Website Planning Checklist: 8 Things You Need To Do
There are many do-it-yourself website builders available on the internet that makes it easy for everyone to have their own website. Looking at these kinds of site builders make website building sound so easy. For the most part, building a website takes some skill and creativity. However, if you want your website to be well planned and attract your target audience it has to be easy to find and user friendly. Getting there takes does not only take imagination but also organization. Check out our website planning checklist so that you won’t forget anything required.
1. Set Your Goals
Before starting your website, find out what your goal is. Take a look at some sites on the internet; some of them don’t make any sense. You don’t want to be one of these websites. There are eCommerce sites without a call to action or brochure sites without descriptions or contact details. Knowing what your site’s aims are will make it clear for you, the owner the focus of your website. Some examples of goals are: “to provide after sales support to clients” or “generate revenue through subscriptions”.
2. Know Your Target Audience
The target audience or demographic are the people you are trying to reach through your website. Identifying them before building your website will make it easier to design and create content. Knowing your demographics will also impact your business in terms of selling point, customer needs, product development and the like.
3. Research Your Competition
Knowing how your competitor’s project their brand and how they designed their website is important online and offline. This will give you a glimpse of their unique selling point, knowing and comparing products and services, knowing their target market and evaluating what works and does not work in their website can help you during the conception and creating of your website.
4. Do You Need Specific Functionality For Your Website?
Not all websites are the same, some need some functionality that other websites don’t Some examples of functionalities include: content management system for site updates, payment system for eCommerce sites, shipping tools, newsletter signups, blogs and many others. Knowing what your website needs will make web development easier and more efficient.
5. Decide On A Web Design
Web design is subjective. While it is important that the site looks good in your opinion, what matters more is how the site looks to your target audience. Other factors to consider aside from demographics are accessibility requirements of your website, examples of sites you would like to emulate, input of your web development partner, etc.
6. Set your Budget
There is a world of difference between a free website and one that is paid for. Defining a budget for your professionally designed website can is one of the keys to internet success. Have a budget in mind before discussing web designs with your web development partner.
7. Plan Your Web Content
Content is king when it comes to SEO and search engine rankings. Give yourself enough time for keyword research and content creation as this will have a big impact on your site. Content also covers photographs and video. Quality content will make your website more attractive to your target audience.
8. Register a Domain
Other details like registering domain name, payment gateways like Paypal and other merchant bank accounts will need approval, shipping methods, shipping, privacy and terms and conditions will need to be set, creation of Google Analytics account, SEO or SEM plans, blogs and social media accounts and offline marketing tactics should also be added to your checklist.