July 01, 2005
So you want to build a website
This is the first in a series of entries on how to plan your website. Whether you are starting from scratch or rebuilding an existing site, I hope this will help you understand how with careful planning you can build a site that serves the needs of your target audience.
Now that you've decided to make a site, you are probably thinking about colors, html and menus, etc. But just as one doesn't hit the ball in one's first tennis lesson, one doesn't start a website by jumping into the code.
Instead, the first question you should ask yourself is: WHY?
Why do you need the site?
Initial responses to this question often include things like:
- My boss said we need a site and she put me in charge because I'm good with computers.
- I want to learn HTML.
- I have 50 cute pictures of Rottweilers that I want to share with the world.
While those may be true, they're not the real reason you need to build the site. The real reason involves your goals. (If your goal is to learn HTML, then pick a topic with which you are familiar, and pick your goals accordingly. I'd recommend something with a narrow focus such as the wonderful things you can do with capers as opposed to the history of nanotechnology.)
What are your real goals?
Here at Case I find that goals tend to involve the distribution of basic information, dissemination of knowledge, and a marketing call to action.
Basic information usually includes the location of your office, hours you are available, a directory of staff and faculty in the department, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc.
Dissemination of knowledge involves the sharing of more in-depth information. Examples would include a biography of Bertolt Brecht, a tutorial on the double helix, your grandmother's compendium of apple pie recipes, information on configuring your e-mail program, or reviews of B Movies featuring creatures from other planets complete with cast lists, photos and the names of the costumers.
Marketing (for our purposes) means a call to action. What do you want people to do as a result of visiting your website? Examples might be:
- Apply for admission to your program.
- Attend events such as your gaming/pizzafest marathon.
- Donate money to a memorial scholarship fund.
- Read Chapters 12-15 before Tuesday's class.
- Participate in your research project.
Almost all of you will have one or more marketing goals.
So let's say you're the one with the 50 pictures of cute Rotties. What are your real reasons for building the site? Do you just want to share your photos with other Rottweiler fans? Do you want people to hire you to take pictures of their dogs? Do you want to educate the public about Rottweilers and dispel myths about their viciousness? Do you want to provide information about the care and training of Rottweilers so that their owners will treat them with the respect and affection they may need? All of the above? Something else?
Think carefully about this. When you have a clear idea of your goals we can go onto the next steps: Understanding your target audience and choosing the content you need to support your goals.
Happy July 4th!
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Posted by: Heidi Cool July 1, 2005 02:20 PM | Category: How-to , Planning Your Website , Planning Your Website , Tips and Tricks
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Posted by: hac4 (Heidi Cool) July 1, 2005 02:20 PM | Comments (55) | Trackback
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http://www.case.edu/univrel/marcomm/
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Comments
You might want to consider posting this on the Case Wiki somewhere. The information is really helpful and putting it on the wiki will help with increasing its search results ranking.
Heidi, I would like to explore the possibility of a web site for the purpose of distributing a copyrighted book I have written on "A History of the Role General Electric Played in the Development of Numerical Control for Machine Tools." It was requested by, and will be archived at, the Smithsonian in DC. It runs over 300 pgs and would be best copied to a CD for later printing. I have absolutely no knowledge or capability in this area; nor do I know the costs of such. Therefore,this is an exploratoy inquiry at the moment. Is such a possibility for an alumnus? -- Dick
Please do not set the color css property, and then not set the background-color css property. The w3c validator should catch this, but to see it for yourself, change the default text colors to white on black in your browser and then look at this page. Or login.case.edu.
Also, I noticed that your blog template is not as bad as the one that I used in the past, I.E. it is not table-based. Is this template the new default one for the university?
Thanks Chris,
I though I'd included that in the stylesheet, but apparently I'd left it out. I've since added it.
