How to Plan a Website

By Marcus J Miller

Planning a website is no easy matter. It may have become easier over the years to go from having nothing to a fully functioning website complete with all the bells and whistles due to developments in platforms such as WordPress. However, there is still a lot involved in the process. In fact, it is now even more important that you know how to plan a website carefully because of the amount of competition you will be up against.

Here are the six major areas to look at when learning how to plan a website which should help you to create something that will really pull in the traffic.

1. Domain Name

Choosing the right domain name is not always simple. If you have a short company name that has not been taken yet then it’s easy enough, but if you have a particularly long name then you might want to consider using an abbreviation. You should also think carefully about the type of domain you want -.com,.co.uk,.biz, etc – as this is important depending on the location of your target customers.

You will also need to find out where and how to register your domain and consider factors such as whether you want a private registration and the amount you will have to pay. These are all things that you should consider before you choose a domain to help you get off to a good start.

2. Web Hosting

Web hosting is where a company ‘hosts’ your website on its servers, as if you are renting your space on the web, and you will need this before setting up a website.

There are lots of factors to consider when choosing a web hosting service, including whether you pay for just one year or a number of years, how much traffic you expect to receive, whether you want to host multiple domains, how much down-time you can expect, whether email is provided and more.

Choosing a good hosting service is something you want to get right so spend time researching the best package for your needs, not just in terms of price but in terms of service.

3. Structure

This is where it starts to get really serious. Planning the structure of your website doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you can do it yourself with a pen and paper. However, you may want a professional web designer to help you here.

The website itself needs to have a good structure to lead to a positive user experience, because this will affect how long people stay on your site and how often they return. Your structure should be based on a few main categories such as ‘Services’ along with a number of sub categories. It needs to be logical, simple andeasy to follow. This is not the stage to start trying to get too creative.

4. Content

The content of your site is crucial, and when learning how to plan a website it is something you want to organise early on. You need to create content for each page of your website, and you should make it as informative and interesting as possible. Content doesn’t only mean the main pages: you might also want to set up a section on information articles, or a regular blog, which will be good for SEO purposes and help to attract more customers.

5. To Build or Buy?

Once you have planned the above, it’s time to bring the website to life. You have a number a number of choices here and you should decide which one is best for you. You could opt to hire a web designer to do everything for you, or you could do it yourself by using a free platform such as WordPress. If the website is for your business then some professional input is highly recommended, but you could choose the best of both worlds by hiring a designer who uses WordPress to create professional websites.

6. Marketing

You should really start planning your marketing tactics before you even launch the website. There are so many types of marketing, including social media marketing, email marketing, SEO and more, and for each of these you can plan ahead before you have put the actual website together, so don’t leave it too late and remember to ask your designer for advice before they start work on your website.

Start Planning Your Website Today

Working out how to plan a website is so important to its success, so make sure you take the time to plan the above steps rather than just jumping straight in. The internet is a competitive environment and you need to do everything you can to stand a chance of success. Follow the stages above when you plan your site and you’ll be able to hit the ground running.

— Marcus Miller is a UK SEO Consultant and can help you win online so if you are looking for SEO Services in Birmingham

The web offers a huge opportunity to market your business, but only a tiny percentage of businesses tap into it effectively – get in touch with Marcus to find out how to start winning online: marcus@bowlerhatsolutions.co.uk

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If you have questions about the content of this post pls. feel free to contact the author or us directly:
Spider Choice
A web Marketing Company in Toronto, Canada
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Tags: affordable website design, custom website design, toronto website design company, Website Design

This entry was posted on Friday, June 17th, 2011 at 3:16 am and is filed under Website Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.