What You Need to Know Before Building Your Website

Everybody’s building websites. From wannabe authors to people dreaming of Internet riches, there are a lot of people staking their claim to their own small corner of the Internet.

When most people think of building a website, they think about the colors, or the logo, or maybe installing WordPress, but doing it right takes a lot more thought than that. Even if you are using an awesome agency for Magento site development, it is still a good idea to lay the basic groundwork for your site.

Goal, Strategy and Target Audience

Before diving in, it helps to take a minute and think about why you are building a site. What is your goal with this website? What is its purpose, and what are you trying to achieve?

If you are selling something, understanding who your target audience is, where they hang out, and what type of information they respond to will go a long way.

Site Structure

Once you understand what you are creating and who you are targeting, it’s time to think about your site structure. This includes what pages you will have, if there will be a blog or a main landing page, and your category and menu items.

You want your site to be easy to navigate, and you want your message easy to find and respond to. Having clear navigation, menus that make sense, and a logical structure to your website is more important now than ever.

The top of your website is prime real estate. Keep your most important information above the fold. Make it easy for your visitors to find the information they are looking for. Don’t make them work to understand your message, or they might just click away.

This is also a good time to plan your content and your keywords. Make a spreadsheet or a mind map that contains the information, categories, and articles you want to cover. Once you know what information you need, it can be organized in a logical way.

Site Design

Site design is the fun part. Think about your color scheme and the type of logo you would like. Another helpful tip is to consider the type of design that appeals to your target audience. Are you creating a luxury website to attract high-end customers or some other type of site?

Technical Requirements Domain, Hosting and Platform

There are also technical considerations to think about. Once you know what your sites going to be about and who your target audience is, it’s time to find the perfect domain.

Choosing a domain is one of the most fun and sometimes the most frustrating parts of creating your website. To help make things easier, you can use a tool like BustAName or Panabee to find domains that aren’t already taken.

The type of platform or CMS that you are going to build your website on is part of the consideration when choosing your hosting. There are quite a few options and also many different agencies that can help you get up and running.