10 Planning Tips for a Successful Website

The Ten Top Tips for a Great Website

1. What are the goals of the site?  

• Is it to generate more sales opportunities by directing people to your shop, factory or other points of sale?
• Is it a point of sale in its own right, i.e. do you want clients to purchase directly on line? 
• Is its aim to simply reduce costs – e.g. airlines now issue online tickets to save administration and paper costs
• Is it to save time handling simple enquiries such as "What are your opening times?", or  "How do we install the unit?" etc

2. Who is the ‘Target’ market? Generally we can’t be all things to all people - we all have a particular target market, so the site must be primarily geared up to appeal to them. So consider;

• Age
• Gender
• Interests & habits Location

3. What do people viewing the site want to find?

•  Information only – maybe your location,  operating hours, where to park, range of products, prices, the type and quality of your business?
• Proof that you have the ability, credentials and integrity to meet their needs
•  A point of sale to buy directly?

4. What do you want them to do?  This comes down to point one, the goals of the site, but additional considerations include;

•  Increase their confidence in doing business with you?
•  Add their details to your contact data base so that even if they aren’t going to be current clients, they could be future ones?
•  Refer others to the site?

5. How can you get site visitors to come back? 

• News – whether by news links, or just regularly updated news produced by yourselves
• Include tools such as calculators
• Blogs and forums
• Video and audio clips of interest

6. What is your competition doing? This is a general business principal, i.e. keeping an eye on what your competition is doing. Make sure your website reflects any changes you make in response to what they are doing.

7. What does your current branding portray? Is it the image you want it to?

• Are your website and other aspects of your branding consistent?
• Are they reflecting the value proposition you wish to convey?

8. Who will keep the site up to date? 

• Do you intend to keep it up to date internally or externally? 
• How user friendly is the Content Management System of the website provider?
• What ongoing support do they offer?
• Are they a long term player and will they be able to continue supporting your business 3-5 years down the line?

 9. How will the site be promoted?Google and other search engines are the main ways people find the site, so is the site to be optimised through Search Engine Optimisation?

Will you be promoting your website on all marketing material, such as adverts, flyers, shop frontage, vehicles, even on your answer phone message?

10. How can you measure the site’s success?

• Increased sales enquiries?
• Increased sales revenue?
• Increase in custom through the shop door?
• The collection of a large data base for other marketing strategies such as email marketing, targeted promotions etc?
• Greater brand recognition?
• Higher brand perception – permitting higher pricing?