Website Development

  I’ve been asked, “How do I design a successful Web site?” I often respond, “Do you know the fastest way to ruin a new Web site design?” As you might suspect, the answer is, “Lack of proper planning beforehand.” Let’s put it another way. In programming, there’s an old axiom, which states: “The sooner you start your coding the longer it takes to finish.” Planning out your Web site before you build it is essential. To borrow a technique from the film industry, I recommend that you create a storyboard, which is a type of a flow chart of your new Website design . You don’t have to be an accomplished artist to draw out your idea, but it’s essential to create it on paper first. On each piece of paper, the goal is to have room for an image at the top, plus space underneath for writing down information. As you might suspect, the first page to start with is your home (or welcome) page, which will typically have the most information as it will contain the page the people vi...

1. Target Audience: (Who buys from you?) Foundations of effective web marketing. Who is it. 'Determining your target audience, their needs, knowledge, level of goals, etc., is the key thing to creating a website that will be effective in e-commerce .   2. Core Message: (What do you really offer to the public?)  Straight from what you want to target, the question is what do you want to say to them. Your key message delivers your value proposition in a clear and compelling way. Your key message is not a mission statement or an executive summary of your strategic plan. Your main message is basically a list of reasons that people do business with you - written from their point of view.    3. Site structure: (it's easy to navigate)   Many websites fall far short of on-line brochures. Visitors are free to click between this page, and do a little reading here. The result is that the site visitor develops very little emotional attachment, and the 'back button' is incre...