marketer_5000
New Member
Hi all,
I wanted to spend some time to write up a propper post about planning a website design project. I'll continue to add to this post and make it more useful to this site's members over time. As I pickup new tricks, I'll continue to ad them here.
I get clients all the time that ask me how the process goes, so I thought I'd post how we personally recommend doing it. Yes, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but this is a tried and proven system that works for us. And of course, with each client, we learn something new too - sharing the knowledge is what it is all about!
1.) Start by asking yourself some basic questions. Here are a few I always recommend be well thought through.
- What do you want to achieve with your website?
- Who will be visiting your website?
- What is your intended target market?
- Will you be selling a product?
- Will you be looking to maintain this yourself or have a firm do the maintenance?
- How will you get people to find your website? Will you be doing the SEO yourself or having a firm do it?
- What is your budget?
This is just a starter list of questions you should be thinking about before you even begin the "due diligence" phase.
2.) Due Diligence Phase - This is where you begin to identify some of the following:
- Companies that can build your site and or tools you can use to do it yourself.
- Best practices, latest technologies and trends you might want to adopt when building your website.
- Community Support and Information (like this one) - having a helpful group of experienced professionals to help guide you can save you a tone of time and money! Leverage great sites like this one.
3.) Planning Phase
- Don't under estimate the importance of properly planning your website design project. This step can make all the difference in how it's done, and how successful you will be.
- I use MS Project for all projects big and small, but if you don't have this software, don't fret - there are plenty of free-wares online that will help you timeline out milestones and major project tasks, resources, etc. Planning helps you roadmap the project, and stay organized and on track.
- Make sure whomever you work with is on the same project plan as you! Far too often I see the communications break down and this can cause huge issues.
- There is a process to follow when building a site; certain things have to happen in a logical progression (more on that later). For example: Don't begin your SEO efforts until your site's content is well dialed in! Consider all the steps before you begin, and get them on your plan.
4.) Production Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
5.) Testing Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
6.) Promotion Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
7.) Maintenance Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
I wanted to spend some time to write up a propper post about planning a website design project. I'll continue to add to this post and make it more useful to this site's members over time. As I pickup new tricks, I'll continue to ad them here.
I get clients all the time that ask me how the process goes, so I thought I'd post how we personally recommend doing it. Yes, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but this is a tried and proven system that works for us. And of course, with each client, we learn something new too - sharing the knowledge is what it is all about!
1.) Start by asking yourself some basic questions. Here are a few I always recommend be well thought through.
- What do you want to achieve with your website?
- Who will be visiting your website?
- What is your intended target market?
- Will you be selling a product?
- Will you be looking to maintain this yourself or have a firm do the maintenance?
- How will you get people to find your website? Will you be doing the SEO yourself or having a firm do it?
- What is your budget?
This is just a starter list of questions you should be thinking about before you even begin the "due diligence" phase.
2.) Due Diligence Phase - This is where you begin to identify some of the following:
- Companies that can build your site and or tools you can use to do it yourself.
- Best practices, latest technologies and trends you might want to adopt when building your website.
- Community Support and Information (like this one) - having a helpful group of experienced professionals to help guide you can save you a tone of time and money! Leverage great sites like this one.
3.) Planning Phase
- Don't under estimate the importance of properly planning your website design project. This step can make all the difference in how it's done, and how successful you will be.
- I use MS Project for all projects big and small, but if you don't have this software, don't fret - there are plenty of free-wares online that will help you timeline out milestones and major project tasks, resources, etc. Planning helps you roadmap the project, and stay organized and on track.
- Make sure whomever you work with is on the same project plan as you! Far too often I see the communications break down and this can cause huge issues.
- There is a process to follow when building a site; certain things have to happen in a logical progression (more on that later). For example: Don't begin your SEO efforts until your site's content is well dialed in!
Consider all the steps before you begin, and get them on your plan.4.) Production Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
5.) Testing Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
6.) Promotion Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
7.) Maintenance Phase (Details coming soon! Stay tuned...
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