Whenever you consider taking on the development of a new website, there is always a huge investment in money and effort. The best way to start off on the right foot is to be able to readily answer the following questions about your potential web design.

Why Are you building the website?

Many times a website redesign is needed because it isn’t working as well as it used to or it feels old, but what does that really mean? What are you trying to accomplish? How is your website strategy aligned with the goals of your business?

Some reasons may be:

Wanting to grow advertising revenue and therefore needing to increase page views.

nonprofits rely on donations, therefore they would need to increase the size and number of the donations received through their website

Wanting more leads generated by the website and having those leads convert into customers

Any and all of these answers will affect your web design strategy.

Who Will Be Using the Website?

It’s important to keep in mind and review who your target audience is. Who are the kind of people visiting your site? What are their needs? It’s critical for your web design to have a structure that entices your visitors to complete the actions you want them to, be it purchasing from the site or signing up for an e-newsletter.

Things to consider about your target audience:

What are their key issues and goals?

Are they on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.?

Are there other targeted communities where you can find them?

What words, phrases, imagery, and language appeals to them?

Is There Content?

More than just actual text, but it’s important to consider photos and videos that you can and want to include. Is there content prepared? If not, who will create it and how frequently will new content be developed?

Points to consider for content:

Prioritize – if you try to prioritize everything, then nothing is a priority. Keep it simple to what point you want to get across

Credibility – your content should be factual and believable.

Emotion – it’s not just about facts but tapping into your reader’s emotions.

Which Keywords are important for SEO

The goal in Search Engine Optimization is to be on the first page of the search results. Ideally, you want the first link on the first page. For that reason, it’s important to identify a group of keywords to optimize your website.

Put yourself into the mindset of the audience you want to attract. How are they looking for the products and services you’re trying to sell. Look for keywords that you think would bring the best traffic, not the most traffic. Generic keywords can get a lot of people to your site, but more particular keywords. The person searching using more particular keywords is looking for something specific and is more likely to be a conversion.

Are you ready to invest Post-Launch?

From the get-go, it’s important to realize how much of an investment your site is going to be initially, but just as important is realizing that there is just as much you need to invest after the launch of the site, including but not limited to:

Creating new content and postings

Analyzing what works and what does not

Testing

Optimizing the site based on of your finding

Participating in Social Media

Designing or Re-designing a website is a huge endeavor to take on. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call, at Falcon Marketing we are ready to help.