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Web Articles |
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Tips for Starting a Web
Design Project
So you need a new website and don’t
know where to start. Or you have a good idea of where to start
but need some motivation to get you started. There's really no
shortlist when it comes to designing a website to cover all angles
of representing your product, service, or message. Even having
years of experience in the web design profession, I find myself
adding newer and better techniques with every new
web project I
do. There's really no end for improvement; with that said, I will
try to provide some essentials and thought that should go into
every web design strategy.
What's Your Website Goals?
Great, you've decided you want a website;
But for what reason? As simple as this question sounds, unless
you know what your goals are first; you may not reach the
maximum results your site is capable of. Planning ahead by written
brainstorming provides a blueprint that will be valuable once the
development phase has begun saving you both time and miscommunication.
A good start to determining your goals is finding answer(s) to
the questions below:
My goal is to:
- Use Online
Marketing to attract potential
visitors
- Sell my products or service online
- Provide a free site and generate
income through advertisement sales
- Provide brochure ware (a simple description,
image, and contact info)
- Brand Awareness
- Promote my job skills, hobbies, and/or
passions
Having a clear and concise outline of your
goals before starting any web design project will help you achieve
the desired outcome.
Identifying Your Target Audience
Developing a website to meet your audience’s
needs and wants plays a very important role because after all,
your visitors are what you’re ultimately there for. Your
target audience may be a certain age group, ethnicity, social body,
business orientation, or simply the general populous. The more
research you do about your potential visitors the better you will
be able to provide technology, functionality, design, and information
that will serve them best.
Get To Know Your Competition
Doing research on your industry competition
whether it is regionally, nationally, or worldwide plays a crucial
role in developing a top-of-your-field website. Knowing what your
competition is doing online and learning how to do it better can
provide the edge you may need to win your visitor over. Researching
competition should never be used to mimic an idea but rather to
capitalize on its weaknesses.
Write It Down On Paper!
All great websites start with good old
fashion paper, or at least they should. Whether it's hand writing
a storyboard, program flow chart, structured diagram, layout sketch,
or even doodle; having something written on paper helps with the
design and development process while saving a huge amount of project
resources in the long run. If you’re like me, you grew up
in the digital age when programs where replacing paper, but nothing
gets the juices flowing better than writing ideas down with pencil
& paper. |
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