How to Plan a Website – 7 Frequently Asked Questions

The success of your website depends a lot on how much planning you do beforehand. It can be compared to having a road map to reach your destination. If the map is unclear you may not reach your destination or it may take a long time to get there.

Frequently asked questions to plan a website

1. What is your site’s purpose?

You may say you just want to make money however think a little deeper. What will you use the money for e.g. buy a house, spend more time with your family, overseas travel, etc? Once you’ve defined your purpose you need to select a niche you feel passionate about. The more passionate you feel about the subject matter of your site the easier it will be to add content and maintain it.

2. What is your niche?

Create a list of topics you’re interested in. Keep going until you’ve exhausted all the topics then prioritize them. Give priority to the ones you are most passionate about.

3. What and how many keywords are being searched?

Use the free wordtracker tool or the google keyword tool to create a list of keywords people are using to find your topic on the search engines. This list will help you develop content that can be added to your web site. A site containing lots of content has a better chance of doing well in the search engines.

The number of searches each keyword has will help determine the profitability of your future website. Look for keywords that contain many searches but don’t have many competing websites.

4. What type of website do you want or need?

Will it be an informational or e-commerce website? An informational one will consist of pages of information but won’t be selling anything whereas an e-commerce one will be selling products. An ecommerce site will need a merchant account, payment gateway, shopping cart and an SSL certificate plus you’ll need to calculate the tax and delivery fees of all your products.

5. What software will you use?

If your site has 10-20 pages you can use html software to build the web pages. Google ‘free html software” if you don’t want to purchase software. Dreamweaver is the software of choice for professional web designers. You can view the web site as you build it, creates clean code and manage the web site within Dreamweaver.

If your website contains 100s of pages that need constant updating consider using a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla, WordPress or Drupal.

6. How to select a good web designer?

If you’re not a do-it-yourself person, don’t have time or prefer a professional to design your website search for a web designer in your local area. This gives you the freedom to meet and discuss your ideas. Look at the designers portfolio and read the testimonials from satisfied customers before making your selection. Call or email them to check the response times, how friendly and knowledgeable they are. Ask for a preliminary proposal and quote before making your final decision.

7. Do you have a marketing plan?

Even if you have a beautifully designed website it won’t be successful without creating a marketing plan to attract visitors to it. There are 100s of ways to market a website however some of the best methods include, search engine optimization, article marketing, pay per click advertising, social media marketing, video marketing or a combination of these. Learn one of these methods thoroughly before learning other strategies. Don’t rely on one method of marketing in case one strategy becomes ineffective. If you promote your website constantly and consistently you’ll build a steady stream of traffic that will generate sales.

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How to Choose a Web Site Designer
How to Create Your Web Site Marketing Plan
Website Structure – What is Best?
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