New Website Planning

PLANNING PHASE DETAILS

  1. Develop a sitemap (all pages and sub-pages)
    All sites have a Home page and most sites also have an About or Our staff page and a Contact page
    Additional pages might include a Services page, Portfolio or Success Stories, FAQ (frequently asked questions), Photo or Video Gallery, Our Products, and of course the house keeping pages like Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

  2. Set goals for the homepage and design a layout
    Once the sub pages have been identified the homepage can be planned. Your homepage should be a summary of your site with enough information for a viewer to know who you are and what you do and be encouraged to learn more by going to sub pages for more detail.

  3. Create an outline for all sub-pages identified in step 1. Content and photos do not need to be available at this time. 

  4. If any web forms are needed on the site they will need to be identified now. These are typically for requesting a quote, applying for a job, wanting more information about volunteering, or anything more than a simple contact form. The exact form details can be decided later but the concept and complexity of the forms will be decided during planning.

  5. Create styling plans for unique pieces of content. If you have statistics that you want displayed in circles that appear as the page scrolls or you have other information that you want to be "jazzed up a bit", we need to know about this while we are making the site plan.

  6. Document functional requirements for any custom programming to create secure portals or other custom features.

  7. Review company logo and branded colors. If these are defined they will be used for the site logo and color scheme. If they are not defined they will be chosen now and logo development will be commissioned.