- 1). Set your objectives. What will the site be used for? Some possibilities include selling products, selling services and providing information. What's the best way to help users find what they're looking for on your site?
- 2). Draw a flowchart. Once you come up with ideas to make your website useful, draw a flowchart to visualize paths/links. Start with the "Home" page and map out the course a user might take to the end of a search result or purchase confirmation page. Organize the page flow. Avoid dead-end pages that don't allow the user an easy way to return to the main category or home page. Always give users choices from the point to the next possible page. Make sure all paths are correctly connected.
- 3). Design the web page layout. You don’t necessarily need to know web programming languages, such as HTML, XHTML, CSS, DHTML and Javascript. Hiring a freelance web designer could be a fastest solution if you don’t know anything about these languages. Make sure that you communicate with a designer often to deliver your ideas clearly. Showing your sketches for images and flowchart will be the best way to present your ideas. Utilizing web design software is cost effective, as long as you know how to use it.You can edit the contents or images however you want. There are convenient templates available that could save your time. Make sure your website has visual impact and is user friendly. Learn about web design trends. You'll want your website to look fresh without being so "out there" that it distracts users and defeats your goal of moving them through your site. Bandwidth, downloading time and web compatibility should also be considered.
- 4). Consider optional services from your hosting service. If you have an e-commerce website, you will need secure shopping functionality. If you want to do promotions on your site and analyze the site traffic, you will need other services. If you want to set up a newsletter for your customers, there are services that can help you to jump start it.
- 5). Test your site and get opinions. Once your site has set up, ask testers to participate in a usability test on your site from users’ point of view. You will be able to collect good and bad results and figure out where the problem are. Consider setting up a survey for customers to rate your site's usability.
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