Blueprint for Planning & Designing a Website

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

1. Purpose  Define the purpose of the website.  Why do you need a web presence?  What are you hoping to accomplish?

2. Identify 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?  What kinds of devices do they use?

3. Domain Name  Choose your domain name and register it with a domain name registrar  Define domain name: the part of an Internet URL selected and registered by an individual, business or organization to represent their web presence.  The name will consist of at least two parts, separated by a period (dot). The last part is the top-level domain code. Example: microsoft.com  You can pay extra for private registration, which will keep your name and contact information private—otherwise it is public knowledge

3. Domain Name  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?

Top-Level Domain Codes  These are the most common TLDs. The first three are available for use by individuals or businesses; the others require that you meet certain qualifications. .com—commercial .net—network service provider (can be used generically) .org—usually nonprofit but can be generic .edu—educational institution—(colleges or universities) .gov—state or federal government .mil—U.S. military .mob—dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices .biz—business

4. Budget  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 are recurring expenses.

5. Goals  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. Design 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

6. Design 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 commonly used in the U.S. now is 1024x768, but a close second is 1366x768—which actually leads in global statistics.

7. File naming conventions  Use a simple naming convention for all files to improve SEO-- 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. Create the site  Create navigational structure  Include a link back to home on every page in a consistent location --Use menus (navigation bars) or tabs  Keep it clean—not cluttered and cramped; include plenty of white space  Use small blocks of text

9. Plan Accessibility  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. Test the site  Test the site to make sure everything works properly before you go live:  Spelling/grammar check, hyperlinks, browser compatibility, etc.

11. Publish the site  Publish your website through a web hosting service  Web Hosting: Making websites available to computers connected to the Internet.  Web hosting services are usually provided by ISPs or web hosting specialists.  The service will store all the pages of your website and publish it to the Internet.  Depending on the choices you made for creating your website, the cost will range from FREE to low cost for simple websites. Complex sites (like big companies) are more costly to maintain

11. Publish the site  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).

Advantages - Disadvantages Advantage Free Disadvantages Advertising banners No domain hosting—which means you typically can’t select your exact address Limited features Little to no technical support PAID HOSTING Advantages Technical support Free statistics for evaluation purposes Allows domain naming Disadvantages Costs money! However, prices will vary and economical options are available Yearly fee for domain name FREE HOSTING

12. Monitor 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.

What options do you have for developing a website?  Using web design software  Dreamweaver, Microsoft Expression Web, iWeb  Writing the HTML code  HTML editor (Coffee Cup) or a text editor (TextEdit –Mac or Notepad – Windows)  Outsourcing to a professional web designer  Using an online website builder  Wix, GoDaddy, Yahoo, Google, Weebly

Advantages - Disadvantages WEB DESIGN SOFTWARE ONLINE WEBSITE BUILDER Advantages Professional product Disadvantages High learning curve Can be expensive Advantages Low cost – or free Easy to learn/use/access Typically includes web hosting Disadvantages Limited capabilities Not appropriate for large projects Lacks unique quality WRITING THE HTML CODE PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE BUILDER Advantages Customized website Save money Disadvantages Time consuming High learning curve Advantages Professional quality Search-engine friendly Technical support and website maintenance Disadvantages Expensive Time consuming