7 steps of Website planning

Content

1. A goal for your website
2. Target audience
3. A unique sales offer
4. Domain and hosting
5. Ways to create a website
6. The process of creating a website
7. Conclusion

In today's society, it is important to have a website. Whether you're a novice entrepreneur, blogger, or small business owner, it doesn't matter. It seems difficult to just create a website. You can hire a competent specialist who will make a candy out of whatever you ask, or you can try to cope on your own.

A goal for your website

First of all, it is necessary to determine the goals, the strategy for achieving them and the available resources.

The website plan will help you decide on the decisions that will necessarily arise on the way to its creation, help you set goals and deadlines for their implementation.

First of all, you need to define the overall purpose of the website. What benefits should a website bring to a business? Is it created for information dissemination or for sales? Maybe a website should enhance customer engagement? Or help to increase profits?

So, you need to determine the reason for creating the site.

It can be used to increase traffic and attract an audience, showcase products, share information, advertise a business, and entertain website visitors. None of this will necessarily help, so the goal should be as clear as possible.

The goal is what you want to achieve as a result of creating a website. To cope with this task, you need to start by defining a general goal and, asking the question "why?", you will be able to formulate a specific goal.

For example, the overall goal may be to increase traffic and attract an audience, while the specific goal may be to sell an e—book to that audience. Or by showing the product to sell it as much as possible. In general, you can share information, and specifically, create an authority. You can ask clients to register for a consultation through advertising, and at the same time, to achieve a specific goal, create a subscriber base for the newsletter, you can delicately entertain the readers of the site.

This exercise narrows down your attention and helps you understand what role a website should play.

Understanding the purpose of the website will allow you to develop a strategy that will lead to the desired result. If the goal is to sell e-books, then you need to direct users to the pages of the e-books you produce and provide an opportunity to make a purchase.

Earn a good reputation and get an invitation to make yourself known. You need to emphasize the experience through blog posts and authoritative content, and create a page where the audience learns how and why to let you speak out.

It is necessary to create a subscriber base for the newsletter, which will contain interesting information and registration forms on the website.

You need to formulate a goal, identify ways to achieve it, and create a funnel that will encourage the audience to take the action you need.

Target audience

When planning a website, you need to determine the target audience. It is necessary to do this in order to avoid marketing problems.

First, you need to know how to communicate with your audience. Secondly, branding should be as clear and understandable as possible, not weak and vague, because in this case it does not resonate with customers. Vague messages will not only fail to attract the right audience to your brand, but they will also attract the wrong type of customers, who will not be able to benefit from your offers. Thus, it may turn out that contact with customers will be fragile, and disloyal to the brand. Therefore, the messages should be clear and not interpreted in two ways. In addition, a clear brand identification will allow you to stand out from the competition, which will lead to establishing relationships with customers. In addition, knowing your target audience, you can use the services of effective targeted advertising, taking into account demographic data and interests, which allows you to spread information about your brand among people who are most likely to make a purchase from your brand.

Here are some tips for getting to know your ideal clients.

Perhaps you think you already know who your target audience is. Maybe you have some ideas. Unfortunately, this representation in your imagination may be incorrect. Many brands and marketers make incorrect assumptions about their audience. The only way to really find out who your audience is, what they want, and what they're thinking is to do research.

The study can be conducted in several ways.

You can get to know the people who shop with you, and personally chat with readers, customers, and customers.

You can get to know people who are just planning to make purchases from you in order to understand on what terms and what exactly they would like to buy from you.

The easiest way is to send out small surveys to past clients and subscribers by email.

Read customer opinions online, participate in social media, browse hashtags related to your brand, and visit review sites to collect reviews.

See what your business data says. Business data is information about the products and services you sell and how customers respond to your offers.

Your website statistics give you an idea of which pages customers visit, how often they visit your site before making a purchase, and other indicators to better understand your audience.

After collecting this information, you will get a better idea of who your customers are and what is going on in their heads. Based on this data, you will be able to create a clear and detailed description of your customer, also known as a customer image.

