Welcome to the Web - Rocketface(R) Workshop Webmaster's Tutorial - "How to Design a Website"


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Something a little different

How to Analyze a Website
Examining the heart and soul of a website

Analyze Website	Analyze Audience	Analyze Content	Demographics
Effective Communication	Target Audience	Types of Websites	Website Design Tips
Website Goals	Website Journal

How to analyze a website

Analyzing a website is the first, and most important step, in the website design process. It requires answering several questions about the website you're going to create. It provides you with a plan to follow when you are designing your site.

If you honestly answer the following questions you will have developed the framework of your new website and started on the road to internet success.

Why are you creating this website?
Who is your target audience?
What type of website do you need?
How can you communicate effectivly?
What information do you need?
What content will be included?

Start a journal

Now is the time to start a website journal, a means of recording your ideas and goals for your website. Write down the following questions and give some serious thought to your answers.

As you answer each question, step-by-step, your will automatically form a basic plan for your website that is comprehensive in scope. Use this information as the soul of your website design.

Why are you creating this website?

Your answer is important. It will determine the content, design and development of your pages. Do you have some interesting information you'd like to share? Do you have a product or service to sell?

Do you want to display your artistic/creative talent? Do you have some terrific website links you want to let the world know about? Really think about this and then write down your thoughts.

Another way to think about this question is what is the goal of this website? Is it to entertain, instruct, inform, persuade, share, sell or display? The answer will provide you with direction and focus as you design your site and help you to develop your theme.

Who is your target audience?

What type of visitors do I want my site to attract? What are the demographics of your audience. What will be their age, sex and education? Will they search out my site because we share a special interest, do the same kind of things or are they looking for specific information?

Is my target audience the business community, stay-at-home moms, artists, or sports enthusiasts? Or is it a combination of several groups? Be as specific as you can about this. Try to pinpoint a certain type of individual then learn as much about them as you can so you can tailor your website to suit them.

Note: Always include an e-mail address as a way for visitors to communicate with your website. Internet users want to feel they are interacting with a ''real'' person. A site without an e-mail address seems cold and impersonal. Or, worse yet, it may appear you don't want to communicate with anyone!

Even if you have a commercial site with a toll-free number, there are many people who won't pick up the phone to call...but they will click on an e-mail link.

What type of website do you need?

Now that you have defined your target audience you will need to decide on what type of website best suits your topic or theme.

Your choice is important. Each type of website has its own unique structure and layout. Your target audience will respond to your site in a positive way if your choice of website design complements your message.

See: Types of Websites

How can you communicate effectively?

Once you know who the audience for your website will be, what is the best way to communicate with them? Are they looking for a fancy site with lots of interactivity? Or, are they seeking information without any frills?

Do they want all the information on the first page? Would they prefer the content be categorized so that they can access only the section they want? Do I need to include an order form? Would a message board be a good way to communicate?

Communication should be the primary objective when designing your website. No matter if you are selling a product or providing information to your visitors you must speak their language!

See: Effective Communication for Webmasters

Website Design for Beginners

Web Design FAQ - 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Designing a Website

Many site owners make the mistake of building a website without laying out a clear plan for their online business. This is a sure set-up for failure.

Web Design Tips and Tutorials

If you ever plan on diving into the web and getting your site published, you should know these basic Web Design Tips Tutorials that will greatly help you when designing a website from scratch.

Dos and Donts Guide to Great Web Design

When followed, this guide will prove to be quite a valuable web design resource.

The Well Designed Webpage

The well designed webpage has balance, organization and focus. If all the pages of your website follow that type of pattern they will have that clean, uniform appearance that most web designers shoot for.

Create a Professional Looking Website in One Day

You only need one day and a little background in website building to make a great impression with visitors.

5 Ways to Create Effective Website Content

In order to retain the attention of prospects and clients visiting your small business website, the content you present needs to be organized, easy to read and search engine compatible.

Website Building Secrets

If you're doing business on the Internet, one of the most important aspects of your success is your web site. If your web site doesn't look professional, no matter what product you're offering your chances of success are minimal.

Free Webpage Design - 11 Tools and Resources

These days, it is not necessary to pay for website creation. Small business and personal bloggers alike have all the tools they need to make a website for free. Here are my favorite free webpage design tools and resources...

How to use Website Templates

A great way to start your website is to use a ready-made website template. This is especially true if you are new to web page layout and graphics techniques in general.

Website Building Tutorials Can Give You a Solid Start

If you want to see results on your first efforts, you'll want to create a solid site. One of the best ways to do that is to follow quality website building tutorials.

Website Navigation and Theme

Have you ever visited a website where you keep clicking on links, hoping you are going to find that information you're looking for, only to be led to more pages of links.

Secrets of Successful Websites

What are the secrets of the successful websites? Why do some websites succeed while the others fail? Webmasters should always be asking themselves these questions and the answers are often more obvious than you may think.