Target Audience: First you want to think about your audience. Ask yourself…who will be viewing my website and what do I want to say to them? Once you figure out your target audience, you should start to focus on gathering all relevant text and images necessary to relay your message. It is not enough to simply say “Our product or service is good”; you must let your audience know how your product or service can be a benefit to them. Find your niche. This may take a bit of time so don’t rush this. The key is to keep it simple and to the point.
What Do You Want Your Website to Do For You?
A website can serve as a store, and virtual office, a promotional tool, a networking outlet, and the list goes on. Deciding on how you want people to interact with your website will help your web visitors navigate your website and find information easily, and it will also help you strategically market the entire website or even certain items on your website.
Choosing a Domain Name:
You want to choose a domain name that is relatively short, simple, and reads easily. A good example of a domain name that does not necessarily read well is “www.landofart.com”…people may end up only seeing the last four letters before the dot com. A better way to read this example domain name is “www.land-of-art.com”. A short domain name isn’t always feasible as in the case of “www.bestflashanimationsite.com”, but the goal is to get a catchy, easy to remember domain name with a punch. The next thing is to consider your domain name extension.
The most popular extension is “.com”, however depending on your company you may want to consider a “.org”, “.net”, “.ca”, etc. Once you choose a domain name, you will want to do a domain name search to check to see if that domain name is available. You can do a domain name search at any of the popular domain registration and hosting websites (netfirms.ca, godaddy.com, dreamhost.com, doteasy.com, and the list goes on).
Have several options ready in case one is not available. Domain names go quickly so you will want to act fast and reserve your as soon as you can.
How Can We Help?
We can assist you at all levels of website production and development. From the very first step all the way to the last. We can help in the strategic preparation of your website, and most definitely in the design and production of your website. As we grow, we are constantly finding new methods and technologies that will help us to better assist you.