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The time has come for you to seriously think about your website.
What's involved anyway? Whether you're ready for a new site or you're
thinking about re-designing your current one, this page will give
discuss 5 key elements of planning for a website.
- Website Plan
- Domain Name
- Website Content
- Design Process
- Web Hosting
1. Website Plan.
When you are ready to get a website, you should write up a website
"business plan" which will help you understand what exactly you want
to do with the internet. It will also give you an opportunity to
formulate questions and thoughts which you can seek answers to. Your
plan should answer questions like:
what am I promoting?
who am I reaching out to?
what do I want from them?
how will I know it works?
top short and long term goals
how much am I willing to spend?
Such a plan can further help you identify potential issues or
alternatives. Sandaleo can work with you to devise a good strategy
that will ensure a smooth ride and help achieve business goals.
To help you along your planning steps, we have created a
Website Planning
Guide (PDF format) which you can download and complete at your
leisure. This document will help you understand the various
components of website planning and it will help us help you better.
2. Domain Name
Besides site content, the website domain name (a.k.a. web address or
URL - uniform resource locator) is the only thing that
differentiates your site from all the sites already online. You may
want name that is as unique to you as possible. Sandaleo can help
you come up with such a name. example: tomshardware.com
A name may be leased for multiples of 1 year through a domain name
registrar like Register.com or
Active-Domain. When your
lease expires, anyone else can purchase the name. To see if your
name is available, search a "whois"
database (Network
Solutions). Contact us with other
Domain Name questions.
3. Website Content
With your website plan in hand, sketch out an organization chart of
the materials you want on the website. List sections and
sub-sections that will be useful and related. For example:
Phones: speaker, cordless, mobile
Dresses: evening, casual, sporty
About Us: history, location, news
Create or obtain all the applicable materials for these sections,
which may include industry facts, customer comments, president's
welcome, services listing, logos, location pictures and staff bios.
Remember, your website content should push the viewers to accomplish
a specific objective which you have designated.
4. Design Process
Most website projects follow the same process. From the first
phone call to the final publication of your website, this process
covers all the steps that must be taken while designing a website.
During the Definition stage of the
design process, you and your designer will both discuss these
website elements.
The steps of this process include Contact, Definition, Design,
Development, Testing, Delivery and Maintenance. During the process,
the website will be designed (custom logos, graphics, pictures and
layout), programmed (HTML pages, custom coding, flash, software
applications), tested and launched.
5. Web Hosting
Your website content will be filed on a computer residing with the
hosting company. Based on its content, your website may require
non-standard features which are more expensive than standard plans.
Some hosts offer control panels to manage files or options.
Hosting plans vary in features and cost which ranges from $10 a
month for basic sites to upwards of $300 for complex setups or fast
access connections. Sandaleo can help you determine the right option
for your current and future needs. Existing websites can be
transferred to other hosting with no down-time.
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