Step 1 - List Your Website Objectives

What objectives would you like your website to achieve?

eg:

• Increase sales
• Expand into new markets
• Better service existing clients
• Increase customer satisfaction
  Reduce operating costs
• Reduce the cost of making sales
• Branding

Step 2 - Define Your Target Audience

Who is going to be interacting with your Internet presence?

eg:

• Potential Clients
• Existing Clients
• Trade Clients
• Business Partners
• Information Seekers
• Employees or Internal Users

Step 3 - Target Audience Requirement

What does your Target Audience Require?

eg:

• Preliminary Product or Services Information
• Ability to purchase online
• Company Information
• Product Support
• Interactive Content
• Comparisons of Products

Step 4 - Repeat Visitors

What will make your target market return to your site?

eg:

• Regular content changes
• Interesting Content
• Regular Purchasing Requirements
• Product Support
• Online help

Step 5 - Define Content

Once you have completed the four steps, you can start defining your site-map. This is a list of page names for the type of content required to meet your websites overall objectives.?

Step 6 - Define your Content Management

How often will you update content to keep visitors coming back?

• Content Manager/s
• Feature and Articles
• Newsletters
• Payment Processing
• Stock Control
• Enquiry Replies

Step 7 - Define Site Access and Memberships

What access will different visitors have to content and products?

• Public Access to all content
• Member Access to specific content
• Pricing Dependant on Access Levels

Step 8 - Plan Products and Catalogue

• Product Layout
• Stock Levels
• Price Breaks
• Member level pricing
• Shipping and Handling
• Reward Points

Step 9 - Design and Layout Planning

How do you want the layout and feel of your site?

• Corporate Profile
• Existing marketing material look
• Colors and Layout
• Graphics and Images
• Site Structure

Step 10 - Review and Research Web Site Planning

What advantages will be provided in your web site compared to your competition?

• Get feedback on your web site planning
• Review how all aspects of your web site plan will work in together
• If offering special features check to see if the users will benefit and use them

The more planning you do before building your web site will increase your ability to achieve a web site that will maximize your investment in both time and money, and deliver the required results.

By developing your website with DBDS, you can speed implementation, minimise deployment costs, and swiftly realise the value of your web site online solutions.