Building your first website can be a daunting task especially if you have limited or no experience of using multiple and diverse software packages.
- Planning
- Image Content
- Text Content
- Look & Feel
- Website or Domain Name
- email marketing
- Payment & Shopping Baskets
Your initial plan is really a list or 'wish list' of things you would like your website to have and be able to do.
Decide how many product photos you want to use and if they are to be used in a shop environment so people can buy them. Do you have existing artwork such as a business logo that you would also like to use. If you would like more detailed information on this topic? Why not download our guide or ask for it to be emailed from our contact section. Guide Part 1 : Guide Part 2
Do you already have written descriptions of the items or articles you would like to feature? If you do try and make sure that you have these in a digital format such as a Word document.
If you have seen a website that you quite like the look and feel of make note of where or what the site is.
The name of your website or domain name could be important so think carefully about this. You may already have the domain name but not the website. All of these issues can be dealt with, the only difference may be to the cost of doing so.
Email do you have this already (domain name) or would you like this to be combined with your new site? A little planning on this will pay in the long term as your website and email will all have a consistent and business feel. What would you think if you received the following email from? jonlewis@gmail.net would you be impressed or suspicious?
Last but not least if you want to have an online store you will need to think about how you will receive payment or what payment methods you will accept. These will all have an associated cost some considerably more than others. Whilst a cash only website may exist we can't recall having seen it. That means receiving payment will probably be electronic in its methodology.