Planning a Website Checklist

Here are basic instructions I give clients who are considering building a new website:

• Spend some time Googling the websites of competitors or others in your industry. Find out how they’re organized and what they’re offering visitors. Single out 1-2 websites that you want to emulate.
• Develop your website content – create a Word document with a table of contents, include a separate page for each of your web pages, and for each page (or section) draft a page title, the copy you want presented on the page, and notes re: images or links that need to be included.
• Gather your photos/graphics – collect photos you want to use and organize them in a single folder, renaming photos if necessary so you know which go with which page.
• If you have a logo, obtain the artwork from the graphic artist or printer that has it. If you don’t have a logo, I can refer you to a great and reasonable graphic artist specializing in logos and corporate identity things.
• Do you have a domain name registered? If not, what are some domain names you want to register and let’s find out if they’re available.
• Do you have a web hosting account? If not, check my web hosting services, or you can shop around.

Once you have a handle on all this, and you have it in writing, we’re ready to talk about the scope of the project, options you should consider, a development plan, and an estimate of the costs.