How to set up a website
Checklist
- Set your objectives, for example, marketing to existing or potential customers, providing product and sales support, making direct sales or recruiting employees.
- Your objectives should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-limited.
- Look at competitors' and other websites to generate ideas; draw-up an outline of what you want your site to include.
- Assess your technical requirements: for example, how large the site will be, potential number of visitors and whether it will use any special technologies, including product ordering and secure payment.
- If setting up a trading site, obtain merchant status allowing you to accept credit and debit card transactions; assess legal and liability issues.
- Check all in-house and outsourced back-up resources: dispatch and delivery, customer support, stock control and replenishment.
- Confirm your Internet service provider (ISP) will be suitable for hosting your site; check costs, and the process for publishing and maintaining web pages.
- Source any technical or web design consultancy you need; ask for references and evidence of successfully completing similar projects. Make sure that design or copyright is assigned to you.
- Establish design guidelines in keeping with company style; aim for visual clarity and easy navigation; avoid complex graphics which are slow to download; consider developing a site which allows users to access a text-only version.
- Consider accessibility issues for disabled users and ensure compliance with the Equality Acts 2006 and 2010.
- Register your desired domain name, for example your company name or your product. Keep it short.
- Build the site ensuring that ths site is search engine optimised, for example that pages include appropriate keywords, meta tags and page descriptions to help search engines list them.
- Test the site, using different versions of various browsers, to ensure that the design looks right, pages download quickly and page links work.
- Assess the site's appeal and ease of navigation; ask employees and key customers for feedback and suggestions.
- Launch the site; register it with numerous search engines to make it easy to find, and identify other sites you can link to and from.
- Promote the site: by emailing target customers, for example; include its address in your letterhead, brochures and traditional advertising.
- Monitor usage and how effective the site is at achieving its aims.
- Keep the site up to date; add new, time-critical material, particularly on the home page, to keep visitors coming back.
Cardinal rules
Do:
- set clear objectives
- create a well-designed site, using consultants if necessary
- promote the site
- keep it up to date
Don't:
- be over-ambitious with a site you can't afford to maintain
- get carried away with complex gimmicks
- launch your site without thorough testing
- assume your website will automatically create traffic and interest
