This post describes how Marketing Personnel should approach website creation/ design/ development.
These are some easy to execute steps, with references to various sources I use for inspiration, ideas, as well as guidance.
Step I: Research, research, research
One of the most critical but oft neglected steps. Even before you begin creating your website, try researching about topics like :
- Content:
- Website writing is the exact opposite of book writing
- Write the conclusion, and then move into the explanation
- Try reading statistics on average time spent on a page. Two minutes is pushing it on many sites
- Research reading heat maps
- SEO
- Learn
- Try learning a bit of HTML and CSS
- Learn about Google Bots and other search bots
- Get to know how pages get indexed
- Read this cheatsheet
- Design
- Read about
- Navigability
- User interfaces
- Clicks and how to maximize them
- Customer click studies
- Typography
- Color palettes
- Sitemap: Design, importance and how to make them
Step II: Customer research
So you’ve read up all about how to create a website, but do you know who the customer is. Some questions I ask myself are:
- Who am I marketing to?
- What type of business am I trying to market? B2B, B2C, B2A etc.
- What makes the sale?
- Ask your sales team for this information
- If you have a site existent then you can get a few tips off it
Oh, BTW, if you are creating a website for a social cause or for a non-profit organization, I suggest you read this
Step III: What should I use to build it
- Identify if you want control over the site content or not!!?
- If you do, then the choice is a CMS, like Joomla, Drupal, DotNetNuke etc.
- If not, get hold of a really good website designer
- Check her/him for: Design skills, platforms skills and web design knowledge (Basically you need to know more than him thus)
Step IV: What are the elements?
Image from : apple.com
- Identify your website elements like
- Frontpage: Key and very important
- Inner pages
- How many to create?
- What will their design be like?
- Photos and Images: What, which and how to use
- Navigation
- About Us page: Believe it or not, most customers want to know your company first. Unless you are a fortune 20 company
- Contact Us information
- Search box
- Where will it be located?
- Check out good sites for search box functionality. Apple has a great option
- Footer design
- Error Pages
Step V: Action stations!
Image Courtesy: thelostjacket.com
- Critical step of all: Identify Call-to-action
- What will they be? Will it be
- Email us
- Contact Us
- Contact forms
- Download collateral
- Product download: registration
- Share options
- Chat with us
- Offline support
- Where will they be located?
- What, if any, action button on Frontpage?
- What actions to place on which pages?
- What location? Right hand side, left hand side, top menu
Step VI: Wire it out
- Create a wire frame diagram of your website for ( I use this)
- Frontpage
- Inner pages
- Helps you get a clearer picture of the layout
Step VII: Approval, dummy!
- Very critical
- Send the wireframe, design ideas and all other stuff to your management for review
- If you don't then you might have to redo it!