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How to build a successful website in 5 Steps |
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| Whether you are hiring a professional or doing it yourself, these steps will help you organize your web site design project. Creating a successful web site may not be as easy as it appears. |
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| 1. |
Determine who will be involved |
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Who in your office will be the person in charge of the website? Will someone in your office build the website or will you hire outside help? Will someone in your office update the website? What people will have initial input and review the new website? What company will host the site? Will a consultant or advertising agency be involved with the project? |
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| 2. |
Define the purpose and layout of the website |
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Is the goal of your website to expand your customer base? Provide information to existing customers? Support company marketing activities? Will you sell goods on the website? If so, will you accept credit cards? Do you need databases? Do you want a content management system? Get out a yellow pad and start making a list of pages. Draw a flow chart to help visualize the layout of the website. |
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| 3. |
Build and test the website |
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Create the homepage and get everyone's approval on color, graphics and layout before building more pages. Assign several people to check parts of the website if your site is large. Have people test surf the website to make sure they can find information. If visitors have an unsatisfactory experience, they won't come back. Spell check the site. Misspelled words will erode your credibility. Ecommerce websites must test online order forms to avoid costly and embarrassing situations. |
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| 4. |
Promote the website |
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Even if you are familiar with some web marketing techniques, a web marketing professional can determine the right strategy for your website. There are many web marketing options available, selecting those that will be most effective for your website will save you time and money. Be sure to put your website address on your business cards, letterhead, brochures, advertising and all other marketing material. You should also create and use an email signature which includes your website address. Send out a press release announcing your new website. |
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| 5. |
Maintain and update the website |
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As your website evolves, pages will be added and removed. Regular maintenance should include looking for broken links and missing graphics. There are software programs to help you with this. Old price sheets and outdated articles will destroy your credibility. If you want to keep people coming back, you'll want to regularly update the website and add new information. No one will be interested in returning to a stagnant website. |
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