Web Site Design Tips: The Planning Stage

• Choose your general site goal first. Is your site's purpose to sell something? To tell something? To show yourself off (personal site)? To communicate with/assist employees (intranet)?
• Choose your audience. Does your product, information, or message appeal to a specific audience? Teenagers? The elderly? People with disabilities? Women? Men? Children? People who may not speak English (or the language you intend for your content)? Employees? Existing clients? Investors?
• Brainstorm. With site purpose and audience in mind, make a list of items your "dream site" would have/offer (if you have really big dreams, you may need to outsource!). These things may include: request for information form, shopping cart, quizzes, trivia, contests, libraries, databases, and articles. When you're done, pare down and prioritize the list.
• To outsource or not to outsource? Carefully look over your dream list. If you haven't the faintest idea how to turn many of the items into web site reality, you may want to outsource this project -- or buy a lot of books and be prepared to spend several months learning!
• Make a flow chart of your site. With your refined "dream list" in hand, create a flow chart of your site pages. Start with the home page at the top. The next level should be main pages. These are usually pages that are linked to from your main navigation system. Finally, each main page can have sub-pages which make up the third level of the flow chart. Subsequent levels are okay, but remember the three-click rule: it should never take anyone more than three clicks to find what they're looking for.
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