1. Back to Table of Contents

2. Creating a Web Site Conceiving a Web Site Planning a Web Site
Chapter 9
Creating a Web Site
Section
9-1
Conceiving a Web Site
Section
9-2
Planning a Web Site 2

3. Section 9-1 Why It’s Important
Setting objectives, generating ideas, and knowing your customers are all essential to creating a successful Web site.
Section 9-1 3

4. Section 9-1 Key Terms goals objectives brainstorming
feasibility assessment
target market
demographics
Section 9-1 4

5. Goals and Objectives
Before you begin setting up your online business, you need to consider your goals and objectives.
goals general targets a person wants or expects to reach sometime in the future
objectives specific targets to be reached by a certain time, the progress toward which can be measured
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6. Goals and Objectives The Five Ws W Who is your target audience?
What do you hope to accomplish?
When do you want it to be up and running? W W
Where do you want your site to appear? W
Why do you want to build a Web site?
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7. Establishing Goals
An Internet business can express its goals through a mission statement that it posts on its Web site.
A mission statement is a short, general description that explains the purpose of a Web site and what its creators hope to accomplish with it.
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8. Setting Objectives
Setting and sticking to specific objectives will help you accomplish your goals over the long term.
Write down your site’s objectives in quantifiable terms, including how much time, information, and money they will require.
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9. Brainstorming
When you’re planning and developing your site, it’s a good idea to have a brainstorming session.
brainstorming activity that involves a group of people generating and sharing ideas
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10. Feasibility Assessment
A feasibility assessment is used to determine which ideas should be taken to the next step of the planning process.
feasibility assessment takes ideas from the brainstorming process and examines how practical they would be to implement
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11. Conceptualizing
When conceptualizing your Web site, you should start sketching samples of the Web site’s design.
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12. Knowing Your Audience
Knowing your customers is a crucial part of planning a Web site.
To plan and design your Web site, you will need to identify your target market.
target market the specific group of customers a business wants to attract
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13. Knowing Your Audience
To determine your target market, you’ll need to do some basic research on demographics.
demographics information about the characteristics of customers a business serves, such as their age, average income, level of education, and where they live
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14. Section 9-1 Review 1.
What is a feasibility assessment? Why might some ideas be unfeasible?
What is a target market? Why is it important to know who your target market is when you’re creating a Web site?
What are demographics? How can they benefit an online business? 2.
Section 9-1 Review
A feasibility assessment evaluates how practical ideas are to implement. Some ideas may be too expensive or time-consuming.
A target market is the group of customers that a Web site is trying to attract. Different types of sites appeal to different types of customers.
Demographics are statistics about a population, including age, income, education, gender, and buying habits. They can help a business identify its target market. 3.
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15. Section 9-2 Why It’s Important
A well-designed and well-organized Web site that is easy to navigate is more likely to attract customers who will visit, browse, buy, and return.
Section 9-2 15

16. Section 9-2 Key Terms navigate home page layout site map storyboards
navigation scheme
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17. Organizing the Site
Once you’ve established your goals and objectives, you’re ready to plan your Web site.
You’ll want to make it easy for visitors navigate your site.
navigate find a way around a site, including getting from page to page and getting to and back from other sites
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18. The Home Page
If you have an online business, a home page is like your storefront—it’s the first thing your customers see.
home page a site’s main page; usually the first page that appears when you log on to a site
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19. The Home Page Your home page should: attract visitors’ attention
communicate what your site offers
reflect the business’s personality
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20. The Home Page
Your home page should also have a simple and logical layout.
layout refers to the arrangement of the elements on the page, such as text, graphics, and headlines
If your home page is cluttered or disorganized, potential customers might become impatient and leave.
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21. Site Maps and Storyboards
Each category on the home page should have its own Web page that links back to the home page.
Each category might be broken down into smaller subcategories that require separate Web pages.
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22. Site Maps and Storyboards
To organize your site logically, you should draw a site map.
site map a diagram of a Web site’s overall structure
A site map is like an outline or table of contents.
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23. Site Maps and Storyboards
To organize and lay out each page, you should use storyboards.
storyboards pencil sketches or computer-generated images that show what individual Web pages will look like, illustrating everything that will appear on the Web site, including text, graphics, color schemes, links, and menus
The storyboards will act as blueprints for programmers and graphic designers to use in building the site.
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24. Navigation Schemes
A navigation scheme can be very complex, like a web, but should be designed so visitors can easily navigate and interact with your site.
navigation scheme shows how different Web pages relate to one another and link to other sites
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25. Reaching Your Audience
You must make sure it’s easy for customers to locate, access, and contact your site.
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26. Reaching Your Audience
Customers visiting your site for the first time will probably find it by using a browser.
For this reason, it’s wise to support—or make your site readable by—all of the major Internet browsers.
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27. Reaching Your Audience
If your customers need special free software to browse your Web site, you can provide a link to the software so they can download it.
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28. Reaching Your Audience
Once your customers have found you, you need to set up a means for them to contact you to establish good customer relations.
For this reason, include a Contact Us link, a Guest List, and phone and fax numbers.
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29. Editing Your Site
As you develop your site, you might want to change its style or design.
To store all your information and keep track of changes, create a folder on your local hard drive that contains all of your Web files.
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30. Editing Your Site
Once your pages are designed and coded, you can test your Web site.
Test your Web files on various computer platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, before copying them onto the Web server.
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31. Section 9-2 Review 1.
How is a home page like the front of a store?
What is the difference between a site map and a navigation scheme?
What can you do for customers who need special software to use your site?
How can you keep track of your Web files so you can change them? What should you do before you copy them onto a Web server? 2. 3.
Section 9-2 Review
It’s the first thing customers see, so you want it to make a good impression.
A site map is a diagram of the overall structure of a site. A navigation scheme shows how the different Web pages relate to one another and link to other sites.
If special software is available for free on the Internet, you can provide a link so they can download it.
You should store all your files in a folder on your hard drive. Before you copy them onto a Web server, you should test them on various computer platforms. 4.
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32. Customizable Slide 32

33. End of
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