Here is a Checklist to Help You Plan a Successful Web Site!

Don’t invest in a web site without thinking about your business strategy, the purpose of your web site, maintaining the site and cost. Treat a web site as a component of your marketing plan, not all of it.

Establish clear business goals and a web site outline. Set clear expectations for the site and define the scope of the project. Your web site can be effective without becoming a monumental project with a lot of complex features. Choose what’s best for your business and keep the focus on building awareness, marketing products or services and giving customers/potential customers access to your company. 

This checklist is designed to give you some key points to consider before creating a web site and some ideas about technical questions you will want to answer to be sure a web site runs effectively and grows with your business. 

The checklist main topics are: 

• Web Site Strategy
• Web Site Set-Up 
• Web Site Content
• Web Site Maintenance
• Web Site Marketing 

Web Site Strategy

1. AUDIENCE - Who is your target audience? What are characteristics of this audience? (consumer, business to business, etc.) Who do you want to serve with the site customers and/or suppliers?

2. PURPOSE - What is the purpose of your site? Do you have a clear picture of the business need the site will fulfill? Will your site contribute directly or indirectly to profitability?

3. GOALS - How does the proposed site tie in to company goals? Will you sell a product or service online? Will you provide a sample portfolio of products or work online? How does the site help you obtain or retain customers?

4. SIZE - How big will your Web site be? Larger sites cost more money; will your site be five pages or 500 pages? Have you thought about limits for the size and scope of the site?

5. INTERACTIVITY - Will your web site offer interactive features to visitors? Can visitors send email, order a product or request information? How can the site give you feedback?

Web Site Set-up 

1. WEB HOSTING - Will you contract for web hosting services? Will you have a control panel to access your site files, email addresses, etc. Does the web server have fault-tolerant features, so you can be up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

2. ISP - Do have broadband ISP (Internet Service Provider)? It's best to have a high-speed Internet connection if you plan on maintaining your site.

3. ONLINE SALES - Do you plan to make sales online? If so, does your ISP offer a "secure" server? Are you able to handle credit card payments? Will you use PayPal? or will you need a Payment Gateway account to process on-line credit card transactions?

4. CONTACT RESPONSE - Who will be responsible for responding to email messages from your visitors? Can you respond to email messages within 24 hours?

Web Site Content 

1. CATEGORIES - Have you decided what the main categories or sections will be on your site? Will the categories link to products and services or to more general subject areas with sub-categories?

2. FLOWCHART - Did you think about preparing a flowchart to identify all the components of the web site? Have you identified what subjects within the site might link to other subjects?

3. COMPUTER PROGRAMMING - Will you need custom computer programming to enable features on your site? Do you plan to have a shopping cart, order forms, member only areas or a calendar of events? Do you want any information to be related to a database for marketing or sales purposes?

4. COMPETITION - Who are your competitors online? Of those, which competitor sites do you like and why? What competitor sites do you dislike and why? How can your site beat the competition?

5. HOT LINKS - What web sites would you like to link to? What web sites do you want to link to your site? Have you thought about registering your site with search engines?

6. TEXT & GRAPHIC SCANS - Is all of your content both text and graphics in electronic form? Will you need to have photos or artwork scanned into electronic format?

7. SEARCHABLE - Do you want your entire site to be searchable by users? Have you thought about what vendor can help you set up this and other features?

 Web Site Maintenance 

1. FREQUENCY - How often will your web site be updated? Do you plan to update daily, weekly or monthly?

2. WEB PROGRAMMING SKILLS - How proficient are you or the person(s) maintaining your site with HTML? Can you afford to have a vendor update your site or do you need to update in-house?

3. STAFF VS VENDOR - Who do you foresee maintaining your site? How much will it cost? Will staff prepare content and a vendor handle HTML conversion and posting to the web site? Are you willing to pay a monthly fee for site maintenance?

4. TRAINING - If you or your company will maintain the site, have you planned for online administration tools? Will you or an employee need HTML and web site management training?  Maybe a Content Management System is what you need for your web site. With a CMS you can maintain your site without web programming skills.

 Web Site Marketing 

1. MARKETING TOOLS - What forms of marketing will you use to promote the web site? Do you plan to place the Web address on all stationery, business cards and brochures? Will you place ads, send direct mail or market the site online or a combination?

2. INTERNET PROMOTION - Are you planning to register the site with search engines? Will you contact the media to review your web site? Do you plan to buy any web banner advertising on other sites?

3. STATISTICAL FEEDBACK - What do you want to know about visitors to your web site? Do you want to know where they came from to reach your site? Do you want to know what pages on the site were viewed? Do you need to know the total number of hits and page views? 

However, a web site can also be a drain on company resources if it is not set up with users in mind, if usage isn’t measured correctly, if top management isn’t committed to maintenance of the site or if the site is poorly organized and doesn’t attract visitors. Plan your web site before you spend money. With planning you can create a powerful, successful web site for your business.