How To Build A Webpage, Requires Preparation
To build a Website or Webpage, is no different from decorating your house. If you are prepared to spend as much time sanding down the paintwork, filling in the holes, priming the paintwork and washing everything down, as you do decorating, then applying the same principles to building your Web site will be a breeze.
It should be no surprise, successful Websites are directly related to the amount of effort put in to preparation.
Website Objectives
The first thing you need to decide is; what are the objectives for the Website. Is it for:
- Generating new business leads.
- Somewhere to point existing clients at.
- Is it, to give you some sort of web presence.
- Or to help keep marketing costs down.
- For improving the general prestige of the business.
- Or a combination of all of the above.
If you need guidance on this subject, please refer to our Advantages on Internet Business article that describes the true role of a Website.
Your objectives should dictate the type of Website you build. A good
example, interestingly, are Web Designers. For those Web Design companies
who focus on expensive, blue chip organisations, a relatively small Website,
high on design features and with most of the emphasis on, who their clients
are, usually achieves the desired results.
However, Web Design companies specialising in small to medium sized businesses, have to take a different route by identifying, many of it's Website visitors will want answers to some very obvious questions, such as, price and what they will get for their money. This usually requires more pages, more written detail and more comprehensive information to help visitors make the right decisions. A good example is this article you are reading.
Web Page Design And Layout
Once you decide the objectives for your new Website, you can begin to concentrate on the general Web Page design and layout for the site.
It is important to remember that, although you may be a small or medium sized business with a modest Website budget, it does not mean, you have to accept second best. In terms of a Web presence, your Website could, quite easily, be more visually stunning than many of your larger competitors Websites. The Internet is a great leveler, so aim high! As a good example, our £795 Web designs, represent some of the finest designs to be found on the Internet today.
Layered Approach
The look and feel will be dictated by the number pages in your Website, and to a large degree, the type of site navigation you use. For example, if your Website is going to have more than thirty pages, your Homepage is likely to have bulleted summaries with links to other pages for additional information.
This approach, brakes up the page and can be more interesting to look at. It satisfies visitors who prefer high level messages but also meets the requirements of visitors who prefer more information.
Standard approach
If your Website is going to be much smaller, it means you are going to have less selling opportunities. In which case, the Homepage will play a key role in the success of your new Website.
A Website Homepage with rows of links to other pages within the site may look impressive, but it will not tell the visitor, why they should pick up the phone and use your services. Ideally, a well designed Homepage, will address the issues facing many of it's visitors and attempt to answer them.
The page layout, therefore, will need to be similar to the
written content on this page (but with less text and more paragraphs).
It may be less interesting to look at, but it will tell the visitor what
they need to know. For design consistency,
we recommend
no
more than five different page layouts are used.
Next: Web Design Technical Issues
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