Ten questions to ask yourself before building your website
Hopefully these tips will save you some time and money!
- What is the purpose of my website?
This fundamental point needs some serious consideration and will inform everything that follows.
- What makes my website different?
I've heard hundreds of portal and social networking pitches that sound like websites that already exist. If there isn't a USP, it's going to be a real struggle to gain any worthwhile market share.
- Who is my audience?
One of the hardest things you'll have to do is try and remove yourself from the project and see it objectively, from your audience's point-of-view. Ditch ideas based on your own preferences and make decisions based on what is most appropriate to those visiting the website.
- What do I want people to do when they visit the website?
If visitors don't fulfil your primary objective (for example: call you or buy something), have a back-up plan in place. Perhaps they'd consider signing up for your newsletter or downloading a useful PDF?
- How will people find my website?
Relying purely on natural search results has its limited even if you are fortunate enough to have very niche content. You'll need a clear strategy from the outset.
- How will I ensure I get repeat visitors?
Think about capturing information, so you can contact people in the future to let them know about new content.
- How will I measure results?
Measuring your website traffic is pretty straightforward. For example, Google Analytics is an excellent, easy to use and free way to do this. Try and think beyond this though, can you define indicators that are specific to what you are doing?
- How does the website fit into my overall marketing plan?
Decide what proportion of your time and budget you can allocate to it.
- Do I have time to update the website and create new content?
Adding new, relevant content is a great way to ensure repeat visitors and good rankings in search engines results. You'll need to ensure you have the time, discipline and creativity needed for this. It's easy to start off with, but becomes exponentially more difficult every time you have to think of new things to write about!
- What will your website designer and developer bring to the project?
A supplier that becomes a business partner will make the whole process easier and ensure better results.
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