Advance Planning Is the Key to a Successful Website
Written on May 5, 2010 – 11:29 pm | by Guru
Planning a website that will achieve the goals you have set for your business is probably the most difficult part of the entire Internet marketing process. However, most business people ignore this critical step, or leave it to their web designer to take care of, which can often be even worse.
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. Here are a few steps to use in the planning process:
1. Create a list of anything your website visitors will want to know about the product or service you are offering. If you are planning a website for a school, for example, the visitors would be interested in how man students attend, classroom sizes, staff information and sports offered. Take the time to brainstorm as many areas related to your product, service or industry that someone might be interested in when visiting the website.
2. Imagine for a short time that you are a potential website customer. Visit and review some websites similar to the one you will offer as if you were a potential customer. As a potential customer, what are the things you like and dislike about each website you visit? Are you inspired to take action from the website? Can you find what you are looking for fast? 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. Research to find out what keywords your visitors might search for. You don’t need to invest in expensive search tools, Google has a free keyword tool that is adequate for this purpose. Enter a general phrase related to your product or service, such as “coffee filters” and other related keywords will appear. Your visitors already have questions about these things. With this information in hand, you can plan your website to feature content that answers people’s questions.
4. Make sure to plan your website to grow. Don’t be lured into a website format that won’t let you expand easily to add new content pages or products. You will find that building a great website is a constant work in progress.
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. Today’s dynamic Internet marketing environment demands new and fresh content added to your website often, and the old fashioned sites that rely on a web developer to make changes just won’t work anymore. You need a website platform that will allow you to add website content fast and simply.
The investment by your business into a new website is a large part of your marketing budget. 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.
Tags: general business tips, internet marketing, Marketing, online marketing, sales and marketing, small business, website design, website development, website tips