Customer Image

The customer image is a semi—mythical character that you create to represent your ideal customer. This is a description of an imaginary customer who meets the criteria of your target audience. To create a customer image for your brand, imagine your ideal customer, and then fill in the following information that characterizes him or her:

• demographic data (age, salary, place of residence, marital status, annual income, education)
• professional data (industry, position, company size, professional goals)
• psychographics (character traits, values, attitudes, interests, subconscious and conscious beliefs, motivation, priorities)
• influence (favorite blogs or websites, favorite magazines or books, favorite inspirations)
• beliefs/goals (what do they firmly believe in? What are the characteristics of their personality? What are their personal goals?)
• problems (what keeps you awake at night? What are their pain points? What problems do you have to solve?)
• the purchase process (what is their role in the purchase process? How do they usually buy something? What can keep them from buying?)

By filling in this data, you create a customer profile that describes the ideal buyer. Then you can make these details public in the form of a story about your target customer. Just don't describe the client as a list of details, you also need a photo for the story and a few paragraphs about who he is and what he needs. Having photos and descriptions of your target audience will make it easier to compose marketing messages.

A unique sales offer

You need to define your unique selling proposition. What is it? This is the special thing that makes your brand, products, or services different from those of your competitors. The sales offer explains the attention-grabbing properties of the products that move people from the candidate category to the customer category. When planning a website, it is necessary to know your unique sales offer, because the site will be positioned around your unique commercial offers. All the content will be positioned so that it subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, promotes your unique selling proposition and tells website visitors why they should choose your brand.

To develop your own unique sales offer, think about your brand, products, and services and answer the following questions:

• How do you differ from your competitors?
• Why does this difference matter to customers?
• What specific benefit will customers get by choosing you among their competitors?
• Why is this benefit important to customers?

There is no need to rush answering these questions. What immediately comes to mind may be too obvious. Spend time researching how your suggestions help your customers and solve their problems.

If you have difficulty identifying your unique selling proposition, here are some tips.:

• Think about what your customers value and how you help them get what they want.;
• Think about what problems your clients face and how you help them solve them.;
• consider the unique strengths of your brand;
• Take a look at your competitors to see how best to highlight your brand.

Remember, unique sales offers are not typical for e-commerce sites and service companies. If you are a content creator or blogger, you sell information and present yourself as an ideological leader.

Domain and hosting

Now that you have completed most of the website creation plan, you can prepare to set up your website. Start the process by getting a domain name and hosting.

• A domain name, also known as a URL, is a web address used to find and access a website on the Internet.
• Website hosting is the server space and resources on which files and website data are stored.

To make it easier and clearer, imagine that a website is a house, a web hosting is a plot on which a house stands, and a domain is a street on which a plot with a house is located.

You have many options for acquiring domain names and hosting websites. These two items can be purchased together or separately.

Domain names and web hosting packages are purchased for a certain period of time, and their cost depends on many factors, such as demand or popularity of the domain name. The cost of hosting also has a very wide range and depends on the expected volume of traffic, the complexity of the website and the functions that you would like to add to it.

.ru.com.net.info.co.org

There are also hundreds of domain extensions known as generic top-level domain names. You can choose domain extensions that are exclusively suitable for your brand, for example, .guru, .nyc, .photography, .marketing, .consulting. When you choose a domain for your website, you need to come up with a phrase that will be in front of the dot, as well as an extension that will be at the end of your website address.

Buying a domain means that you register a domain for a certain period of time. You don't buy it or own it forever. You need to continually renew your domain ownership for the time you want to keep and use it.

Ways to create a website

The next step is to choose how you will create your website. There are several options:

• You can use the drag-and-drop website builder.;
• You can use custom code and start from scratch, rather than using a pre-designed template.;
• hire a professional developer who will do everything for you.

