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Ten
Questions Before Taking Your Business Online
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1
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What
is the goal of your site?
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The
purpose for being online and your desired outcome need to be clear for
a twofold reason: to create the mechanics necessary to achieve your goal
and to gauge the success of the site. What is your competition doing?
How are you different?
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2
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Who
is your target audience? |
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The
more specific the target audience the greater the focus of the site. Know
gender, age, education and interests. This will help to determine the style
and approach to the site. |
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3
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What
is your deadline? |
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Do
you have the budget and resources necessary to meet this deadline? Depending
on the complexity of the site and the response to the first two questions,
a realistic launch date can help achieve more positive results. |
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4
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Do
you have pre-existing materials for use as graphics, photos and copywriting?
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Should your site
need artwork, photographs and written copy, this impacts the launch date.
Content is everything and it's time intensive. Even pre-existing
materials will need to be reformatted for the web. Online web writing
needs to be "chunked" into readable bits. Do you hold the copyright
to these materials? Photographs and artwork need to be "'web-ready",
i.e. digital and small in file size. Is there a corporate style manual
determining colors, size and placement of logos and other layout details?
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5
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How will your target audience connect to this site? |
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Will
your audience be using the fastest microprocessors and the latest browsers?
Are they at a business or home computer when they access the site? What
is the speed of this access? T-1, DSL, 56K modem or slower? |
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6
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How
much interactivity will meet your goals? |
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This varies depending
on your goal and at very least should include an e-mail contact. Other
interactivity includes forms, shopping carts, games, auto-mailers, animations
and database driven applications.
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7
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Have
you selected a host for the site? |
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Do
they provide the necessary security? Who owns the domain name should you
change hosts? If you are planning to host your own site who is the server
administrator or your "tech" person? |
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8
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Who
will maintain the site? |
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Is
this site targeting repeat visits? How often will your information need
to be updated? Have you budgeted the time and money necessary for updates?
Will this person be responsible for all e-mail correspondence? Fill orders?
Handle complaints? Generate Leads? Will he or she need training? |
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9
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Will
additional programmers be necessary? |
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What
is the projected deadline for the database or other complex program? Larger
corporate databases are a specialization beyond the scope of web design.
However, a good designer will work with the programmer to create the interface
of the database. Designers should be able to code HTML by hand, JavaScript,
CSS with a knowledge of emerging standards like XML. |
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10
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What is your web strategy for the year? |
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The structure of your site is dependent on your strategy. With a long-term
vision, a site can be created that scales without the need to rehaul your
previous efforts. Part of your strategy should include several methods for
promoting the visibility of your site. Create a two year plan. |
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