How To Make the Most of Your Website Through Advance Planning

Planning a website that will achieve the goals you have set for your business is probably the most difficult part of the entire Internet marketing process.  However, most business people ignore this critical step, or leave it to their web designer to take care of, which can often be even worse. 

The process of carefully planning the outline of a new website or upgrade to an existing website will secure for you not only a vehicle to show off your business in the best light, but also one that you are able to control the process of updating content, and, most importantly, achieve your business goals.  Below are a number of steps to follow while planning your new website:

1.  Write down on a piece of paper everything you think the visitors to your web site might want to know about your product or service.  If you are planning a website for a school, for example, the visitors would be interested in how man students attend, classroom sizes, staff information and sports offered.  Take the time to brainstorm as many areas related to your product, service or industry that someone might be interested in when visiting the website.

2.  Take on the role of your website visitor.  Surf the Internet and visit various sites offering similar services, then review them as a potential customer would.  As a visitor who is genuinely interested in your product or service, what are the good things and bad things about each site you visit?  Does the website inspire you to take further action?  Can you find what you are looking for fast? How many times do you have to click to find what you are looking for?  Take notes on all this information with the purpose of making your own website as visitor friendly as possible.

3.  Do keyword research to find out what visitors will be searching for. There are free keyword search tools through Google that are completely adequate for this type of research.  Type in a general phrase such as “high school” and see what other keywords come up.  Your visitors already have questions about these things.  With this information in hand, you can plan your website to feature content that answers people’s questions. 

4.  When planning your new website, make sure to keep in room to grow.  Stay away from website formats that can’t be expanded easily to add products and new pages.  A good website is a constant work in process. 

5.  Finally, make sure your website is easy to control, so you don’t have to rely on your website designer to make even the smallest changes.   Today’s dynamic Internet marketing environment demands new and fresh content added to your website often, and the old fashioned sites that rely on a web developer to make changes just won’t work anymore.  It is to your advantage to plan a website platform that will allow you to add content quickly and simply.

Your website is most often one of the biggest marketing expenses your business will encounter.  It is critical to take the time to plan a new website that is compatible with your business goals. 

Marty Dickinson is the founder of HereNextYear, Inc., a full service Internet marketing company in business for over 10 years. His specialty is Internet marketing solutions for the small business owner, speakers and authors. Visit to see what HereNextYear has to offer and to learn more about their innovative new website packages fully integrated for ease with social networking and other Internet marketing strategies.