What do you do?
What your company does will inform the look and feel of your website as well as the types of functions required. For example:
-Entertainment MP3 downloads, embedded video, vivid design
-Services prominent portfolio, clear content, simple navigation
-Hospitality powerful search functions, multilingual options
-Software downloads online payments, software delivery mechanisms
-Products for shipping quick, secure payment processing, easy content management
-Financial services stable, bulletproof security functions
-Social networking online profiles, forums, Facebook integration
Of course, every business has unique needs. But working from these general start points can help you decide on your site's direction.
What do your users want?
Simple question but one often ignored. In many cases, what you want isn't necessarily what a user wants. Check out some of the most popular sites in your sector. What do they offer their users in terms of functionality? What don't they offer that you could?
Creating a smooth, enjoyable online experience for your customers can pay dividends. And it's usually far better to create a user-friendly interface than to throw in every gimmick possible.
Map out your goals
Having clear business goals for your website can help ensure that you focus on what's most important and strip out unnecessary activities. For example, your goal could be one or more of the following:
-To spread your brand name through social networks
-To increase downloads/sales by X%
-To clearly explain complicated and high end services/products
-To get people to subscribe to email newsletters or paid forums
Each requires a different strategy and a different type of design. Knowing what your goal is enables every aspect of the user journey to be considered with the aim in mind.
Consider SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It's the science and art of getting higher positions in search engine results. You have a better chance of ranking highly if you consider SEO at the design and development stage.
However, this doesn't just mean mean finding relevant keywords and stuffing them into your web pages.
More importantly, it means considering ways to create useful content, or build user-generated material into your site. This helps attract links and appeal to the search engines who will find lots of information to index. It may also mean developing a unique downloadable application that draws visitors to your site.
Hire the right design team
Choosing the right web design team for the job can be difficult. The key is to look for an experienced, business-focused
web design company. Crucially, they shouldn't just be good at the creative things. They need to be able to build reliable, bespoke applications and websites using an in-house development team. The best agencies will spend a lot of time getting to know your business and your goals for the website before starting any design work.
