The Ultimate 101 Website Design List

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:12:23 EST

Now that you have decided to create your very own company website you are in no doubt very anxious to see your website LIVE on the internet competing with millions of other websites and becoming the number one website on the web.

There are however a lot of ground to cover before you achieve your dream. This article is a collection of the 101 most important factors to consider from the stage when your website is still a twinkle in your eye to the ultimate website of your dreams. So no more delays, a lot of writing for me and reading for you. Where possible links to resources have been added for your convenience.

Planning your website

1. Define your customers - Who, what and why
2. Define your mission - What are you selling, why are you the best option
3. Choose your domain name - keep it short and make sure that it is easy to say and spell
4. Use relevant keywords to your website service or product in your domain name
5. Make use of Google Keyword Tool to find the best keywords for your niche
6. Make a drawing of your website design (this will change all the time)

Adding content to your website

7. Do not make your website look or read like an add
8. Keep your content concise and use bullet points when possible
9. Make sure that your customers understand what you are writing - be careful of using industry jargon to show how smart you are
10. Always spell check and proofread your copy more than once
11. Hire a professional with web experience to write your copy for you if you are unsure of yourself
12. Only use the images and graphics needed to bolster your text, less is more
13. Good pictures can make a major difference

Create a budget, there are many expenses to consider

14. How many products or services are you selling?
15. Do you have blogs, surveys or newsletters?
16. What will the cost be of your web hosting, design and domain name?
17. Will you be outsourcing the writing and designing of your website?
18. What will the cost be to securely process orders?
19. How will you be driving traffic to your website after it has been built?
20. Remember that you can start small and grow so always stick to your initial budget

Building your website

21. Decide whether you are going to built your site yourself or use a professional
22. If you are going to do it yourself make sure that you have the necessary tools
23. There are a number of reputable DIY web site providers on the web to choose from (Microsoft Office Live Small Business or Yahoo! Small Business to name two)
24. If you are going to use a professional, use someone like websitepros.com to assist you with the decision making process.
25. Choose the correct web hosts, use Web Hosting Review, Hosting Review or consumer Search to assist you
26. Choose a merchant account service (Pay Pal is one of the more well known providers)
27. If you are not using a designer to manage your photos and graphics you need a tool (try Microsoft Digital Image Suite, PhotoPlus or Quick Web Photo Resizer)

General design principles

28. Keep it clean
29. Never use dark text on dark backgrounds
30. Choose colours carefully
31. Make sure that your customers can always navigate easily around your website

Pages a website should have

32. Contact us,
33. Testimonials
34. Privacy policy
35. FAQ
36. Free Goodies page
37. About us
38. Confirmation page that acknowledges an order and thanks the visitor

Do not make these mistakes

39. Do not have a confusing site structure
40. Do not make the menu to complicated
41. Do not laps onto industry jargon
42. Do not over promise and under deliver

Incorporate the following

43. Pay attention to contrast and sharpness throughout your website
44. Know HTML but only what you need to know
45. Add PayPal buttons
46. Add an embedded video player
47. Add slide shows
48. Let visitors open new browser windows from a link
49. Add maps and directions
50. Add a hit counter (resources: htmlgoodies.com, websitetips.com)

To start selling online

51. Add a PayPal button
52. You can list and sell your products on eBay and Amazon
53. You can build your own e-commerce store using a Web designer or template based Web store

Look for the following in your e-commerce software

54. Can the software grow with you business?
55. Can you include special offers?
56. Does it include a newsletter, e-mail, guestbook, blogging and affiliate linking?
57. Is it easy to highlight your top sellers?
58. Does it include effective sales analysis?
59. Does it allow you to offer volume pricing?
60. Study Amazon.com for some store ideas

Incorporate SEO into your website to ensure high rankings on the search engine results pages

61. Get the most from you URL - be creative
62. Use the most effective keywords (high search volume and low competition)
63. Create search-friendly page titles incorporating your keywords
64. Highlight your keywords
65. Focus on your keyword density (between 3% and 5% for pages with a lot of text, less than 10% for pages with less text)
66. Emphasize your text links
67. Include variations of your keywords
68. Link every page to other pages on your site
69. Make sure it is easy to navigate for your customers (resources: Google's Webmasters Help centre, The Backlink Assistant, Search Engine Marketing Professional )

Test your site

70. Checking for spelling and grammar more than once
71. The consistency of your pages and navigation across your site
72. Test all of the links
73. Can your pages be printed
74. Submit your site for customer reviews
75. Ask the following questions:
76. Will your customers understand or have questions about the information on your site?
77. Does your website flow and is it easy to find your way around?
78. Do your pages load quickly?
79. Do the pages print ok?
80. Are the videos, audio and images the right size?
81. Are your products and services clearly displayed?
82. Is you shopping cart easy to use and is your shopping cart trust worthy?
83. Are all of the forms easy to understand, fill in and send?
84. Test your site across all browsers and make sure that your site works on all platforms and operating systems

Key website information that you need to know

85. Search engines and the keywords people use to find you
86. Traffic summary
87. Entry page report
88. Most requested pages report

Take your website Live!!

89. Register with search engines
90. Buy adds or better placement
91. Sign-up with directories
92. Launch a PR campaign
93. Try Pay-Per-Click
94. Start a Blog
95. Keep you website updated
96. Keep things secure
97. Manage existing content
98. Tend to your analysis and SEO
99. Add new content and links on a regular basis
100. Promote your website constantly
101. Submit new adds constantly

Congratulations, you have made it to the end of the list!!. If you work through the list and ensure that you have taken all the points into consideration, you will end-up with a very good Website. Always remember that you can make use of a professional for any of the areas that you are not experienced in or comfortable with. If you make use of a professional service provider you should still use this list to double check that everything has been done.

Article marketing and link building are two of the most effective optimization and promotional tools available today. Look at using both of these tools as part of the SEO of your website. Thank you for reading this article and please use it to improve your website and to become successful.

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The Ultimate 101 Website Design List