Six Simplified Steps To Creating A Great Website

To someone who’s just starting online, setting-up a website can be very stressful. They’d have to think about domain names, designs, their target market, and so much more! It can become so confusing that anyone can get easily overwhelmed if they’re oblivious to the whole process.

If that’s the kind of situation that you’re at right now (regardless if you’re a beginner or an old timer), I can guarantee you that after reading this article, you’ll have a better way of handling things. You won’t end-up doing everything ALL AT THE SAME TIME and you’ll have a clear direction of what you need to do. More importantly, you’ll see significant progress in what you’re doing on a daily basis!

As I share with you my six simplified steps to creating a great website, I would very much like you to think about your own way of doing things and share it in the comments section below. The more people who’ll share, the more we can help others that’s struggling. This is an awesome way of giving back to the community, don’t you think?

Planning

Since planning seems too broad of a word to use, I’ve created a list of questions below to aid you in this step.

- Who is your target market?
- What kind of brand image do you want to project?
- What kind of functions does your target market want your website to have?
- What kind of unique features will you add to your website to make your visitors stick?
- What kind of feel does your target market want your website to have?
- What website theme and plug-ins will you use? What are the people saying about it?
- From whom will you buy your hosting and domain name? Are they credible?
There are a lot of things to consider but if you answer these basic questions, you’ll surely be on the right track.

Research

Simply answering the questions in step one without giving it enough research will cost you A LOT!

Basing your answers on facts or advice from experienced professionals will help you avoid making critical mistakes. I strongly suggest that you give this enough emphasis to make sure that your decisions are based on solid foundations.

These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself when doing your research. - Is your target market viable? Consider oversaturation or the longevity of your business.
- What kind of brand will your target market most likely react to?
- Are there surveys on the web that relates to your kind of business? If so what are the results?
- How much are the plug-ins that you’ll need and do you have enough know how to make it work? What are the reviews saying about the plug-ins?
- Did you find a theme that fits your brand? If so, how much is it and is the seller reputable?
- Are you buying your domain name and hosting from a reputable company? Consider their customer service and what people saying about them.

Analyze

On this step, you should compare your step one and two results. After you’ve gone through step 2, you should be able to determine whether your step 1 answers are feasible or if it will produce ideal results.

Here are some of the questions you can ask. - Are your goals achievable based on your research?
- Are the website components that you’ve decided upon cohesive or is it causing conflict within itself?
- How do you think will your target market reacts to your website’s feel and function?

An important tip to remember when you’re in this stage is to avoid analysis paralysis. Notice that I keep on saying ENOUGH research. I emphasize on enough because people get all scientific about this.

What I suggest is that you base your decisions on what authority websites say. As an example, if you are thinking about SEO, search for reputable companies like SEOMOZ and stop looking somewhere else. There are way too many contradicting ideas on the web that it's so easy for you to be distracted and misled.

Implement

After going through all the planning, research, and analysis, you’ve got to start making things happen. This is where you start putting the pieces together to start seeing results.

Be sure to base your implementation on the previous steps to ensure that everything is in place. This step can be very scary for most people but to those whose done an ample amount of research and planning, this is the most exciting part!

Assess and measure

This step is just as important as the rest. Others neglect to do this THOROUGHLY because they’re ecstatic to see the results of their hard work. Although giving yourself time to appreciate your work is important, honest assessment is just the same.

When doing this, be sure to go through the questions that you’ve asked on step one. If there are goals you haven’t met, then you’ve got to take care of it in step 6.

Solve and improve

Whatever goals you’ve missed, you should have already determined that in step 5. From there, you can start working on the missing parts of your site PLUS, make some improvements to make sure it exceeds your expectations.

Going through each of these steps CRITICALLY is important if you want the best results. Simply giving each step a half-baked effort will only result in mediocre success or worse… FAILURE.

If you don’t want to get overwhelmed by the entire process of building a great website, then simply follow these steps and you’ll surely be on the right track.

I hope to hear from you about what your strategies are in building a great website. Please leave share it on the comments section below.

Aileen Galsim is a blogger for Showcase Creative a UK based printing company that provides Custom Presentation Folders, calendars, and other printed presentation products.