I've been tinkering with the tableless (mostly) templates for awhile, but we've not officially released them yet. I think what we might do is offer an updated version of the old ones, as well as this new version. http://www.case.edu/univrel/marcomm/ offers another example of the new version in use, but on a regular Web site. This will give users of different skill levels more of a choice.
Do you know where I can find examples of website blueprints? I'm doing a project and need to find a good one to model after. My project is a startup e-commerce web based e-business, any good blueprints for this sort of planning would be great,
Thanks,
Dave.
Thanks,
that tutorial is very usefull,
for more informatin about html,css.. look here:
www.w3schools.com/html
Great insight into why you want a website, enjoyable read.
Its really nice to read complete blog. and i found that information in this blog is good for who want to have basic site design.
I like your posts, Heidi, as they are always interesting and helpful. Thanks!
Heidi.its good help for new students
Very extensive article covering the basic planning aspects of a website
Great article outlining website planning but it could be updated to include basic SEO considerations such as keyword research and domain considerations
I wrote about raising your Web site rankings last February. When it comes to keywords I think it is most important to keep them in proper context. Search Engine Optimization is important, but quality content will still win out.
marketing is the the hard part of the game, though you have created a site but no one is watching it, then creating a site is useless. Marketing makes the site important
While marketing can be tricky, it is the content that makes the site important. If you provide informative content that serves the needs of your visitors, word will spread.
If your content is weak, then all of the marketing in the world won't help. You might get them to the site, but they won't stick around and they won't return.
Great post. However, the reality is different. Instead letting businesses to their product and sales, business development grants will be given to build a website? Are those Web Designers and SEO's really so out of work, that they have made deals to use public money? I wrote an article Website desing, business cards, SEO and stupidity about the topic. Meaningless stupidity.
Well, as we go on, we find that building websites are not as complicated as they were 3 years ago. And, more people build websites just for the sake of building one. Usually, plans change as time passes and we suddenly find that websites evolve, and sometimes leading to a whole concept and plan. A "why did I build this website? and how come I'm shifting topic after all the time I've put into building my website?" question. But, it still follow the basics of how anyone approaches building a website. You touched upon great points.
As an affiliate marketer, I don't build websites untill I have reasearched some products with high converson rates, then I build a website having these products in mind, and the most important factor when building a website is SEO. Because lets face it, without traffic there's no use of the website, and SEO brings traffic, mostly organic.
If you could please write something about SEO, specifically the SEO factors that determine ranking, and I know they are defferent from search engine to another, but most of them have got to be common. I know this topic is very broad and complicated, but I hope that you atleast shed some light on it to get your readers started :)
I have already touched upon link building in my blog: http://linkscampaign.com
I have only scratched the surface, and I'm hoping to go deeper and learn more during the process.
Great post Heidi keep coming.
Hi Heidi your post is really interesting and useful.Keep posting.
A couple of people have mentioned how to implement SEO on websites. I'd like to touch on the subject and hope i dont digress from teh main topic.
As far as my experience goes, SEO is not really a great mystery; if you get the basics right, your website will start ranking well. So what are the basics? I'll see if i can think of the most important, which are:
1.Good css based website, without tables or flash or java...
2. website code and css validated to w3c
3. Well written UNIQUE and fresh content on every page - DO NOT copy other sites
3. correct use of your keywords within your tags (header, meta, title..)
4. Having a site map for search engines to navigate through your website
5. Continuously adding new content
6. Getting incoming links to your website
If you can do teh above well, you will rank well. Its a method i tried and tested and got ranked above 200 million others just by using teh basics.
Good luck
Even as old as this article is, the information is very relevant, especially the part about WHY.
There are too many websites out there with no call to action, and educating site owners is a hard task.
And Joel? You're dead on correct...
