Lets get on with the process of planning your website – there are 5 stages you need to complete before your site is ready to be created and uploaded to the Internet:
1. Set the goals for your website.
Firstly you need to set goals for your site. These include what sort of website you are going to be running, what is the purpose of your site and who is your target audience.
What sort of site are you running? Is it going to be a static brochure site, is it going to include news and be updated regularly? Will you need any online shopping features? If your site is going to be updated frequently then you might like to consider using a Content Management System or a Shopping Cart for an online store.
What is the purpose of your site? Will it be used to keep people up to date on your activities, will you be using it to educate visitors about your products or services? Do you expect visitors to return frequently? Or are you using the site for e-Commerce to sell your products?
Who is your target audience? This is probably one of the most important questions you need to answer – knowing what type of person you want to visit your site allows you to design it with them in mind and use the right mode of speech and a layout and design that will appeal to your target audience. If you get this wrong you'll have spent all that time and money getting your site out there only to find that no one wants to use it!
2. Organise your site structure
Organising your site carefully from the start can save you frustration and time later on. If you begin creating documents without thinking about where in your website they should go, you may end up with a huge, unwieldy folder full of files, or with related files scattered through a half-dozen similarly named folders.
Break down your site into categories and put related pages in the same folder. For example, your company press releases, contact information, and job postings might all go in one folder, but your online catalogue pages might go in a different folder. Use subfolders where necessary. This type of organisation will make your site easier to maintain and navigate.
Decide where to put items such as images and sound files. For example, it's convenient to place all your images in one location, so that when you want to insert an image into a page, you know where to find it.
3. Design your site layout
You can save a lot of time later if you plan your design and layout before you begin working. Create a mock-up drawing on paper or using an image editor (such as Photoshop) on your computer of how you want the site layout to look – any competent website designer can then follow your drawings to create the site the way you want it.
Maintaining consistency in your page layout and design helps to ensure a good user experience. The user should be able to click through the pages in your site without getting confused. If all your pages look different it might frustrate your visitors who will just go to another website instead of using yours!
4. Design your site navigation
When designing your site think about how your visitors will find the information they are after and how they will move from one area to another. Keep your navigation consistent across your site – if your menu is across the top make sure it stays at the top on all your pages. Also try to keep in mind the following points: your visitors should always know where they are in your site and how to return to the main pages (a feature called breadcrumbs is useful for this). Providing a search feature or site map may help your visitors find what they are looking for quicker, saving them time and keeping them happy :)
5. Organising images/media files
Once you know what your design and layout will look like, you can create and gather the images and other media files that you will need. Make sure you have all of these items ready to go before you begin developing your site. Otherwise, you'll have to continually stop development to find an image.
You can reuse page layouts and page elements in various documents by using templates Use templates if many of your pages will use the same layout. Plan and design a template and then you can create new pages based on that.
If you follow the 5 steps above you'll find you website design experience a lot easier and smoother and your site will be created and on the Internet in no time!
Now that you've got your website design planned why not call aerweb.co.uk ltd today and let us quote you on creating your dream site? Our phone number is 0800 95 00 163 just in case you haven't got is already!
