Design Decisions Your Business Will Need to Make
1. Determine Your Website’s Chief Purpose
· Build your brand
· Provide product information to drive local sales
· Sell advertising
· Sell products or services directly over the Internet.
· Earn affiliate commissions for sales and leads
· Provide customer service and support
· Save money by means of online efficiencies
2. Decide Whether to Outsource or Do It Yourself
· HTML savvy
· Graphic design, color experience and good artistic taste
· Website navigation design and implementation.
· CGI and database programming.
· JavaScript and Flash programming
· Marketing and business experience
3. Divide Your Website into Logical Sections
4. Develop a Site Navigation System
· Left-side menu
· Tabs near the top of the webpage
· Search the site or the product database
· 10 most common gifts, etc.
· View today’s specials
· Bottom links
· Site map
5. Give Your Website an Attractive ‘Look and Feel’
· clean and understated
· colored cells of HTML tables
· Graphics are few.
· left-side menu is text
· navigation system consists
· Photographs contribute to the classy, professional look
6. Build Basic Webpage Templates
· top.ssi — inserts the masthead graphic, a banner ad, and some of the “tabs” navigation system at the top of the page. This is a separate file, called “top.ssi” that is inserted at the top.
· menu.ssi — inserts the complex left-side menu plus a database search feature.
· bottom.ssi — inserts a subscription form for my newsletter, plus more navigation links, copyright and trademark information.
· right.ssi — inserts cover shots of my books, plus links to purchase my e-books and affiliate links to products and services in the field of web marketing and e-commerce.
7. Construct Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly
a. Make each webpage a search engine siren
· Title
· Meta tags
· Headlines
· Body text
· Hyperlink text and filenames
b. Search engine savvy navigation systems
· Frames
· JavaScript and Flash
8. Write and Fine-tune Focused Content Pages
One of the keys to generating search engine traffic is to get your site into the top 5 or 10 positions on the search engines for the keywords and keyphrases that matter to your business. It’s often hard to get your home page to score high for specific keywords or keyphrases, since it is the most general entrance to your entire website content. Your best strategy is to write a series of focused content pages, each of which features a particular topic and keyword or keyphrase. These pages aren’t general, but very specific.
9. Incorporate Customer Communication Systems
Websites are two-way, interactive communication systems. You communicate your company’s marketing message to potential customers and make it easy for them to reciprocate by communicating with you. The better the communication, the more trust increases, and customers feel comfortable to do business with you.
There are other ways you can make it easy for customers to communicate with you. These include:
· Instant text chat systems
· Instant Messaging (IM) systems
10. Create and Test Effective Sales Pages
· Set up an ordering system (e-commerce capability)
· Create a landing page
· Boost sales on your landing page by testing
11. Conduct Usability Trials and Incorporate Changes
We’ve almost finished our survey of 12 Website Design Decisions. But before you quit, you need to test your site thoroughly. All newly constructed websites contain unseen glitches — especially those created by inexperienced developers.
12. Plan to Maintain Your Site for the Long Haul
· Changing the content of existing information, such as upcoming events, new industry directions, new personnel, etc. Life isn’t static. Websites shouldn’t be either.
· Adding new webpages, such as archiving copies of your newsletters, adding new products and services.
· Changing the content of your home page so your site looks active and up-to-date.
Please come to iFoundries, we will provide effective web site and solution for you.
Resource from:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/12design.htm
