When you decide to make a major purchase, there are likely many questions you ask. These questions help you determine the best course of action to take. The same goes for creating a website, as there are a list of questions you have to ask first. The list is provided below to make it easy for you to find all of the answers you need.
What is this page for? Is it to be used for your business, your hobby or just to promote yourself? Commercial websites will have different considerations than those used only for private reasons. If you want to have a personal and a commercial site, split them up so it doesn’t confuse your visitors. If your hobby happens to also be your career, then you can pair them together, but be sure to stay professional in all the content you post.
How do you think visitors will check out your site? Will it be on a desktop, laptop, tablet or cell phone? A cell phone screen is small and only uses certain technologies to display websites, while a desktop monitor allows you greater space and greater flexibility with your code. Consider who your target market is and, at worst, design separate sites for all the devices they may be using.
How frequently can you update the content? People want to return to your site to find something fresh, new and interesting. The best way to provide it would be through a blog or social media accounts, if you want it to be quick and easy. If your site is full of articles, you’ll have to continually right new content. If you have a store, new products, sales, or clearance events can keep people coming back for more.
So, how will you make money on your website? Will you sell a product? Offer a service? Use ads to bring in income? Unless your site is personal, it is likely that you want to make money from it. Honestly, most personal sites make money off ads too! Hosting isn’t cheap, so bringing in some money can help to offset your costs. Consider how you will do this before you begin to design the site.
How will you get visitors to your site? You can’t just build it and expect people to come. First, learn about search engine optimization as it can be the key to getting you the search engine ranking you desire. Next, consider whether you want to market your site online, which is especially important if you are selling anything, product or service. Will you market through social media? Banner ads? Text messages? A newsletter? There are many options available to you today.
Now that you have a long list of answers, you can use them as you begin to plan out your site. Having these answers up front makes the design process quick and easy. Be sure to ask yourself any other questions you may come up with as well so that you can use every bit of knowledge you have to create the best website you can.
