Do you want to know How to Design a Website? If your answer is yes then this blog provides you all information regarding this.

Thanks to the availability of free and simple online website design software, as well as online content management platforms like WordPress, creating a new website is now easier than ever. In only five minutes and a few clicks, you can have a website for your home-based business up and running. If, on the other hand, you want to create a website that attracts clients and customers, you can’t just throw something up and hope for the best. The process of planning a website is equally as important as building one.

To build a web presence that will help you achieve your home business goals, use the simple P.L.A.N. acronym. This will assist you to avoid missing any crucial steps in the development of your website.

What Does the Letter P.L.A.N. Mean?

 

Consider the initials P.L.A.N. (Project Lead the Way Against Neglect) to get a clearer idea of what your website will require.

 

Before you begin, identify your target audience, the appropriate website tone, and your targeted goals.

 

Landscape – Think about how you want your website to look and work in terms of layout and functionality. What components do you think should be included on your website in particular?

 

It’s just as important to think about how your website looks as it is to think about what it can achieve. Colors and images for your website are crucial factors to consider. Consider how your website stacks up against the competition.

 

Before you begin developing your website, consider how you want your visitors to navigate around it. You’ll be better prepared to give a great visitor experience from the outset if you plan ahead of time what pages you’ll need and how they’ll be laid up.

 

What is the Best Way to Plan a Website? (P.L.A.N.)

 

PREPARE: Before you go online and get a domain name and web hosting to start your website, you need first to make a plan. Make a duplicate of your business plan to use as a guide while you go through the procedures below:

 

1. Determine your target market and its requirements. Consider who the most likely consumers of what you’re offering are and how you might engage with them most effectively.

 

2. Establish a clear goal for your website. Your aim should include what you want the website to do for you, such as generate leads, sell products, or simply serve as an online brochure.

 

3. Collect all of the information you’ll need on the site to assist you in achieving your goal.

 

4. Arrange your data according to your target market and the technique you believe will be most efficient in getting the information to your clients. While some presentations call for a more formal or business-like tone, others call for a more casual—and often even whimsical—approach.

 

LANDSCAPE DESIGN FOR YOUR WEBSITE: Planning your website’s “lay of the land” entails determining which website elements are required and desirable in order to meet your website’s goals. In order to do so, you’ll need to go back to the website goals you set in the prior round. If you wish to sell things online, for example, you’ll need credit card processing and a shopping cart to get started.

 

The following characteristics must be taken into account:

 

• A lead magnet to aid in the expansion of your email list.

 

• Setup of an eCommerce site, including the development of a shopping cart and payment processing

 

• There is a photo or video gallery.

 

• Create a blog

 

• A map and directions if you have clients who want to visit you at your home office.

 

• A contact page or other contact details, such as your business hours

 

• Share buttons and links to social networking networks

 

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (FAQ)

 

• Make a portfolio

 

• A testimonials page has been added to the website (optional).

 

You should consider back-end features as well as front-end features, such as the ones listed below.

 

An example of an integrated marketing system is SEO (search engine optimization) (SEO)

 

• Security measures, such as an SSL certificate, to provide your visitors a sense of security when they visit your site.

 

• Make use of caching to speed up the loading of your web pages.

 

You don’t have to have all of the qualities listed above, but you should think about them. In order to identify what is required for the site, you must first analyze your market and your goals.

 

AESTHETICS OF WEBSITE DESIGN: Your website’s visual appearance, or how it appears to visitors, is a crucial component of the website building process. To make this procedure easier, most web hosts give templates, and most content management platforms include themes.

 

How to choose your website’s appearance:

 

1. Return to the individuals you identified as your target market. Take a look at the demographics of the group. It’s a good idea to approach business owners in a different way than you would approach parents or survivalists. It’s vital that your website’s tone is appropriate for your target audience. You should avoid utilizing a brightly colored music industry template if you want to do business in a conservative business-to-business (B2B) market.

