There are so many different types of website available these days – it’s a minefield. Let’s list a few of them: blogs, brochure websites, cms websites, static websites, blogsites, sites with shopping carts, ecommerce website, social networking sites, database driven websites, flash websites and the list goes on.
So how do you work out which website is the best for your business? This can be tricky, especially when you have three quotes full of jargon from three different agencies and still can’t work out which is which is the best value or even how to compare them!
Start by asking yourself what you need your website to do? Do you need it just to display services? do you need to sell something from the website? do people need to book or sign up for something? do you need people to find you on Google? Do you want to write lots of content on the website? Do you need a members only section? Do you need to have content available to download?
Write it all down in a big long list, remember to focus on functionality. Don’t be afraid of the length of the list or the possible cost implications at this stage – we will refine this in the next step.
Once you have a list you can then prioritise. Organise your requirements into three groups. 1) must have 2) nice to have 3) will need in the future.
An typical example might look a bit like this
My website needs to
- Promote me an authority on my subject
- Allow visitors to sign up to newsletters and send an auto responder
- I need links/integration with my social networking sites like twitter and facebook as these are part of my marketing campaign
- I need to be able to sell places at workshops
- Targeted at woman and I already have my branding
- I must have the ability to easily update the website
Nice to have’s
- I might need some help with my copy, I’d like to write it initially but I will probably need some guidance to make it persuasive enough.
- I’d like my twitter and facebook page designed to match my website
- A gallery page with photo’s from events
- A place for visitors to view and leave testimonials
In the future
- I am not too worried about being found on Google at the moment as I will be actively marketing the website, but I might need help with this in the future
- I might want to sell more products online, perhaps ebooks and more workshops
- I might like to include a secure login in the future
- I will want more pages in the future as my services expand
Once you have your list it should be much easier for you to decide on the right website solution and budget. Being prepared in this way will also help your website agency with their proposal. A good agency will consider the future needs and propose a solution that does allow for growth (of course you might want to opt for a cheaper solution with less room but the important things is that you are aware of the options- right?!).
Why not have a go at writing your website plan? This is useful even if you have a website since it will help you identify some immediate and future needs. If you would like some help with your website plan please do get in touch for our free website consultation.
