8 Tips For Launching Your Website (Part 1)
We've helped a lot of people launch websites. We've done many types of sites: property sites, e-commerce sites, sites for services, product sites, brochure sites. Many of these sites were from organisations who had never launched a website before. We've seen what works and what doesn't.
If you are planning on starting a new website or re-developing an existing website, you need to do or think about the following:
1. Have a business model
If you own a business, you can probably describe how your business adds value to your customers. If you are a non-profit organisation, you probably have a mission statement or charter. Your website needs something similar. It doesn't have to be difficult or complicated but it should be more detailed than "we should have a website" or "because our competitors have one". Here are a few examples:
There are over 100 million websites online. Becoming a smash hit is like winning the lottery. On the other hand, the web is perfect for catering to a niche group of people. Nobody can predict which type of audience your site will get. Find out the potential size of your audience and think about the numbers of visits per month that you would be happy with. If you are planning an e-commerce site, how many sales would you be happy with? What number would you consider a failure? What would be break-even?
It's hard to predict but putting some thought into these issues will help you decide how much you will want to put into development and promotion. 3. Know your audience
Who is in the audience? Investors? Customers? Employees? Fans? Who are they? What do they like? What do they expect? What do they know? What don't they know? Put yourself in their shoes. What are they likely to be looking for when they visit your site? Are they looking for certain information? Are they looking to spend? This information will be useful to your development team when deciding a number of things including visual layout (e.g. serious, playful, exquisite, sparse) and overall tone of the writing on the site. 4. Write the website This is the part that most people underestimate. Nothing kills the momentum of a site build more than waiting on content. This is perfectly understandable since people are often too busy running a business to sit down and write the content. Unfortunately every site needs at least some written content and while a development team can help, at the end of the day it needs to come from someone who knows and understands the business. Besides text you will also need to think about the information architecture of the site:
Dermot Brennan
Web Developer
If you own a business, you can probably describe how your business adds value to your customers. If you are a non-profit organisation, you probably have a mission statement or charter. Your website needs something similar. It doesn't have to be difficult or complicated but it should be more detailed than "we should have a website" or "because our competitors have one". Here are a few examples:
- "People search for our name in Google to find our phone number and nothing comes up. We should have a website with our contact details."
- "People want to know what we do"
- "People want to browse our catalogue from home"
- "Our customers are spread all over the country/world, so it makes sense to sell our products online."
- "We want to keep our customers up to date with upcoming events and news."
There are over 100 million websites online. Becoming a smash hit is like winning the lottery. On the other hand, the web is perfect for catering to a niche group of people. Nobody can predict which type of audience your site will get. Find out the potential size of your audience and think about the numbers of visits per month that you would be happy with. If you are planning an e-commerce site, how many sales would you be happy with? What number would you consider a failure? What would be break-even?
It's hard to predict but putting some thought into these issues will help you decide how much you will want to put into development and promotion. 3. Know your audience
Who is in the audience? Investors? Customers? Employees? Fans? Who are they? What do they like? What do they expect? What do they know? What don't they know? Put yourself in their shoes. What are they likely to be looking for when they visit your site? Are they looking for certain information? Are they looking to spend? This information will be useful to your development team when deciding a number of things including visual layout (e.g. serious, playful, exquisite, sparse) and overall tone of the writing on the site. 4. Write the website This is the part that most people underestimate. Nothing kills the momentum of a site build more than waiting on content. This is perfectly understandable since people are often too busy running a business to sit down and write the content. Unfortunately every site needs at least some written content and while a development team can help, at the end of the day it needs to come from someone who knows and understands the business. Besides text you will also need to think about the information architecture of the site:
- How will the user navigate the site?
- What links will appear on every page?
- What are the categories and subcategories in the site?
- What photos/icons should appear on each page?
Part two: When to copy your competitors, how to give feedback and tips for launching.
Dermot Brennan
Web Developer
11 February 2009 13:37 | Posted by Dermot
No comments yet.