Backwater OnLine specializes in
providing affordable, effective websites to small businesses and organizations!
For your custom quote email us!
Site Development
Making the decision to go online can do wonders for your business - if your site is designed properly, or for your designer's - if there are a lot of redos. Taking the time to do a little preparation can save you time and money. No matter who designs your site, whether it is you or someone else, follow these steps and you will save yourself a lot of grief!
- 1. Plan your site's purpose
- Information? E-commerce?
- Who is your target market?
- What keywords will your target market use to search for your site? (3 to 5)
- Define the purpose of each section of your site.
- What keywords will your target market use to search for each section?
- Ask yourself: What specifically do I want this site to accomplish? Where does it fit into my business plan?
- 2. Domain Name
- Should be easy to remember, fit onto a business card
- may want to use 2 of your most important keywords
- Ask yourself: Will my target market remember this?
- 3. Design Appeal
- The most effective websites focus on:
- a. Load Time: Have you ever clicked onto a site that took too long to load? What did you do? Your e-visitors will do the same thing!
- b. Targeted Information: This ties purpose and target market - most importantly, KEEP IT CURRENT!
- c. Searchability: 92% of people on the web search, not surf. The internet's appeal is its time saving - ensure you're found and that your visitors can find what they are looking for within your site once they are there. This includes an internal search function and that your navigation system is simple and easy to follow.
- d. Visual Appeal: This is your photos, graphics, logo, background, special touches...the most effective sites find the balance between appealing and functional.
- Ask yourself: Which sites do I like and why? Which sites don't I like and why?
- 4. Content
- This is dictated by the purpose of your site i.e.: information = current, on-point information; e-commerce = products, prices, method of payment and delivery.
- Ask yourself: What is my target market coming to my site for? How do I deliver this in the most effective way?
- 5. Forms
- or other methods of gathering customers' responses, questions and feedback
- Ask yourself: What information do I want to collect from my visitors? What is the most effective way to gather it? How do I respond in a timely manner (BIG pet peeve: not getting a response from an email. This can be the biggest cost of having a web site)
- 6. Uploading and Testing
- Once your site is online, several FREE services exist to allow you to test your site's technical correctness. This includes: meta tags, broken links, spelling/grammar (another pet peeve).
- 7. Registering and Advertising
- "...if you build it, they will come"...NOT true with the internet. Yours will be one of millions of sites - how will they find you? Once the preceding 6 steps are maximized, your site needs to submitted to search engines and directories. Again, there are services that will do this for you, but if cost is a factor, this can price it out of the ballpark.
- Put your url on absolutely everything. Traditional advertising still accounts for a huge portion of internet traffic.
- 8. Track, Analyze and Reassess, Maintain
- a. Track: What you track really depends on the purpose of your site and what justification you need for the time and effort. Again, several FREE services exist to help with this.
- b. Analyze: Look at the results and determine a plan of action to correct what is wrong and capitalize on the most popular areas of your site.
- c. Reassess: The dynamic nature of the internet dictates a dynamic nature for successful sites. Using the information gathered, change to meet the needs of your e-visitor (always keeping your purpose in mind)
- d. Maintain: K.I.C.S. (Keep It Current S.....)
