What will your website do?

Posted on May 29, 2007 
Filed Under Planning

Probably the most important item to figure out before launching or creating your own website is answering the question “what do you want your website to do?”

This is one of the first questions I will ask anyone wanting a website. The answers are always different.

The photograhy case

Today I met with an old friend of mine who recently got in to photography. He has spent money on equipment, joined associations, networked amongst friend but has still yet to print and produce business cards for his business. Why? Because he does not have a website.

To him, some of it is all baffling. Registering the domain name, where to host, who to develop, how to market online, etc.

In his own words, the functions of his website are:

To me, this individual knew exactly what they wanted from their website.

Planning the website

Having a vision and pre-defined goals are a must when creating a new website. This will also help your developer or yourself with staying focused on the objectives of the site and may even save you money over time.

How I dread starting a simple development project then having the plans change half way through the production of the site.

Here are some questions to ask before launching a new website:

  1. Do you want to provide information, influence decisions, generate leads or sell products or services online?
  2. What is the target market? General audience, music lovers, special occassions, niche specific?
  3. What are the goals for the website?
  4. What specific area or geographical location will your site be applicable to?
  5. Is user interaction important? Forums and discussion groups.
  6. If it is a business website, what is your competition doing that you would like to do or what would you like to do better?
  7. Is your site content developed?
  8. Is branding important? Logos and color schemes.
  9. What is the theme of the site?
  10. Will there be a call to action? Having user fill out forms, place orders, collect information.
  11. What would you like the user to be able to do on yoru site?
  12. What will bring the user back to your website in the future?
  13. How often will the site be updated?
  14. Why should someone visit your website?
  15. Will your site link to other sites or will other sites link back to your site?
  16. How would you be found in the search engines?
  17. Who will develop the website or will you develop it yourself?
  18. Who will maintain and update the website?
  19. Will your be displaying streaming media, videos or music on the site?
  20. How large with your website be? 1 page, 5 pages, 100 pages?
  21. What will make your site unique?

… and much more.

Answering all of the above questions may not be necessary for your site, but it may open thoughts to some other items that may have been overlooked.

In my next post, I’ll provide some simple website planning tips to help the creative juices and get thinking about the overall goal and focus of your website.

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