There are many things you need to think about when planning a new website. To ensure you have everything covered we've created a simple and easy to follow guide that will have you heading in the right direction as you plan your new site.
A Domain Name
Your first step should be deciding upon your domain name. It is the web address viewers will type into the browser address bar or search engine in order to view your site (eg: mywebsite.com.au) as well as the last half of your domain email address (eg: email@mywebsite.com.au). You can check to see what domain names are currently available via the 6Sense domain checker.
Choose a domain name that aligns itself to your business name or website's purpose. Although domain names can be up to 153 characters in length it's best to keep it as short as practical (typing a long domain name becomes tiresome very fast). You can also have multiple domain names that take the viewer to the same site (eg: you may want to register mywebsite.com.au & mywebsite.com).
A Web Hosting Account
A hosting account is necessary to store your website files and links up with your domain name. It will make your website pages publicly available so visitors can view them online.
Hosting accounts come with many different options/services depending on what your needs are. Some things to keep in mind are:
- Ensure you have enough storage space to house your website content
- How many domain names you want to have
- How many websites you want to have
- How many databases your site requires
- How many domain emails you need
Choose a web hosting plan that accommodates your needs and you are set.
Website Functionality
Websites are capable of performing many different functions. To determine what functionality your website needs to perform simply ask yourself. What do I want my website to do?
- Does your site need to accept customer bookings?
- Will you be selling products online and need to process secure payments?
- Do you require a web platform that allows you to update your site yourself (eg: WordPress)?
Once you have determined what your website needs are you can discuss these with your web developer. Your web developer will know what resources are required to build your sites functionality.
Website Content
Every website requires content to bring it to life. Content can come in the form of logos, a site structure, text, images, video, audio as well as a design theme. It's important your content is fresh, and is relative to your websites purpose.
- Your business logo should be orginal and complementary to your business brand.
- Your site structure should list all the different pages that are to be included in your website (eg: Home, About Us, Contact etc). This structure will define what the navigation menu will look like ensuring all of your pages link up. Every website should have a privacy page displaying your privacy policy and depending on its function may also need a terms and conditions page.
- A design theme for your site that includes colours, fonts and styling.
- Text content should be well formatted, free of spelling and grammatical errors and orignal.
- Clear and appropriate images should be selected. An image file size of less than 1MB is ideal.
- Video and audio files may form part of your content if appropriate.