 

2. Make your website easy to navigate. Reading white font on a black background is generally more difficult than reading black font against white. Take the font style into account as well. Use standard fonts that will be provided to the reader by all browsers to maintain uniformity.

 

3. Make use of pictures, because a picture is worth a thousand words, as the old adage goes (or so it seems). Visual content is more appealing to readers, according to research findings. However, rather than overwhelming the page with too many photographs, you should utilize high-quality visuals that match your text and message. You can either shoot your own photos or utilize one of the many free or low-cost stock photo services available on the internet. You can utilize one of the many free and low-cost online image editing options available, such as Canva if you don’t have access to expensive photo editing software.

 

4. The most significant content is found above the fold of the page, just like in a print newspaper. Your most important information, which is the information that your visitors have come to your site to find, should be shown front and center on the screen. There are simply too many other websites for your visitors to browse if they are unable to find what they are seeking on your website. This is something you’ll want to remember for each of your website’s pages. It’s best not to have your site visitors scroll down to discover the information they’re looking for.

 

5. Make your website mobile-friendly. Responsive design allows web pages to be translated into a format that can be accessed on mobile devices that are connected to the internet, such as smartphones and tablets.

 

If you’re puzzled about how to visually construct your website’s tone, have a look at your competitors’ websites to see how they do it. You’ll be given advice on what to do as well as how to improve your performance.

 

You don’t want to be accused of plagiarising or copying. All you need is a sense of the colors, typefaces, and themes used to create a welcoming environment for visitors.

 

WEBSITE NAVIGATION: The way a website’s pages and links are organized is referred to as website navigation. Making a choice on your navigation layout before you start designing is essential for producing a website that is easy to use and allows your users to find what they’re searching for quickly. Perform the following steps to determine your website’s navigation:

 

1. On a piece of paper, draw a map of your locality. The top of the page will display your homepage or the most important page of your website. This is the page that visitors will be sent to when they visit your website using your domain URL (www.yourbusiness.com).

 

Second, directly below your site, list any pages you’re aware of, such as “About” and “Contact.” This level will also contain a checkout or shopping cart feature if you wish to utilize one.

 

Your website’s most significant categories should be featured just beneath your Home Page, on the same level as “About” and “Contact.” Consider this: if you run a kitchen store, your main categories might be “Utensils,” “Pots & Pans,” “Kitchen Tools,” and “Recipes.” Spoons, forks, and knives are included in the category of “utensils.”

 

4. Under each of your main categories, make a list of subcategories. Using the kitchen store as an example, you might discover “Knives,” “Serving Utensils,” and other items under the category “Utensils” in that section. The category “Kitchen Tools” includes items such as “Crockpots,” “Spiralizers,” and “Mixers.”

 

After you’ve figured out how many pages you’ll need, think about how you’ll make them easy to find. A top and/or side menu that is visible on every page can be seen on the majority of websites. Because top menus have less space than side menus, you should usually just add links to your most significant pages (Home, About, Contact) and possibly your most popular category pages at the top. You should, however, make it as easy as possible for them to find what they’re looking for.

 

One option to consider is having a drop-down list accessible from the top menu. When a person hovers their mouse over the top menu’s primary category of “Utensils,” a drop-down list of sub-categories such as “Knives” and “Serving Utensils” appears. This is done by using side menus with a nesting effect, in which clicking on the major category opens the sub-category list below it, as illustrated below.

 

Visitors who are impatient and don’t want to waste time searching around for what they’re looking for, as well as those who are having problems finding what they’re looking for, can benefit from a search box on your website.

 

Putting It All Together

You’ll be ready to start the construction process once you’ve completed your preliminary layout and design. Purchasing a domain name and web hosting, followed by choosing a theme that complements your aesthetic and provides all of the functionality you require, are all crucial steps.

 

Double-check that all of your pages and visuals are loading properly after you’ve completed building your site. Before submitting your forms, double-check that they work. Consider reviewing and testing your site on a range of browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari), as well as mobile devices (phones and tablets), to ensure that all elements display and function properly on all devices.

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