10 Things to do when planning a website

1. Have a business plan
Have you ever heard of a site not doing what it's supposed to? It's a common error that many sites suffer from. A business plan, or at least a mission statement, will serve as a backbone for decisions made about the website. The more specific your business plan is, the more your site will hit the mark.

2. Get a high resolution Logo
Logos are the lasting image that audiences take with them. Eventually the quality of your business will define what this image means to your client. It is crucial that you attain high-resolution digital copies of your logo for use on the website and all of your print material. Appeal Design can work alonside you to make sure your logo is getting the concepts across that you want.

3. Capture Photographs & Images
Quality photography is a huge distinguisher between amateur and professional. Photos of your product or service in your industry are best when they are genuine. Collect as many images and photographs into a file folder as possible. Professional images can be purchased for relatively cheap if photographs aren’t available. Custom Professional photography is sometimes needed and is available from Appeal Design.

4. Have a goal - The Call to Action
Ultimately, your ideal user will end their experience on your homepage with a desired action. Perhaps it's using a product demo, watching a video, filling out a request form, downloading a file, or simply getting directions. All pages on your website should promote a path to a Call to Action. The Call to Action is after all, the reason for the site.

5. Know your client/audience
You're in business, and so far you've known how to talk to your client. Who is the end user and what do they need to hear? Your sales pitch should come across in your site. Websites that are most respected and visited are the ones that have figured out how to provide a site that is informative. Imagine you are talking to your ideal client, before they knew about your industry.

6. What are your design preferences?
Your website is the virtual front door to the customer. The average first page view for a website is less than 7 seconds. All of the blood, sweat and tears you've poured into your website don't mean a thing if your design isn't addressing the audience appropriately. What are design standards for your industry? Do you have a color scheme/preference? Are there sites that you like and dislike? If so, why and which parts?

7. Define your Page Names
What do you envision the page names being for the main menu? Secondary menu if needed

8. Write your text (copy)
Yes, yes, yes, we need some help from you on the text. No one knows your business as well as you do. Whether or not you have been blessed with the ability to finesse words, there are certain technical aspects of the process that you are privy to simply from your exposure and experience in the industry. Take a stab at writing text for each page. Appeal Design does have copywriter services to fine-tune your technical insight.

9. Know what your competitors are doing
The key to a successful Atlanta Web Design is researchwithin the specific industry. If your competitor has a good idea, how can you improve upon it, how can you do it better? Your expertise imposed on their idea will breed new ones.

10. Define your keywords
What keywords are most important for a Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing) search?