Did you know that almost 88% of users are unlikely to return to a website after a bad user experience?
Consider your website as your salesperson. If your salesperson isn’t compatible or efficient no client will ever return for services. Your website adds value to your organization and makes it stand out from the rest.
If your salesman is unable to pitch the clients the required information or fails to drive the conversation to retain the customers, then my friend your survival becomes impossible.
Having a successful website might not be as easy as you think. It’s quite a journey! And we are simply here to help you with a comprehensive guide to plan a successful website.
Why do you need a plan for your website?
Ever come across the saying, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”.
Imagine visiting a restaurant that lacks coordination between the staff, nothing is delivered on time, the music doesn’t match the ambience and just the basic plan on how the functioning should take place is missing. Will you ever visit again?
Before opting for a development services, you need to be sure of the target audience, branding elements, budget, your website goals and many other essential details in order to build a static website that offers you the desired traffic and engagement.
Your website and its content value can also serve as a medium to connect with your target audience.
A step-wise guide to help you plan your website
It's important to create a strategy and a detailed plan for each step of your website. So here is our detailed guide to help you plan your website.
Creating a thoroughly thought list of your objectives that you wish to achieve with your site is the first and the most essential step if you're developing the site from scratch.
If you already have a pre-functioning website, then it's better to lookout for the areas that need improvement that can help generate more traffic or boost online sales.
Define your brand voiceBrand voice helps you determine how you wanna project your brand and the message you wanna convey in order to appeal to your target audience.
If you wanna have a quirky profile or theme for your brand, then go for pastel colors, whereas if you wanna keep your theme more corporate inclined, then you might want to choose formal colors like - Blue, Black or white.
For example, Airbnb has an attractive yet warm tone around its brand and its color theme and font remains collateral on all platforms.
Content variations.
If you decide to outsource your project, define how much you are willing to spend on your website and be completely transparent about it with your chosen web design agency.
Isn’t it better for everyone to lay out the expectations, budget and goals for your website? This will enable the agency to come up with the best possible idea that tick marks all your needs.
Lock a domain nameTrust me it's a hassle to decide the perfect domain name for your website.
The best choice for a domain name is to include your brand identity, reputation and recognition, improve your SEO, communicate the purpose of your brand and be capable of establishing a unique online presence.
You also need to ensure the availability of your domain name.
Establish a design planNow starts the actual design process.
This is the time when your strategy starts to actually translate into an info architecture (placement of wireframe). Wireframe helps you layout your content in a strategic manner that fulfills needs of users.
After the wireframe, comes the FUN part.
It’s now the moment to design the user interface, i.e. to decide the colors, visual elements and the fonts that you want to choose to represent your brand. Your brand style, design references and digital strategy should all be kept in mind.
Construct a Marketing PlanDone with the design? Now comes the marketing plan.
You need to pre-decide all of the marketing strategies that will help you nurture and retain visitors for your website. Some of the features to include in your marketing plan are as follows:
Newsletter signups- they capture all the prospects, leads and retain contact information, which is further used to send personalized offers and content directly. Search engine optimization- It helps to increase the quantity and quality of the website’s traffic through a set of techniques that actually make your website visible in search engine results organically. Gated content- This includes articles, videos, white papers and other types of content which are accessible only to website visitors after they fill the form and submit their personal information. Establish a plan for your contentThe strength is in the content!
Your website content should be short, to the point, simple, educational, engaging and on-brand. For this, you may also check out your competition and consider the topics they have covered and the presentation of the data.
Your content ideas should revolve around your target audience and depending on that, your content should include blogs, social media quizzes, weekly newsletter and how-to videos and more.
Develop & Ready to LaunchFirst and foremost you need to decide which platform you want to choose for creating your website. For example, Shopify charges anywhere between $5000 and $20,000 for an e-commerce website. Whereas OuterBox charges more than $100,000.
If you have this clarity in your mind then you can decide the website development services that you want to opt for. And decide on the final budget and timeline.
And it’s finally time to launch the website!
To avoid all the hard work from going to waste, run a QA test to evaluate the design and also the functionality test to determine any flaws or issues that might have been overlooked during the web development phase.
Also run a speed test for the website, Google mobile friendly test, Google analytics and all the possible tests that you can conduct to be completely sure of your website.
Make sure to generate awareness, brand engagement and traffic for the time of your website‘s launch campaign. You can do this either by publishing a ”coming soon” post or by spreading the word around.
By now you must be overwhelmed with a gazillion of questions in your mind, and coming to your RESCUE, we have below a list of frequently asked questions that might help solve your queries.
#1 How much can a website development cost?
There is no exact answer to how much does a custom website development cost. It depends on a number of factors such as the features and functionalities included, the scope of the project and its complexity.
But here’s giving you an estimation:
Simple templates: Starts from $1,000 and can reach upto $30,000 (depending on your requirements). Complex templates: More than $50,000 (Example- eCommerce brands)#2 How much time does it take to build a website?
On an average, it might take 10-14 weeks to build a website. That includes three weeks of development, three weeks of research, six weeks of design and the remaining weeks for website modification.
The number of pages and the functionality also determines the time taken. For instance, it might take just 60 hours for a simple website but more than 2000 hours for a complex website.
An informational website may take 160 to 300 hours whereas an e-commerce website might actually take 240 to 450 hours.
#3 How to purchase a domain name?
You can purchase a domain name through a domain name registrar like Namecheap or GoDaddy. And choose a name that has not been taken by any other business or a person.
Sometimes, a domain name with a specific extension may not be available but you can always choose a different extension.
For example computer.org might be taken but you can always opt for business.com
Note: remember to always renew your domain name on yearly basis or either repay for a longer period so that your domain name doesn’t expire.
Why hire an agency to plan or develop your website?
The best advantage that a consultant agency can offer you is that they are basically the “Experts”. We look at each aspect for your website planning just to achieve your KPIs and expectations.
We are familiar with your industry and can offer you help to create strategies and actually execute and accomplish them. We also take the responsibility for the maintenance, updates and improvements for your site.
An experienced agency surely can contribute towards your business growth and attract more qualified leads.
In order to have a successful website, it's essential to have a strategic plan based on your requirements and expectations so that your company doesn’t lack in any aspect.
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