Essentials Before Website Build
The look of your website is critical, and you want it to be fresh, clean, and intuitive for the user. You don't need the skill and ability to design it (after all, that's what web designers do), but you do need to be able to recognize it when you see it. If you have a good sense of graphic design or web design, use it. If you don't, make sure you hire someone who does and can provide examples of previous work. In the competitive business world for services and goods, the initial edge goes to the website that provides the best first impression. Fair or unfair, it's just a fact in 2012.
Aside from the obvious (your website needs to be attractive) it also needs to be clear how to navigate it. You want even the most inexperienced of web users to be able to find information quickly and easily. Likewise, getting cute with the navigation also annoys those who are frequent web users, so there's really no benefit to getting too creative with how people access different areas of your site. A solid user interface allows the important aspects of your website to resonate with your customers, which maximizes the benefits of having a website in the first place.
The final piece of the puzzle is content. You need to decide what information is most important to convey to your customers and prioritize it. Typical examples include the services you offer, a little background on your business, and how customers may best contact you. You also want to coordinate the presentation of the content with an SEO adviser, which will help your existing (and a potentially new) customer base find your content once it's launched. Outside of that, it really depends on the business, so having an idea of what is important will ensure that you are prepared once it's time to propose content to your web development team.
Sure, there are a lot of other details involved in creating a business website, but if you have these three areas pretty well in shape, the odds of a successful web campaign increase exponentially.The look of your website is critical, and you want it to be fresh, clean, and intuitive for the user. You don't need the skill and ability to design it (after all, that´s what web designers do), but you do need to be able to recognize it when you see it. If you have a good sense of graphic design or web design, use it. If you don't, make sure you hire someone who does and can provide examples of previous work. In the competitive business world for services and goods, the initial edge goes to the website that provides the best first impression. Fair or unfair, it's just a fact in 2012.
Aside from the obvious (your website needs to be attractive) it also needs to be clear how to navigate it. You want even the most inexperienced of web users to be able to find information quickly and easily. Likewise, getting cute with the navigation also annoys those who are frequent web users, so there's really no benefit to getting too creative with how people access different areas of your site. A solid user interface allows the important aspects of your website to resonate with your customers, which maximizes the benefits of having a website in the first place.
The final piece of the puzzle is content. You need to decide what information is most important to convey to your customers and prioritize it. Typical examples include the services you offer, a little background on your business, and how customers may best contact you. You also want to coordinate the presentation of the content with an SEO adviser, which will help your existing (and a potentially new) customer base find your content once it's launched. Outside of that, it really depends on the business, so having an idea of what is important will ensure that you are prepared once it's time to propose content to your web development team.
Sure, there are a lot of other details involved in creating a business website, but if you have these three areas pretty well in shape, the odds of a successful web campaign increase exponentially.