Without understanding the art of website designing, it is not possible to design a proper website. Website is an interface between you and your customers that’s why you should always try to analyze the design of your site from a customer’s prospective to create a striking design. But there is more to it than just looking good. Let’s see how you can design your own website by sharing some general guidelines.
Take a close look at your competitors’ websites
Before you move a step ahead, its better you check out the sites of your competitors. Have a look at the other websites so that you can get an idea about which type of design is currently in demand. Also check out whether anyone is doing the same as that of what you are planning to do or not. It’s better to target a specific demographic rather than targeting all customers, and for that you should start finding a niches that you can target easily. Think for a moment about your audiences and what they will be interested in. This will surely encourage you to move a step ahead.
Brainstorming Ideas
After you have decided with the aim and objective of the site, now you should seriously think about the design. Your sole concern should be to convey your message or to feature your products to audiences properly. One thing that you should keep in mind is people or visitors incline to scan websites looking for something eye-catching. Make sure that the important elements of your site are featured conspicuously.
Technical requirements
Decision regarding the technical requirement of the project should be made as soon as possible. Such decisions will affect the time frame, budget and most importantly the overall scenario of the site. The technical requirements refer to the underlying structure of the site and that will determine the software you should use and which system makes the site work. Options that you can elect from are –
- Basic HTML
- CMS (Content Management System)
- Flash
Write down an outline
Now that you have gathered some ideas, it is better to write it all down in a piece of paper. The outline of your website should include lists of each and every section along with the description of what type of content will be there on each page. It should also describe the features that would be on your site like commenting, social networking functions, videos, user accounts and much more.
Plan your Budget
Decide how much you can spend on the designing part. Now start looking for a web designer in that price range. There are some web design companies that you can contact. If the designers over there are charging you high, you need to raise your budget.
Make sure that the quality of designing should not be low. In most cases the more money you will spend, the better result you will get, eventhough there are exceptions to this rule.
Work with the designer
After you have recruited a designer, start working with him/her. Make him/her understand your expectations and give them a list of what you prefer and what you don’t as well as any specific elements that you want in your site. A good web designer will always help you make your site better by giving feedback and ideas.
Start with giving ideas to your designer about the general look and feel of your website. If you want, make notes about specific colors and font size that you want. Also decide how many pages will be there and prepare the content.
Content is the King
Don’t forget that content is the king of any website. Make the content writers of your company understand what they should actually write on. The home page of the site should have content about the company’s work, employee strength, clients and future prospect. Decide with your designer what should be written in the other pages.
Launch your website
Before you launch your website, it is a great idea to have a marketing strategy. This will help you receive traffic instantly the day you launch your site. You can also post press releases to let everyone know the launch of your site. Get a Mobile Friendly website too. You can also use social networking sites to spread the news of your website launch. Using Google Adwords will also help your site build traffic.
Search Engine Optimization
Though Google Adwords is a great way to promote your site it is very important to optimize or build organic traffic to your site. It is true that Adwords will help you reach at the top of Google but SEO can help you grab the first position without having to pay for that.
These guidelines will surely help you out design your website in a better way. Before you start with any work related to website designing, research is one of the most importantfactors that you should never miss. Hope you design your website well!
Image Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Great post Soudip! You have covered everything! But, everything is easy with WordPress. Easy to install, plugins, no headache!! 🙂
Hi Soudip,
It is actually a lot of work when one is just starting up a blog site or business website. I agree that before getting started, one needs to write an outline, plan their budget and do other basic yet important things such as content writing, SEO, social media exposure, etc. It’s a wise decision if you cannot do all these, you can outsource them so things would be easier for you.
Before starting a business or blog website you must consider several things. First and foremost you should really consider your customers/readers desire. Competition is everywhere especially in Internet world so be more creative to attract more customers and to build up a great and good website.. Thanks for the tips Soudip Paul..!!
This post have been very helpful because I’m a newbie internet marketer and need all the help I can get for success