A Comprehensive Website Planning Guide

This guide is written in relatively non-technical language and provides a broad overview of the process of developing a website, from the initial needs assessment through the launch, maintenance and follow-up. It is appropriate for:

• Small and medium-sized businesses;
• Organizations;
• Institutions;
• Web designers, developers, and design and development firms.

If you’re building a four-page website for your family reunion or a 5000-page website for a Fortune 500 company, then this guide might not be for you; it will either be too detailed or way too short, respectively.

                                    Important questions and answers. Image by opensourceway



COMMON RESULTS OF FAILING TO PLAN

• The designer or developer is forced to make assumptions, which may or may not be correct, about how certain content will appear on the website.
• The amount of back-and-forth communication about trivial matters can be multiplied many times over.
• Backtracking causes delays and missed deadlines.
• Work that falls outside the original scope of the project creates cost overruns.
• Confusion and client dissatisfaction are byproducts of a shoot-from-the-hip process.

Determine Website Content

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

As you prepare to add content to the website, think about who will contribute. In a five-person business, it might be just two of you, and that’s fine. In a large business or organization, 5, 10 or 15 people might be contributing content. The time required to edit and proofread both copy and visual content grows exponentially in proportion to the number of people who contribute content.

                      Clear the fronts and distribute clear responsibilities. Image by opensourceway

CONTENT IS NOT JUST TEXT

Unless you are creating the dullest, most technical website imaginable, your content should consist of more than just plain text. By using one or more of the following multimedia elements, you’ll greatly enhance the appeal and usefulness of the website:

• Images;
• Documents (usually PDFs);
• Audio;
• Video (i.e., embedded from YouTube or Vimeo, or self-hosted);
• Adobe Flash files;
• Content feeds (from other websites, for example);
• Photos (from Flickr perhaps);
• Twitter stream;
• Facebook “friends” list;
• RSS feeds.