Thanks for this quick tutorial I think it will help me and Reddinet!
thanks for this useful blog, i hope you will be doing more similar posts in the future?
the best way to start learning is to use dreamweaver and use the graphical interface to show you what the equivalent html is
Yes dreamweaver is the only way i think i learned a lot about html by using it although it does get it wrong sometimes but a good tool never-the-less
Dreamweaver is a great tool, but it really helps to learn HTML. If you rely too much on the WYSIWYG editor you may miss out on the nuances of the code as well as create bloated files that have extra code you don't need.
Yes dreamweaver is the only way i think i learned a lot about html by using it although it does get it wrong sometimes but a good tool never-the-less
for information my favorite html editor is dreamweaver but css editor is ms frontpage
I've used a number of different tools/programs in the past to enable me to build good quality websites, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses.
But I have to say that Dreamweaver cuts the mustard above anything I've ever used. To me, it is the industry standard, and always will be.
I'm also keeping my eye on a new product called Site Rubix. Apparently, it enables you to construct a website from within a drag and drop enviroment, without any html knowledge.
Possibly not suitable for those that have advanced HTML knowledge, but it's interesting to see how things evolve online, if it proves to be as promising as it suggests, it should be very interesting.
The basic principles enumerated here are timeless. But the advent of Web 2.0 (and related ideas) dictate that a web designer consider elements of interactivity and participation. This is no longer about comments and forums.
I think the above are useful comments when considering building a site it is important to ask your self why and the goals of the website, both long and short term. By not doin this I have got myself trapped in a situation where over time I have has to redesign my own website at lest four times! Had I taken the time to plan everything from day one I would have saved a lot of time
I agree that it's important to think carefully about what the underlying reason is for a website, the dogs example fits the bill perfectly :)
Nice article
I teach web design at a University here in Minneapolis and this is very good information!
I have a webdesign firm in Livepool this is great info
So, 3 years later, people still keep finding all these principles alive. Is technology progressing at all? :)
I like your post. The Web is filled with junk info and if people in general put a little more thought into why they should even have a site in the first place things would probably be alot different.
As someone who has built plenty of sites through the years, however, I actually think the most important part of the formula for creating a useful site is passion. A lot of hard work goes into building a site worthwhile of other peoples attention - to keep plugging at it you need to be motivated in a way that only passion can produce.
I like your posts very much! They are always helpful. Thanks!
Great post Heidi ! bookmarked :)
Excellent post. All people starting out in Web design should read and re-read this and let it soak in.
This should probably be renamed the ever eternal truths about web site building or something that has a religious connotation to it :) just kidding. But it is good to see a sensible list that is evergreen
nice site and very nice read. thanks for the interesting 30 minutes it took to scan and read.
How about updating this info to include the much-hyped web 2.0 style?
I think the above are useful comments when considering building a site it is important to ask your self why and the goals of the website, both long and short term. By not doin this I have got myself trapped in a situation where over time I have has to redesign my own website at lest four times! Had I taken the time to plan everything from day one I would have saved a lot of time
great post.thanks for informations.
I agree that social networks are going to play a huge role in business development
strategies moving forward. There are new technologies and marketing media already
associated with these sites, especially facebook, that marketers are finding useful.
I don’t think we can really fully grasp the scope of how these website communities
will adapt in the future, but it is clear that the business world needs to pay attention
to the trends. It is important not to get left behind when it comes to online marketing...
Really nice post, thanks.
Great article thanks for sharing. I must agree to a comment reality is different ;-)
nice site and very nice read. thanks for the interesting 30 minutes it took to scan and read.
I teach web design at a University here in Minneapolis and this is very good information!
the best way to start learning is to use dreamweaver and use the graphical interface to show you what the equivalent html is
I am an assistant professor in multimedia, web design in India. Really it is a very great discussion.
The plans necessary in building a website can be quite complex depending upon what the site is about, this a great resource that can help anyone who is building or thinking about building a site, there are so many factors to consider today when designing sites that it can take quite a while before a good design is decided upon.
This is excellent info, I am web designer, I always suggest to plan carefully and you get what you want.
Great post