NEWSLETTERS

PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL

This is so exciting! You have decided to advertise your young and fairly unknown small company on the Internet. You have considered all the benefits and decided that you really need a website. You realised that the design of your website is best left to the professionals and you have sourced a worthy website developer. And you just know that you will be proud of your company's new website.

But a website does not happen by itself and you have a responsibility towards the success of it. The website development team will not know where to start, unless you provide valuable inputs. In order to do that, you have to know exactly what outcomes you expect from the website. And you have to start planning and putting together the content. Yes, it is your responsibility to provide content. The website developer may seem to take an interest in your business for the sake of the success of the website, but he or she is not an expert in the disciplines within which your business operates.

To assist you to plan your website, we provide some guidelines:

• Visit a number of websites on the Internet. What do you like about it? What do you not like? What will work for you? We do not want to copy other people's work, but this exercise will help you make up your mind about what you really want. Discuss your preferences with your website developer.
• Plan the structure of your website, i.e. the number of pages (links) the website must contain and the content of each page.
• Do you have graphics in an electronic format that you want to use, or do you need the services of a graphic designer? Do you need the services of a photographer, or do you have all the photographs you need?
• The text content of your website must be well written and free of grammar mistakes and spelling errors. Discuss the format of these documents with the website developer.
• It is important for the success of the website to provide enough information to keep a visitor's attention, without boring nitty gritty detail. Too much or irrelevant information can ruin the effectiveness of a website. Rather ask the website developer to create a form with an e-mail link, should a visitor require more information. This is also an excellent way to directly get into contact with a prospective client.
• If any, keep animation and flash to the minimum. Website developers know how to create really flashy looking websites, but most of the time it distracts the visitor from the real business. If animantion is used, do it sparingly.
• Website developers work on a time basis and will bill you per hour. It is within your power, though, to cut the cost of your website substantially by clear communication, well thought through planning and good quality graphics and documents. If you cannot make up your mind in the planning stage, the website will be more costly in the end due to constant design changes and amendments.

Plan well, and enjoy it. The results will be worth it!

The Heinco Website Development Team