

Keep asking yourself questions until you come up with a response which is as specific as possible. Come up with a unique and clearly defined purpose for your web site. How can you achieve your goals if you have not defined them clearly enough?


2. For whom is the web site being built Again, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you are building it for everyone, for you would end up catering to no one at all. Possible target audiences for your web site can be: -Current customers/Targeted traffic
-Potential customers/Search engine traffic
-Suppliers of your raw materials
-Retailers who can stock your product
-Distributors
-People interested in knowing about your company ( press etc.)
-People interested in knowing about you products (researchers,
advertisers etc.)

You may choose to design your web site for all of the above audiences. However, a much better approach would be to determine the type of audience which is the most important to you and then focus more on that audience. The more focused your web site, the more impact it would have on your target audience.

Do keep in mind that your potential customers cannot be just anyone surfing on the net. They would be people who have a need (whether realized or unrealized) for your product. It would be helpful to come up with a customer profile including demographics and psychographics of your customers. This would require research but it would definitely give you a much better idea of how you should design your web site and the appeals you should be using to convince your customers.


3. What information should the web site have?
This would depend entirely on your goals and target audience. For example if you intend to gain repeat sales from your current customers through your web site, you only need updated and accurate information of your products and an easy and hassle free ordering system.

On the other hand, if you want to cater to potential customers and want increased hits to your web site, you would need to provide valuable information to draw these customers to your web site.

For example, a web site selling herbal soaps may provide
informative articles on skin care and herbal ingredients etc.
This would attract people interested in herbal ingredients/ soaps to the web site.

If they find the offered information useful they just might buy from you. Even if they dont buy they might book mark the web site and visit again. The more they repeatedly visit your web site, the higher the chances that they would buy from you.


4. How should the information be organized?
The information must be organized well to ensure ease of navigation and usability. Remember to view your web site from your visitors perspective. Highlight the information which your visitors would find interesting and not that which you consider important. Group similar batches of information together, and keep the navigation consistent throughout the web site. Do not build a menu with countless choices on your home page. This would bewilder and confuse the visitors and they would leave without exploring further.


5. What visuals and color scheme should be used?
Yes, this should be the final step in your web site plan.People usually make the big error of going through this step first. The result is an unimpressive and confusing web site with no obvious purpose or interest. If you decide the visuals and color scheme at the end of the planning process you would be able to come up with original ideas which suit the content and image of your web site perfectly. Your design would seamlessly flow together and your web site would give a well
organized and impressive look.


You might have come across numerous web sites with no obvious color schemes or consistent visuals. This is a result of bad planning, or more likely, no planning at all. Do not plunge directly into web design, without giving thought to the planning process. There is no point in building a web site which is not optimized to achieve its purpose.

About the author.

erum@biztalk4u.com
http://www.biztalk4u.com