Website design is an extensive process. There will be several rounds of consultations, drafts and reviews, redesigning and subsequent follow-ups before we arrive at a design that is befitting your business. Most graphic designers and website development companies tend to focus too much on cost, the details of various features you want and that is more so because of the impact on cost and not primarily for your benefit, the add-ons you may need and what it would actually take for the upkeep of the website. The cost is obviously a major factor, so is the type of website you want and the various features that would be necessary for your business to be presented well to the virtual audience. However, there are some more pertinent issues that require attention before we delve into the various obvious factors.
What is the Purpose of your Website?
One of the first things we need to know before designing your website is the actual purpose. A website can be multipurpose, but there is one primary objective of every business. Your website may strictly be for an official online presence, mainly for branding. The website could be a medium to share valuable information with your audience. The website may be an online store, designed to supplement your traditional retail sales. The website may be your only store, as is the case for many ecommerce businesses. Your ecommerce site may not be a single brand or specialty store. It can be a marketplace, such as Amazon and eBay among others. This purpose will determine the overall design and hence the approach we must adopt. Nothing is more important than this purpose. Even if there are multiple purposes, the most important objective will be the decisive factor.
Who is your Target Audience?
The second most important thing is the target audience. Your website may target businesses or consumers. The two are distinctly different worlds and hence demand very different designs. The target audience could be professionals, homemakers, senior citizens, teenagers, specific demographics or the whole country as one single market. Every element of website design needs to be worked on bearing in mind the preferences of the target audience. Men and women don’t have similar preferences, adults and kids have different sensibilities, senior citizens and entrepreneurs have different tastes. Quality websites impress the target audience with a personalized user experience.
What’s the big deal about Optimization?
The third thing is the quintessential optimization. Every website needs to be optimized for search engines. The design process for many web designers is to develop the website and then start to work on search engine optimization (SEO). This approach is not ideal as optimization is not restricted to the webpage contents. It is not just textual optimization that would have the desired impact anymore. An entire website needs to be optimized, right from the manner in which every webpage is named to the link wheels in place within and beyond the website. For a high quality website, such optimization needs to be worked on right from the start, when the website design itself is in its earliest drafts.
How much Traffic do you Expect?
We need to know the kind of traffic you expect or would like to entertain. This may not seem to be an obvious factor to consider right at the outset, but most websites crumble under the pressure of enormous traffic. It is not just the server and the bandwidth that must be able to withstand the traffic. The website design should facilitate easy browsing, quick load times and responsive features regardless of how many people are accessing the pages at the same time. It is better to design a website that stands the test of time rather than trying to catch up with the demands as they change and put an onus on the virtual infrastructure.
Integral Services for your web page
Finally, we need to know all the additional, but integral services that you would need. For instance, you may need new contents to be uploaded on the site every week. There may be a blog, a knowledge base, content management system, forum or online community. You would need social media integration, probably feeds and definitely calls to action. You may need embedded videos and you may want to host webinars within the website. There can be innumerable additional features on your website and not all of them will fall under the standard website designing services. It is always better to understand the full scope of a project before setting the ball in motion.
UNIFY marketing & technology solutions in the area of Toledo Ohio builds websites for small business and their target consumers. We would love to have a conversation with you about how we can design, develop and optimize a site for your business that will be sure to bring in new leads and a greater audience. Contact us now!
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