One of the most difficult, but key components of the Internet marketing process is to design your website to achieve the goals you have set for your business. Yet, most people completely bypass this important step or, worse, just turn the whole project over to a website designer to handle.
The process of carefully planning the outline of a new website or upgrade to an existing website will secure for you not only a vehicle to show off your business in the best light, but also one that you are able to control the process of updating content, and, most importantly, achieve your business goals. Below are a number of steps to follow while planning your new website:
1. Write down on a piece of paper everything you think the visitors to your web site might want to know about your product or service. For example, visitors to a school’s website would probably want to know the attendance levels, size of the classrooms, information on staff members and what sports they can participate in. Try to list every possible topic about your industry, service or product that a visitor to your new website might be interested in knowing.
2. Imagine for a short time that you are a potential website customer. Surf the Internet and visit various sites offering similar services, then review them as a potential customer would. As a potential customer, what are the things you like and dislike about each website you visit? Does the website inspire you to take further action? Are you able to find what you are looking for quickly and easily? How many different pages do you have to click through to find what you want? Note all this data down with the intent of making your new website as easy for your visitors to use as possible.
3. Investigate to find out the keywords your visitors will most likely search for to find your website. You don’t need to invest in expensive search tools, Google has a free keyword tool that is adequate for this purpose. Type in a general phrase such as “high school” and see what other keywords come up. These are the things your visitors already have questions about. Knowing this, you can plan your website content to answer their questions up front.
4. Plan your new website so that it can expand. Stay away from website formats that can’t be expanded easily to add products and new pages. A website is not static, but rather should change constantly to meet your customer needs.
5. The final thing to keep in mind is that you want to be able to control your new website, rather than be at the mercy of your web designer to make even the simplest of changes. Old fashioned websites that only a web developer can change do not work in today’s dynamic Internet marketing environment that demands new content added regularly. Your new website should be on a platform that lets you add content quickly and easily.
Your website is most often one of the biggest marketing expenses your business will encounter. It is critical to take the time to plan a new website that is compatible with your business goals.
Marty Dickinson is the founder of HereNextYear, Inc., a full service Internet marketing company in business for over 10 years. His specialty is Internet marketing solutions for the small business owner, speakers and authors. Visit to see what HereNextYear has to offer and to learn more about their innovative new website packages fully integrated for ease with social networking and other Internet marketing strategies.
Leave a Reply