_____ Decide on a domain name, example: www.rozdesignz.com. This needs to have some thought put into it because visitors need to be able to find you. A domain name should be as short as possible this helps reduce typos when people type in your domain name.
(There is some detailed information on domains on my fees page as well as an article I have
written: Do I Have a Choice? choosing the Best domain name.)
_____ Provide all contact information on your site. This would be a Contact Page with, phone number, email address, street address (a PO Box is acceptable). Providing contact information helps to establish credibility with your visitor. This makes them feel more secure when considering purchasing your product online. Basically because they realize you are not a fly-by-night company or organization and that you are willing to take a risk and put your personal contact information out there on the Web.
_____ An About Us page is important to help your visitor/client to know more about you, the company/organization, how you got started, how long you have been in business, etc. I would advise against too much personal information and basically stick to the website topic at hand and not go into a long narration of your whole organizations history.
_____ A Vision or Mission Statement is a good idea but not totally necessary. This page provides the reader with information on your goals and the fact that you are committed to what you are doing with and on the website.
_____ Content is King! Providing rich content or information to your onlookers will keep them coming back for more. This is something that will take time to provide on your site and new content should be added at least every few months or so. This depends on the subject of your website and your creativity.
_____ Search Engines there are 3 key areas to take a look at when developing a site and making it search engine friendly.
- Hidden codes
: This is two-fold: Description & Key Words. The search engines index these hidden codes first on your site and then they index numbers 2 & 3. This is something to take some time and plan your key words and a two-sentence description of your site. Think of it this way, what would a person type in to say Google, when looking for a site like yours? 25 words of less are a fair amount of search/key words (you can add more)
The description is basically some of your key words written in sentence form and comprised of two sentences. This is the amount of space allotted in search engines. If you go to Google and type in some search words you will see the sentence descriptions for each site listed in your search.
Title: this is what is at the very top of your monitor and is basically one sentence with the name of your site included in it and a few keywords.
Content: this is up to the website owner. A couple of paragraphs on your first page are important in explaining the site to others. Content can be in the form of tips, FAQ’s, articles and also a links list of sites you find credible and something your visitor may be interested in as well. Don’t list your competition here!
There are several other things that you can add to your site to help attract some interest. On this website there are several relevant articles and e-tips that can help you define your site and your area of expertise.
If there is anything I can help you with or further explain let me know. I am here to work with you to be your Vision Enhancer. You supply the Vision I help you enhance it.
Check-list Printer Friendly version
This is the basic outline that I handout to all my new or potential clients. Being that it's a checklist, makes it very easy to start a game plan. The key questions will help you strategize and then begin to gather the information needed for your new website.
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