Website Structure Planning
Now that we have some keyword terms under our belt, let’s move onto the foundation of building a website. You will need to put together a web site Development Plan. (Assuming you know what your product is and you have your business plan already in motion)
1. Figure out what functionality you need.
a. Do you want it to be CMS style?
b. Shopping cart – Are you going to accept credit cards, or PayPal?
c. Track inventory- Do you need to track inventory?
d. Calendar – Do you need a calendar of events?
e. Forums – A forum is a place where people can leave a post for others to respond to.
f. Contact Us Form (Inquiry Form) this can be done through data bases that can gather their information for later use when you want to send out mass emailing. (Highly recommended!)
2. Style
a. 2 Column or 3
b. Colors
c. Clean, professional, template modified
3. SEO Considerations
a. Flash is not good as a intro page
b. Not a lot of pictures as in the whole art work shouldn’t be sliced up and put up as a site
c. CSS keeps more content first and not coding.
d. WordPress is a CMS web based software and is excellent for SEO. (Our VIP Package comes with a WordPress Site installed)
4. Marketing Considerations
a. RSS.
i. Really Simple Syndication
1. Go to http://www.theadminprofessional.com/blog
2. RSS is a great sales tool. You can download a RSS Reader such as YeahReader and begin seeing what the hype is all about. RSS is truly one of the greatest sales tools available on the net, and the greatest part is, IT”S FREE! You can download it from our site under the resources section. It works like an email client, except it is only information from web sites that you choose. If you went to our blog and you like the articles that you see, and would be interested in getting future articles automatically then you would find the RSS button and add then add that URL to the YeahReader. Every time we add a article, you will receive it in your YeahReader without you having to come back to the site. Huge time saver.
3. If you like Crafts, you can go out to www.blogsearch.google.com and find a blog on crafts and subscribe to the ones you like, so whenever you want a craft idea you just open up your reader and wham, you have ideas just waiting on you!
4. As homework you need to download YeahReader and begin going on a blog search to find relevant blogs on topics you like and get them in your RSS YeahReader. If you don’t get started this week, then your diligence will break down and you won’t ever do it. So get started today.
5. This is the future of the internet so if you can learn it now you will be ahead of your teenagers. MySpace is a blog. Classmates is a blog. They are all modified, but easy and inexpensive to do.
6. You have an open door to people who like you and your site and the products you offer! It’s like the Kirby salesperson, you don’t want him knocking on your door more then 1 time a year, but if the ice cream truck comes around, we are all like, hmmm maybe I could get some this time, consider RSS the ice cream truck
5. Find a web hosting company. As mentioned before we offer one of the best hosting packages available. $7.95 per month gets you unlimited domain name email addresses, 10 MySql Databases, and best of all it comes with an auto installer for all kinds of web based software called Fantastico.
6. Find a web developer that can install your web site and do the modifications that you need done to the site. If you would like to have us do the work for you, you might want to consider upgrading your account to the VIP membership and you will get everything you need to have your web site up and running in just a few days! Give us a call for your discount
You do not want to spend too much time on your web site and not enough time on your product. Always remember that the product comes first, then the web site.
Here is a worksheet to get you a little organized and to set some goals.
Website Planning Worksheet
Organization Name: __________________________
Give the most important purpose a “1″, next most important a “2″. Leave those blank which do not interest you at all.
__ To gain a favorable impression of the company or organization.
__ To develop a qualified list of prospects
__ To sell products directly taking credit card information over the Internet
__ To encourage potential customers to contact us by phone or mail to consummate a sale.
__ To make available product information and price lists to distributors.
__ To make available product information and price lists to customers.
__ To strengthen brand identification.
__ Other _______________________________________________________
2. Website Planning and Organization
List what pages you’ll need on your web site. Some examples are “About us” “Products” “What’s New”, etc
Total number of pages decided upon ________________
3. Site and Domain Names
Site Name on Masthead: ____________________________________
Domain Name It must be registered through your web hosting service and approved by a domain registration service before you can use it. You may check the availability of your domain name at Network Solutions (http://www.networksolutions.com)
Domain name ____________________________ ___Desired ___Already Registered
4. Header Graphic
__ Company Logo incorporated in the masthead graphic.
__ Photo or drawing of product?
__ Typeface preference __________________________________________
__ Preferred colors in palette _______________________________________
__ Other ideas _________________________________________________________
5. Basic Page Elements
These are the important items which appear on nearly every web page on your site (except the “home” page).
- Page titles which show at top of Web browser only
- Top-of-page graphic based on the design of the masthead graphic
- Page Title in larger type. Heading Font Style: ________________ (recommend Arial Bold)
- Text. Body Font Style: ___________________ (recommend Times New Roman)
- Image Map by Image Map bar
- Standard company ID near bottom of page
- E-mail response link to the following e-mail address: _________________________
- Copyright and trademark information in small print at the bottom of every page. What registered trademarks, trademarks, and service marks does your company want to indicate here?
Do you have any trademarks or service marks? If so, please list them here and indicate which are registered trademarks.
6. Photos, Graphics, Animations, Sound, and Video
- What pictures, photos and art? ______________________
- Do you need audio and video capabilities? _______
7. Response Forms
What is the purpose of your response form?
__ Guestbook for visitors to record comments
__ Request for information
__ Survey of customer preferences
8. Web Hosting Service
Domain name required_____________________________
Web Hosting Service _____________________________________
Phone: _____________________________
E-mail for support or help ______________________________
9. Registering and Advertising Your Website
Consider:
- Advertising your Website to Web search engines that index the Web
- Giving customers a good reason to come by offering them something
- Finding industry-wide linking pages and negotiating reciprocal links to and from their web pages.
- Purchasing Web advertising
- Becoming active in several of the thousands of Internet news groups and mailing lists
- Developing a “signature” mini-ad attached to all your e-mail messages
- Making your website part of one or more of the many “malls.”
- Including your e-mail and Web addresses on all your company’s print literature, stationery, and display advertising
- E-mail newsletters
10. Project Completion Goals
Target Date____________________
