Building a Website? See Top 6 Questions to Ask Yourself

If you are ready to get a decent website, start creating a list of what you want your website to do, which will play a critical role in choosing the right vendor for you.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when analyzing what you want your website to do for you:

1. Do you need someone to write the content for you, or can you write it yourself? (If you’re busy, and have the money, hire someone who can write in an SEO format for you.)
2. How many pages will you need? Do you plan on adding any pages in the future?
3. What’s the purpose of your website? Informational/Credibility? Sell a product? Drive leads?
4. Are you selling lots of products?
5. What sort of functionality do you need? Do you need a calendar function to show events? Do you need a database to store and collect names or businesses? What do you want the database to do? Will you need to change the text on your sites on your website regularly (this will require a Content Management System or a “CMS”)?
6. What do you want your website to look like? (Hint: check out the leaders in your industry and your favorite websites for ideas).

Once you’ve mapped out how your site is going to function, and what it will look like, you will get a better feel for who can meet your needs based on pricing, and area of expertise. You may be surprised to find that creating a quality website may not be as expensive as you think.

Ultimately, I think you can expect to pay anywhere from $600 to $3000, depending on who’s writing the content and if it’s a custom design (verses a template, which is a “reused” design).  If you can’t afford all the bells and whistles that you want to add at this stage, let your designer/developer know what you may want in the future so they can easily be added without too much trouble or having to redesign the site.

This sounds like a lot, but really, it’s just as easy as rewriting your resume and applying for jobs on Monster, which you can count on doing if you don’t get that darn website up!

 

Joe Witte has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

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