What content should I place on my Web Site?
In this article I am going to discuss “Producing your Web Site”. Again, I will talk about each of the steps, breaking them into smaller chunks of data as to be able to give the proper space for each.
- Obtain a Domain Name
- Find a Web Hosting Company
- Setup account with the Web Hosting Company, and setup any backend items needed
- Produce a Web Site
- Post your Web Site to your Web Hosting Company’s Server
- Update your Website as needed
This article is all about the meat and bones of your web site. It is all about what content you want, and layout, etc. I mentioned in a previous article the need to keep a folder where you can keep your web site information together, including ideas, passwords, settings, etc. You might want to bring out that folder again with this article and begin brainstorming your ideas for the web site. This article will cover the following topics:
- Web Site layout
- Colors to be used
- Who do I have build this web site?
- Web Site content.
- Using Photographs and Multimedia
- Additional Features
As for myself I think that web site layout is one of the harder items to establish. It seems that once the layout is in place that the rest becomes easier. For me, picking the right colors, placement of web site links, or web picking a web theme is difficult. To help myself with this process I start my looking at a lot of different web sites. I then begin to develop a list of items I like, dislike, are iffy about, and items that I love about the site. Here is a link to a sample grid. What I suggest is that you create a list of the items that you think are important to you and the people that will be visiting your site. This list will help you develop your layout and web theme.
What colors should I use on my web site? I get this question a lot. This is a hard question to answer because there are no set rules. Colors all depend on the mood that you are trying to create for your site. If you have a logo, that is usually a good place to start. You will want your colors to compliment your logo, and in some cases you want to use only those colors. Take for example www.microsoft.com they use the same blue in all areas, and they use variants of blue to accent. However if you go to www.tullys.com you will notice that they use nice warm colors to mimic the color of coffee beans. If you clicked the link of the sample grid above, I am sure that you saw that I had colors on my list of items that I start making judgments on pertaining to my web site.
Who do I have build my web site? I am going to refer to a previous article posted for this question, please Click Here for that article. I hope that you found the previous article answered your questions. If you have further questions, please send them to me.
Web Site Content is where you begin to write out what your visitors will be reading. I have found this to be another challenging hurdle to cross. I try as best as possible to place myself into the eyes of my clients and web site visitors. If I were them, what information would I be looking for? What items would I like to see on the site? What would help me to choose to use their services? If I am selling a product, I have to ask other questions. Why will people buy from me? Is the product priced correctly? What do I need to say about shipping and returns? As a side note, I do not always buy things by price alone. A lot of times I will buy items that are priced a little higher if I know the following:
- If there is a problem I will not be hassled in trying to return the item
- The merchant has good customer service skills, and they will resolve any issues quickly and efficiently?
- I feel that I need not worry about my credit card information being stolen
- The company seems reputable.
The use of photos and multimedia has grown on web sites ever since people started getting high-speed internet at home. Web sites cared more about content when everyone had dial-up because they knew that people would not wait a long time for a lot of photos and multimedia items to download. When I began building the web site for Street of Dreams www.streetofdreams.com, using photos was at a premium. The site promotes home shows nationally, and people wanted to see photos of the houses that they were going to go see. Bandwidth was at a premium, and we had to do everything we could to make sure that the photos loaded quickly. Well today it is definitely a different world. Now we stream music and video to our computers while sitting at our favorite coffee place or the park. I still think that we need to be careful on the amount of multimedia and photos being used on a web site. One needs to think of the audience involved. I go to web sites all the time that I think use too much. I don’t want to see a flash item every time I change pages, unless it is called for at the time. For example, if I am looking at e-cards, then I expect to see flash, etc. If I am ordering a pizza on the other hand; I don’t need to see the pizza pieces fly into the shopping cart. Yes I will agree it is cute and that some where someone thought it was a good idea.
Additional Features include items like a shopping cart or forms for capturing information so people can subscribe to a newsletter. Think about how you want these items to look and function. Again this is part of your overall web site planning, and knowing what items you will need for your web site. Maybe you need to link up with a good map web site so people can find directions to your office or to an event that you are sponsoring.
