Pre-Planning Your Website

Sketch the navigation structure out, and determine which functions you want the site to provide to your visitors.

Write a snappy tag line to be used on your home page that explains the site to visitors. Make it informative and straightforward (not ad copy). This line should thoroughly explain the site to strangers who have never heard of you before.

Look at many sites and make lists of content, features, and design elements you like and don't like.

Decide on the location of navigation bars, color schemes, and the use of animations, video, or sound files.

Define your audience. Are they youths or adults, in need of reference material or looking for entertainment?

Understand how people navigate the Web. Most don't read Web pages word for word: they scan the text. So to hold their attention, use highlighted keywords, subheadings, bulleted lists, one idea per paragraph, and half the word count of conventional writing.

Inventory the content you already have in digital format. What do you plan to develop in the future? What do you already have — such as photos, videos, music, or artwork — that should be converted?

Coordinate real-time public relations and marketing to complement your Web site development.

Decide who will be responsible for updating the site.

To improve search engine ranking, write a 25-word description of your site and a list of keywords. What would a typical person type into a search form that should lead to your site? The words you come up with will be displayed as content on your pages and also will be set into the hidden code as metatags for search engines to find.

Stay focused on your vision.