Everywhere you look online, the majority of sites are set to ‘default bland’…but why?? If you’ve got something to say, say it in a way that people won’t forget!

But hang on, it’s not all about looks…You’ve got to think about some important things before going public with your site, and we’re here to help you get in the right direction. Either use the links below to jump to a section or just scroll down to get some tips on:

• Website Content
• Identity/Branding
• Market Appeal/Accessibility
• Domain Name (URL) Choice
• Website Hosting

What is the purpose of your website? Is it a news source? A store? A personal home page? A gallery? Identifying the precise nature of your site is the most important step toward creating an effective and beautiful web experience.

Next, think about how you want your website to handle its content: is the news on the first page, or does it have to be navigated to? Do your photos convey their subjects well and get their messages across? Are your products and all their information readily accessible so as not to turn away the buyer? How will all of these elements connect to one another? Will everything be available on every page, or will there be certain areas for specific content?

Before attempting to design a site, assemble all of the content you intend to include, pare it down to the best examples or most essential items, and start to think about how you’d like to organize it. We can help with this, but it makes things run much more smoothly when the client already has an idea of how they want the navigation to flow/how the site should be experienced.

Is your site for a band? Is your site for a store? Is your site for a product that already exists and has a market following?

These are important things to keep in mind, as your identity on the internet is what will keep people coming back to your site. An easily recognizable logo and consistent style help to orient the web user and keep them on your site. Your site will be remembered if its concept is clean, easily parsed, and visually interesting. Visitors will also be more likely to return if your site is appealing and consistent without being overstimulating or confusing, a common trap into which many websites fall.

In addition, a great deal of the more successful websites owe their high traffic to the fact that their layout is not default-template-generated. A custom website that addresses your specific needs and requirements as well as giving your site an unforgettable look is what keeps visitors returning!

Who does your website intend to target? Children? Teens? Adults? Seniors? People of different linguistic backgrounds? People with disabilities? Savvy computer users? Not-so-savvy computer users?

Answering this question can be the deciding factor in how you construct your entire site. Involving a lot of Flash and high graphic content can severely limit the ability of those with older computer systems from visiting your site. Should you have a lo-band area of the site to expand your accessibility if this is the case? What about age-appropriateness? If the site is geared toward adults, flashing images and too much rapid-paced content can alienate and frustrate the viewer. If it’s geared toward children, fun graphics, colors, and interactivity can keep your viewers returning. If it’s for seniors or people with disabilities, text that is too small or content that requires images or sound for its full presentation can limit your audience. If it’s for people who speak different languages, having a page translation button and text links that can be translated rather than graphical links may be the key to attracting the most visitors.

Another issue is ease of navigation. Your visitors need to be able to access key site content in few or no clicks. In today’s fast-paced society, users are easily frustrated when their goal is too difficult and time-consuming to access online. The name of the site, its purpose, what makes it unique or best in its field, and its key services/information must be made immediately clear to the viewer.

These considerations may well be the most important in designing your site, as they dictate the codes, page layouts, and secondary applications that can safely be used without excluding key demographics of your viewership or making navigation too cumbersome.

Many people have a definite name in mind for their site. However, many people do not, or worse, their desired site name may already be in use. Certain alternatives exist, though. Consider a different extension than .com. There are many that may better suit your needs. There are .net, .biz, .gov, .org, and .edu to name a few. If your desired name is in use, you can make a WHOIS search, and attempt to contact the current owners to see if they are willing to sell their domain name. If this doesn’t work, think of rearrangements of the words that describe your business, or if the name of your project is a common word, use the name and a descriptive phrase after it (e.g. “ChosenTheBand.com” or “GoldfishTheMovie.com”).

If your desired domain name is free, consider buying up the same name with a few other popular extensions as well as common misspellings of your site’s name, and pointing them all to your real site. These can come in handy since you won’t lose traffic if your site’s name is hard to remember because of its spelling.

The last and most important thing to consider is: Does my site’s name actually describe its content? A name that doesn’t associate well with what’s on the site will keep people away, since they will remember the content and not the seemingly unrelated name. A name that is to the point, easy to spell, and sounds appealing is a name that will be remembered, which equals a site revisited.

Once all the above questions have been answered, you’re ready to choose a hosting provider. This may seem daunting due to the sheer quantity of hosting companies on the internet today, but there are a few easy ways to narrow down your search for the perfect one for your site.

A. Consider what services you need.

Does your site require database support? Do you need a shopping cart? How media-heavy is your site? Do you need site-based email addresses (yourname@yoursite.com)? How many? Do you need CGI Scripting support for hit counters, newsgroups, or form processing?

B. Assess your budget.

Can you only afford the most basic hosting plan? Are you willing to pay for the year’s worth of hosting up front, or would you like a monthly billing plan? Are you willing to buy a lesser plan and upgrade later, depending on how your site grows?

C. Ask around.

Have you got friends or colleagues with websites? Who do they use for hosting? Are they satisfied with their provider?

D. We’ll help!

If even this is beyond you or your amount of free time, we’ll be happy to figure out the best provider and get your site all set up for you!