I Have an Idea For a Website, What Do I Do Next?

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Everything that is great in this world once started out as a small idea and someone thought “hey, maybe this could work!” If this sounds familiar and you think a website may be the perfect way to get your idea started, you are correct! There are over a billion websites in the world, as of January of 2019, there were 1,518,207,412 to be exact. So, what makes or breaks a website? Follow these steps to ensure your site’s success from the very start.

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Does your idea serve a purpose or solve a problem?

First and foremost, you need to be sure that your website serves a purpose. Websites exist to offer their users some type of service. Service is a broad term! You can provide knowledge, promote a product or service or even just entertain.

One thing you should think about is if this idea has already been tried. This doesn’t mean you cannot follow through with your idea, this just means you should look at how the previous attempt turned out. What worked well for them and what did not? This will help you decide what’s worth keeping as an aspect of your own site.

Who is your target audience?

Who are you trying to reach with this site? Is there a product or service you’re trying to sell? If so, who would be the main consumer of that product? A target audience can fall under specific demographics like age, gender or location. You could even get as granular as saying you wanted to target males, ages 18-24, who own a home, that are interested in sports. Google Analytics is a powerful tool that will allow you to track these types of things and better morph your messages to meet your target audience’s expectations.

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Choose a user-friendly domain name

Before you get too far into the website building process, you’ll want to purchase your domain name. You want a domain name that is easy to read and spell and is obvious to the name of your site or business, you are going to want your visitors to know they’re on the right site.

Of course, .com is the most common and widely accepted domain extension. However, it is the most likely that your desired domain name will be already taken! You can check to see if your domain name has already been chosen , if not, go with .com, if yes some of these other popular domain extensions are also good options:

  • .net

  • .org

  • .biz

  • .info

  • .us


What functions does your site need?

Before moving into the build phase you will have to decide on what type of functions you’re going to need. If you’re selling a product directly from your site you’ll need shopping cart ability. If you’re selling a service or have a business built on sales leads you’ll need a contact form. A lot of websites utilize chat features, login sections, blogs for content marketing and even FAQ sections to provide fast and easy answers for potential customers and clients.

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Do you have a style guide?

When first starting a business or website it is recommended to put together a style guide. This guide holds all of your colors, themes, logos and names associated with your site. This helps when you hire an agency or designer to build your website. It helps keep branding consistent across all media.

How do I get traffic to my site?

Now that we have all of the bases covered, how do we get people to see our beautifully crafted site? Some of the main traffic drawing tactics are:

  • SEO - search engine optimization

  • Content Marketing - or writing blogs intended for SEO

  • Paid Ads - either through Google or Bing Ads

  • Email Marketing - information sent out to email subscribers

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Who builds the website?

At WebFX, we are confident that you will be satisfied with our web design services. From our transparent pricing to our award-winning design team, let us help you design a website that will draw customers from near and far. Contact us today!

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