When planning a website, you need to carefully consider which type of website suits your needs. To do this, it is enough to answer the following questions to get an idea of your needs.:

• Do you want to run a blog?
• Do you want to collect information about visitors?
• Do you want to sell goods and services?
• Will you accept electronic payments?
• Will you use a calendar or make appointments?
• Do you want to track inventory and shipping?
• Do you want to gain full control over the website's code?
• Do you prefer an easy-to-use constructor?
• Are you going to hire a professional?
• Are you going to develop the design yourself?
• What is your budget?

These answers will help you determine the platform that will work best for you.

The first approach

Website designers help you develop websites without special programming skills or technical knowledge. Drag-and-drop website builders provide a user-friendly interface that allows you to develop, customize, and publish websites using ready-made templates, drag-and-drop tools, and artificial intelligence.

Using the website builder, you can select a theme (a ready-made website design) and customize it according to your needs. You can add structural components (spaces, separators, background images, custom headers, footers, and menus) and design elements such as images, videos, text blocks, headers, galleries, forms, slideshows, and buttons.

With the advent of artificial intelligence tools, website developers can now help you in the process of creating your website. During setup, you provide answers to queries about your type of business, website goals, and business information (such as contact information and product and service details), and the web developer will create a website that meets your criteria.

You can then customize the site using drag-and-drop elements and adding your own branded elements such as images, color palettes, and fonts.

If you need more features and customization than is available in the website builder, you can choose a more reliable content management system.

Building a website using such a system strikes a balance between ease of use, flexibility, and scalability, and requires some intermediate-level technical skills.

The second approach

If you want your website to be as flexible as possible, you can create it using custom code. But creating your own website requires specialized knowledge and is usually impractical for entrepreneurs who are not involved in programming.

To follow this path, you need to use a programming or scripting language that provides instructions either for the client side (the user's web browser) or for the server side (the server where your site's files are stored). These languages include: asp/asp.net, css, html, javascript, perl, php, python, ruby on rails, xml.

The operating system of your hosting account determines which languages you can use, so if you decide to go this route, keep in mind which language you want to use when purchasing hosting.

The third approach

If you are not satisfied with any of these ways, there is an option specifically for you: you can hire an experienced web designer to create your website.

A professional web designer will take all the information you have collected and create a website for you. This website can be created using one of the options mentioned above. A designer can use a website builder, a content management system, or custom code for your website. The price of your site will be higher for custom projects and lower if the designers use ready—made themes and drag-and-drop tools.

Ask the designer what they will use to create your website to get an idea of their work, experience, and prices. Also, keep the following questions in mind when you're looking for the perfect designer to work with:

• Has the designer decided to pursue a career in web design?
• Does the designer provide direct access to his completed work?
• Is he good at communication?
• Are there any recommendations?
• is there a portfolio? Do you like the portfolio?
• were the previous projects of high quality?

Before hiring a designer, review their work to make sure they are right for you.

Once you've identified the type of platform you're going to use, it's time to start creating design elements.

The process of creating a website

Now you should have a strategy, a domain name and a platform on which you will create your website. The next step in this website creation plan is to create the content necessary to complete your website. You need to start this process by creating and collecting design elements.

Brand design elements are graphical representations of your business. These are design elements that help customers get to know and remember you better. These design elements define the personality of your brand and help customers feel what your brand represents through the use of: colors, fonts and typography, logos, images and photographs.

Once you have identified the elements that will be used to graphically represent your brand, these elements and standards should be described in the brand style guide. Thanks to this guide, you will be able to ensure the consistency of your website and all other marketing materials, as each member of your team will have a guide on how to change the appearance of your content.

Even if you are not going to use a theme for your website, it may be useful for you to review the themed storefronts. The best way to figure out what you want from your site is to see what else is similar. You will be able to identify what you like and what you don't, and then use it in the development process.

If you are creating your website using the designer, choose a theme. Please note that you don't necessarily need to use the exact look of the theme. There are ways to customize the style and design according to your brand and preferences.

If you are hiring someone to create a website or doing custom coding, choose from two to five themes that have elements (color schemes, layouts, functionality, fonts, etc.) that you would like to see on your website. Provide these themes to your designer to show what you like or dislike. Or use them as inspiration if you decide to create your own code for your website.

