Four 'Do’s' to Consider When Developing Your Website

Ah...so you finally got the wherewithal to go virtual with your business marketing. Congratulations.

Developing your business's website is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. Whether you're going at it yourself, or just telling someone else what you want, here are four pointers to keep your site from being a train wreck in the making:

DO: Start on paper.

This is always a good rule of thumb, ESPECIALLY when you're paying someone by the hour to develop your website. Hash it out beforehand. Draw pictures. Make notes. Bust out the colored pencils. If a pen and paper is passé to you, create thumbnails in PhotoShop or Word. Sitting in front of your computer looking at a blank html page is not where to start the thought process (unless backtracking = day at the park for you). There is a lot of thought that goes into creating a website - otherwise your site will be a proverbial waste of (cyber)space.

DO: Put some thought into your domain name.

Obviously, the best choice for your domain name is going to be one directly derived from your company's name. For example - Bob Jones Photography would best be served by www.bobjonesphotography.com. Notice the ".com." .Com stands for "commercial". This should be your first choice, as it is the most common, and will probably be where your clientele tries first if he or she is trying to guess your url. If you're a nonprofit organization, a ".org." is perfectly acceptable.

Alas, as the Stones aptly put it, "You can't always get what you want." I mean, do you honestly think you're the only Bob Jones with a photography business? It can be very discouraging to not get the domain name you wanted, but don't hastily type in a substitute. Regroup. Think.

Do you have a catchy slogan? For example, Nike could use www.justdoit.com. Are you the only business of your kind in town? If so, maybe www.hickvillephotography.com. These are just some ideas. Keep in mind that your domain name needs to be memorable, easy to spell, free from punctuation, and ".com" if possible.

DO: Make your site user friendly.

This is really where your planning ahead comes into play. Don't dump any and all info about your business on the front page. Have a home page that tells about your business, a service page that describes your services, a portfolio page that showcases your work, a contact page that tells a user how to get in touch with you, etc. etc. I didn't type in your url to polish my text scanning, word filtering, and speed-reading abilities. I'm looking for specific information and I want to know where I can find it as soon as the page loads.

Yes, this is where it can get overwhelming. But have no fear. There is a tried and true tool to organize your site. It's called a menu bar (a.k.a. nav bar). The menu sits atop every page (or on the side, your preference) and acts as a cyberspace portal. Notice I said EVERY page. I want the same links on every page so I can skip around on your website like a flittering sprite in the enchanted forest. Don't send me to a dead end page where I have to use my Back button to find my way back. I may just decide it's not worth the effort.

So whether you tackle it with illegible drawings, or create a model to scale using graphics in Word or PhotoShop (which would be a little geeky, I might add), you want to plan your menu bar by creating a flow chart. The flow chart answers the question, "Okay, so if I put my employees' pictures on the ‘Services' page, where do I put their email addresses?" (Well, on the "Contact" page, of course.) You get the idea.

DO: Make it easy on the eyes.

You can read some of my other articles for specific graphic design tips, but here's the lowdown:

1. Contrast your text with the background. This means no blue on black, no yellow on white, and (for cripes sake) NO text on a tiling picture background. Contrast is the difference between being easy to read and making you feel like you need an eye exam.
2. No crappy pictures. This means no pixelation and no weird smudges or dirty looking spots. These rules apply ESPECIALLY to your logo. Also, pictures should be a small size so they will quickly load. Nobody wants to wait on a picture to load for five minutes, only to discover that it's an animated smiley face that says something goofy like "TGIF" (Just leave that one off altogether).
3. And speaking of animation - Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you SHOULD. If you found an animated .gif from a free clip art page, just say no. It would only make your site reminiscent of those ridiculous patronizing emails that we all get forwarded over and over again telling us to smile and laugh (I don't know about you, but for me it has the opposite effect). On the flip side of animation, if you or someone you know can add a little Flash animation to make the site snazzy, go for it. Just keep in mind that the user's appreciation for Flash animation is directly proportional to the time spent waiting for it to load.

I hope these tips for developing your website had the counter-anxiety effect equal to at least one beer. Now get off the computer and start on your flow chart.