Planning Your Website: Getting it Right From the Start (by Anna Doo)

A N S W E R I N G T H E Q U E S T I O N O F W H E T H E R
Y O U N E E D A N O N L I N E P R E S E N C E A N D H O W
T O G O A B O U T C R E A T I N G O N E .
Planning Your Website
Getting it Right From the Start
© 2014 Anna Doo, Lei Lani Design Studio www.WebsiteDesignByAnnaDoo.com All rights reserved.

Internet background
 As of Nov. 2013, there are approximately 215 million
domains
 In 1985 there were approximately…12
 74% of the American population uses the Internet
according to a Nielsen poll
 Half of North Americans surveyed said they purchased
from online-only stores
 Of those, many made purchases based on other
customer’s feedback
 In the first three quarters of 2013 Americans spent
approximately $194 billion online (census.gov)
 The top websites saw more than 2.2 billion visitors the
week ending Nov 23, 2013! (Hitwise US)

Background cont.
 83% of U.S. Small Businesses with an online presence
would recommend creating a website to the other
businesses in their industry
 65% of U.S. Small Businesses created a company website
because it makes them look more credible
 72% of globally polled small businesses use a company
website as their primary online presence with social
media platforms as secondary
 So what does all this mean?
 It means consumers are SEARCHING online
 It means consumers are INTERACTING and PURCHASING online

What does this mean for you?
 Average Americans (with access) are increasingly
using the Internet to find products
 Informal polls reveal connected Americans go online
for answers before any other media (ie printed phone
book, dictionary, encyclopedia)
 Ever heard anyone say “just look it up” and find out
they are referring to entering it into a search engine
as opposed to walking to a bookshelf?

So, do you need a website?
 The simple, resounding answer is YES
 Why? So your business/product/service can be
found quickly by the average consumer, both in
America and abroad.
 What if you don’t have a product that can be sold
online?
 Still, the answer is YES

Searching - finding
 How does your website pop up in the search results
when someone looks for the product you offer?
 High quality website created from the start
 Search Engine Marketing/Search Engine Optimization both
organic and premium
 Paid advertising
 Broad Internet footprint

Options for do-it-yourself
 WYSIWYG – What you see is what you get
 CMS – Content Management Systems
 www.wordpress.com & www.wordpress.org
 www.shopify.com or www.bigcartel.com
 www.wix.com & www.weebly.com
 From scratch hand-coded website
 Pros: Fully customized website – your vision and the web
designer/developer’s expertise; Responsive from the start
 Cons: More challenging to update – typically keep the designer
on retainer for even minor changes; must learn new
language(s) to create/maintain

Must have to build site
 Domain name and Hosting service
 Bluehost.com
 Hostgator.com
 GoDaddy.com
 HostRocket.com
 Intuit.com
 Email Marketing Auto-responder services
 Aweber.com
 ConstantContact.com
 MailChimp.com

Elements for every website
 What should every website have?
 Company name
 Contact information (email, telephone, brick and mortar
location)
 Email marketing sign up (also called an opt-in)
 What you are selling
 A tangible product
 A service, your time or expertise
 Portfolio

Preparation for a site
 In order to prepare to create an online presence,
whether hiring a website designer/developer or
doing it yourself, gather some elements together.
 Identify how many pages your site should be
 Determine what you want the website to do
 Identify what market your page falls into and see what’s
already out there in terms of websites
 Put yourself in a client’s shoes
 Brainstorm what search terms they might use to find you (can be
somewhat obscure)
 Find out where else they are online (blogs or forums they frequent,
another genre of websites similar to yours, niche social media
groups)

Hiring a Professional
 There are all kinds of inexpensive options for do-it-
yourself template websites these days.
 If you are comfortable with your site looking standard, OR feel
you have the TIME to create a site yourself based on an
existing template then by all means do it.
 Another option is to hire a professional website
designer or developer. This frees up your time so you
can spend it doing what you do best.

Questions to ask a Potential Designer
 Ask for a link to their website – see what they’ve done, see if
their style is a good fit for you
 Ask about availability – can they create your site now or is the
next available window of time months out
 Ask for a general price quote (but know this is general and the
details of your particular site will drive the actual cost)
 If you need face-to-face interaction, ask if they are local and
willing to meet to discuss the project
 Ask what they are capable of – some designers have a huge
toolbox of tricks and code snippets, others are specialized in
certain types of sites and may not do what you need
 Ask if they draw, write, photograph, do video or audio etc.
Whatever elements you think you need for your site that you
know you can’t do – ask.

When Hiring…
 Preparation is key to saving you time and money when
hiring a professional! The more you have ready, the less
time the process takes.
 You need at a minimum:
 To know how many pages you want
 What you want the site to do
 Gather all text for the site
 Gather all images for the site
 Contact information for the site
 A few urls of other websites that you like (whether it’s the look of the
site you like, the navigation, the way the content is presented)
 And a few you dislike

What to Expect
 What to expect during an initial consultation with
the web designer:
 Discuss what you want the site to do
 Discuss what you want the site to convey about the company
(this helps identify color schemes, themes for the site, etc)
 Determine how many pages the site will be
 Determine how much material you will need to supply, and
what you need created for you (do you need a logo,
photographs of the products, graphics created for the site, etc)
 Discuss time lines for the project
 Discuss long term

Follow Up
 The next step is the contract which spells out all the
particulars and then going forward with the design!
 Make sure you are an active participant (gathering
information you agreed to supply, responding to
emails or phone calls from the designer, following up
after you receive a review with detailed feedback of
changes or corrections)
 Start the best marketing tool out there – word of
mouth! Start telling everyone you know your website
is in the works and will be up and running soon.

Options for Do-It-Yourself
 Learn How to DIY
 www.websitedesignbyannadoo.com
 CMS – Content Management Systems
 www.wordpress.com
 www.squarespace.com
 www.bigcartel.com
 www.wix.com or weebly.com
 Hosting services
 GoDaddy.com
 Intuit.com
 Bluehost.com

Conclusion
 The Internet is constantly shaping the way those who
are connected look for information. Increasingly, the
search is begun online.
 Stay at the forefront of the minds of potential
customers by giving them what they are looking for –
an online presence to showcase your business.

Questions * Comments
Presented by Anna Doo
Lei Lani Design Studio, LLC
WebsiteDesignByAnnaDoo.com

Planning Your Website: Getting it Right From the Start (by Anna Doo)

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