How
to Get a Website That Works for You
So you want a Website for your business or organisation? Here are several tips
on what to think about before approaching a company,
to ensure you end up with a Website that really serves your
needs effectively....
What is your business/ organisation really
about?
Briefly summarise your organisation’s profile:
- Mission, values, etc
- Services and/ or products
- Main target markets – age, sub-culture, ethnicity, social profile,
etc
- Related organisations – competitors, partners, and their website addresses
What will be the main purposes for
your website?
Identify the required functions of
your website, and prioritise these, e.g.
- Inform
-provide
useful articles, blogs, media releases, reports,
newsletters, etc
- Sell products or services
-provide
product catalogues, facility for online purchase,
etc
- Facilitate community interaction
-staff
intranet, forums, etc
- Facilitate events or
activities
-field
enquiries, process applications or bookings,
etc
Measures of success?
What outcomes will mean success of your website? e.g.
- Sales
- Customer enquiries
- Email subscriptions
- Bookings or reservations
- Incoming traffic (hits)
- Search engine ranking
How to convince customers to buy
How are you going to persuade people to buy your products or use
the facilities on your website? Consider the following:
- What are the key benefits that
your products or services bring to your customers?
- What are your unique selling
propositions?
i.e. what key customer benefits
can you offer that other companies can't?
- How will you
establish trust and credibility?
e.g.
photos, customer testimonials, guarantees, qualifications...etc
- What
fears or objections might potential customers
have buying your products online...and how will
you answer these?
What design style?
Do you have any thoughts on a suitable design style for your Website that will
appeal to your customers...think beyond your own personal
preferences...
- Do you want to use your existing
branding, e.g. business card, letterhead, or brochures?
Or do you want a partial or totally
new look?
- What colours do you want, for
foreground, background, text?
- What other Websites do you like and what features do you like in them? e.g.
simple, centre-aligned, strong colours, dark background,
subtle features like colour gradients, certain shaped
buttons... there are so many variables you can choose
Information architecture
How would you like your Website information to be structured...what menu sections
might you need, e.g. Home page, About Us, Contact Us,
Products, Policies, etc?
How to get people to your Website
How do you intend to raise the profile of your Website and attract people...
- Include your Website address
on business cards and brochures?
- Links from online directories such as Yellow Pages?
- Links from affiliated business Websites?
- Links from your own or others’ email newsletters or articles?
- Optimisation of your Website text for search engines, such as Google, or paid
listings or adverts?
All ready to go...
Once you have answers to these questions, you’ll have the foundations ready
for an effective Website to be built on…one that truly
serves your organisation’s purposes.
You can also read about what to look for in effective text and graphic content in a website.
Look at what Spectra-Media can offer you...
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