Images on your website are just as important as texts. They visually display your suggestions and help the audience get to know you better.

Create images that accurately and effectively represent your brand, products, and services.

If you have any products, take professional high-quality photos of each product. Take three or four pictures of each product to show it from different angles. It is important for customers to see what they are buying, so product images will be useful to increase sales and interest in your website. If you have a personal or professional blog or consulting website, take some professional photos of yourself. Make sure that whoever is taking the photos understands that you will be using them on your website. You will need different shots and camera angles. The best photos for service professionals include several shots in which you or your employees are both at the edge of the frame and in the center of it. If you are selling a service that has an end result, take a picture of your finished work. If you are selling an abstract idea or lifestyle, find original photos that will create the right impression in your brand. If there is nothing among the existing photos that could reflect your brand, hire a graphic designer who will create a customized design for you.

Now there is a website plan and almost everything you need to create it. Only the last one is needed — your copy.

For a standard website, content should be prepared for five key pages: home, about the company, product or service, reviews, and contact pages. If you plan to blog on your website, then at least one entry should be ready.

Website content

Here are some tips for creating content for your website.

The home page is the first opportunity to tell your story and attract visitors to the ultimate goal that you have set for the site.

Place the content of your home page so that it tells you who you are, what you do, who you help, and how. When filling the home page with content, do not forget:

• It should be done simply: there is no need for details; use short, viewable advertisements, and then transfer users to longer pages for additional information.;
• Users usually don't scroll down too far, so all the most important information should be at the top of the main page.;
• immediately attract attention by clearly stating what you are doing and how you are helping your audience solve the problem.;
• present your unique offers, show what sets you apart from your competitors;
• Develop strategic calls to action that propel users through your website towards your ultimate goal.

Your company page is a chance to learn more about your brand, what you do, and why. Most likely, this page will be one of the most visited pages on your site. Tell a story that answers the following questions:

• who is the website intended for?
• what can users do on the site?
• why is this site different from other similar ones?
• Why did you start this venture?
• Was there a moment or event that made you want to bring your idea online?

Perhaps you use your website to sell something: a service that customers should call about the time of delivery, or a product that can be purchased directly on the site. Use this page to showcase and promote your offers. Provide general information about the product or service; reasons why customers will benefit from the product or service; words that will interest potential customers to take the next step towards doing business with you.

Customers need to learn to trust your brand before they decide to work with you. You can gain this trust by creating a page filled with customer reviews. Reviews and recommendations connect with readers in a way that advertising texts cannot, because messages are a genuine representation of other people's experiences related to your brand.

The contact list page may seem like a boring afterthought page, but the fact remains that it is one of the most visited pages. This is one of the points of contact with clients when they decide to work with you.

If you expect to have a blog on your site, then you need to have ready-made content so that the page is not empty.

First, you need a post with a story about yourself, your inspiration and hopes. This greeting and introduction is an early stage of your relationship with customers.

After that, it will be useful to post a blog post about what customers will find there in the future.

If you decide to write the text yourself, check out the recommendations on copywriting and blogging. Get tips on how to write an attractive, formatted post for online readers. Study the copywriting tips that will help you write a copy of the landing page.

Consider supporting your copywriting efforts with artificial intelligence content creation tools. Copy generators will help you come up with ideas, create the first sketches, improve the text and check for grammatical errors. But we must not forget that it is not worth relying entirely on text created by artificial intelligence. Copying using artificial intelligence may contain inaccuracies and biases. A copy also cannot fully reflect the voice and tone of your brand, so it should always be checked and corrected by a person. If you don't have the time and desire to create a website yourself, hire a freelance writer.

Conclusion

Now, thanks to this post, you have everything you need to plan a website and create a template that will help:

• define a goal for your website;
• identify the target audience;
• identify your brand's unique selling offers;
• provide a domain name and hosting for your website;
• plan the best way to create your website;
• create and collect the necessary design resources;
• create the necessary copyable content.

Now it remains to put the plan into action. Bring your web plan to life!