Top Ten Things To Think About While Setting Up Your Site

1. Choose your web host wisely

2. Gather your materials together

3. Find a web designer you can work with

4. Think about your visitors

5. Think about how you will attract visitors

6. Think about your style

7. Think about the functions of your web site

8. Emphasize the unique qualities of your business

9. Be pro-active in creating & maintaining your site

10. Be an active part of the web community

1. Choose your web host wisely:
It is really important to begin with a reputable web host. There are many companies that offer cheap rates or free set-up. Web companies come and go and can leave you stranded without warning. Find one that has been around for awhile and offers good support. Other companies offer free web pages in exchange for loading your pages with advertising. This does not always create the best impression for your business. It is a good idea to purchase your URL and web hosting from the same company.  Over time it makes it much easier to contact these companies when you need support, or need to make changes in your contact information. 

2. Gather your materials together.  Gather together as much material content as you can  before handing it over to a web designer. It will save you plenty of time and money if the web builder can view the full scope of your project early in the design phase. Deliver all written materials in an electronic version, organized as to importance. Don’t give the web designer printed matter that you do not want to put up on the web. Make sure you have permission to use all of your materials. Whenever possible, graphics, and other media should always be in an electronic format, properly labeled. Make an outline of how you would like to see the information organized.  Visit a lot of web sites that offer similar services or products that you want to feature.  Make notes of what features you like and dislike, along with the URL's for reference.  This will help your designer to understand what you want.

3. Find a web designer you can work with: 
 Find a web designer you can work with, someone who is available to answer your questions and who comes well recommended by others. Take a look at some of the sites they have built and see if their style is suitable for your site.  Ask for a free consultation up front and see if you like their ideas. Make sure you understand what costs are involved and how you will be billed. Don’t commit to high-priced maintenance agreements until you have a good sense of how much maintenance you will be needing.  If you are working on a very tight budget be sure to communicate this to your designer so that you can skip expensive design features.

4. Think about your visitors:
Who will be visiting your web site, and why will they want to come back? It is important to give your visitors a quality experience. People who are surfing the web want the sites that load quickly and deliver information instantly. Don’t lose your message in long pages of text. No one will take the time to read it. Don’t lose your visitors with slow downloads and broken or outdated links. If you want to display large graphics or pages of written text, offer your content in an outline form with links to longer articles. Graphics can be presented as a series of thumbnails (small graphics) with links to bigger images if the visitor wants to see more. 

5. Think about how you will attract visitors:  
Many people are so challenged by getting their web site built that they never think about how to draw traffic to their site. Search engines are one way, but generating and sustaining real traffic involves creating a site that offers interesting activities, great information, or some new experience for the visitor. It is important to think this out ahead of time so that these elements can be incorporated into the overall design.  Also consider the costs of advertising your site in the media and online.  Include this in your web site planning.

6. Think about your style:
Think about the style in which you want to present your materials. Think about colors and images that will enhance your message. The web is a very visual medium and visitors will not spend a long time at your site if it is not interesting. Don’t overload your site with fancy presentations that lose the visitor before they can access the critical information. Use style and color to convey to the visitor the nature of your business.

7. Think about the functions of your web site:
What will your web site be able to do? Is your site information only, or do you want to be able to complete sales on-line, book appointments or show videos? There are many, many different kinds of web sites. Before you go to find a designer, make a list of all the functions you want to have on your site. This will be very helpful in estimating costs and will influence who you hire to build your site.

8. Emphasize the unique qualities of your business:
There are lots of  sites on the web. You may find listings for hundreds or even thousands of sites that offer the same services or products that you do. How will you convince the visitor that your offering is the one they want? Before you begin the design process spend 1-2 hours a day visiting all the web sites in your market. Take notes on what everyone else is doing. What is attractive, what works, what makes you want to stay and click on every link? Also note what doesn’t work, and what makes you eager to leave. Think about how your service or product can hold a unique niche in the marketplace and emphasize that message in your site.

9. Be pro-active in creating and maintaining your site: 
Don’t park your site on the web and leave it for months or years without a face lift! A web site is like a store window in that you need to keep displaying fresh material in new ways in order to attract visitors. Very successful web sites are constantly changing. They also keep in touch with their visitors, and offer an array of activities and services that make visits interesting. Whatever you do, don’t get dull!

10. Become an active part of the web community:
As well as staying in touch with your site, it is important that you stay in touch with your market, your visitors, your peers and the web community as a whole. As well as listing your web with search engines, you need to search out newsgroups, on-line newsletters, and journals. Create a list of links to other web sites that you think support the message you want to portray on your web. Ask other sites to display links to your site. Keep in touch with your visitors via a guest book, a contact page, or email sign-up. That way you can notify them when the site is updated or offering special promotions. Grassroots communication is very powerful on the web. Offer your visitors a chance to give their input and respond to any messages left on your site.