B LUEPRINT FOR P LANNING A W EBSITE

A well-organized website doesn’t just happen A detailed blueprint will guide the decision-making process PLAN! PLAN! PLAN!

1. D EFINE THE P URPOSE Define the purpose of the website. – Why do you need a web presence? – What are you hoping to accomplish?

2. I DENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE Identify your target audience and focus on it. The website isn’t about YOU? Ask questions: – How old are they? – Men, women, children? – What are their expectations? – What is their level of education? – Where do they live? – Are they web savvy?

3. D OMAIN N AME Choose your domain name and register it with a domain name registrar – You can pay extra for private registration, which will keep your name and contact information private—otherwise it is public knowledge An exact name match with your company is the best choice Avoid hyphens Keep it short, easy to remember and easy to type Remember the copyright law Some use the “radio” test. How will your website name sound in a radio ad?

4. B UDGET Set a budget and plan accordingly. – It isn’t just about how much it will cost to build it. – You also have to consider the time it takes to build it PLUS what it will cost to maintain it Web hosting fees and domain registration

5. G OALS Prioritize your goals. Determine what needs to go on the website first—and what can be added as time and money allow. – Draw a simple diagram of all the pages you want and how they will connect to each other Plan the navigational structure

6. D ESIGN THE LAYOUT Design the layout of the website – Research other websites and make note of the things that you like – Decide on the color scheme There are 216 web-safe colors that are guaranteed to display properly on both Windows and Mac operating systems.web-safe colors

6. D ESIGN THE LAYOUT Determine screen resolution – Designing web sites to fit all resolutions is very important, but it is difficult to create a site that will look exactly the same at different resolutions. – The most common resolutions are: 800 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 1024 The most commonly used in the U.S. now is 1024x768

7. F ILE NAMING CONVENTIONS Use a simple naming convention for all files to improve search engine optimization (increasing the number of visitors to your site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine) – Only using letters, numbers and dashes (or hyphens); do not use spaces or special characters – Names should be logical, clear and to the point. – Examples: Poor: 11-Aug_lowres.pdf Better: Wilson-Newsletter-2011.pdf

8. C REATE THE SITE Create navigational structure – Include a link back to home on every page in a consistent location Use menus (navigation bars) or tabs Create a site map – Keep it clean—not cluttered and cramped; include plenty of white space – Use small blocks of text

9. P LAN A CCESSIBILITY Accessibility means that your site can be viewed by all, regardless of the device used or the abilities of the visitor. – Color blind? Other vision problems? – Assistive technologies? – Navigate without a mouse? – Mobile device?

10. T EST THE SITE Test the site to make sure everything works properly before you go live: – Spelling/grammar check, hyperlinks, browser compatibility, etc.

11. P UBLISH THE SITE Publish your website through your web hosting service Check to see if your service automatically registers your site with the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc. – If not, register it yourself. Registration is free and improves search engine optimization (SEO).

12. M ONITOR AND EVALUATE Monitor and evaluate your site over time. – Some web hosting services provide analysis to help you know if you are meeting your goals.