I will always ask a few questions to find out why the person wants a website. More often than not it turns out a website is merely one of many online tools they need for their business.

There are literally millions of independent web designers and companies in the world offering to build you a website or provide a system enabling you do do it yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Lately, I have seen a lot of website designers and web development companies offering packages that include a website based off a template for an upfront cost and then an ongoing management cost.

While this is a step in the right direction, a website is still only one part of a successful online strategy.

You don’t need a website, you need a solution

Of course you need a website! My point is, you need more than just a website, you need an entire solution.

I’m actually quite impressed with the angle these people have taken from a web designer’s business perspective. Offering a template based website with an ongoing management cost is a great way to provide a professional looking website quickly at a much lower cost than a completely custom built solution.

Bear in mind adding things like a members login area, an online shopping cart system, or other more advanced features will add to the complexity of a website.

You don’t absolutely need to have your website managed for you, but it is highly recommended unless you really know what you’re doing. If your site breaks or gets hacked and you don’t have a plan in place or you don’t know how to fix it, you’re on your own.

There is quite a lot involved with managing a website on an ongoing basis including backups of the site, updating all the software regularly, security monitoring to protect against hackers and spammers, and other technical things that need to be looked after.

On the surface, a website may look straight forward, but there is a lot that goes into it behind the scenes.

What about website builders?

There are other, more simplified options out there that could be worth looking into such as Squarespace, Weebly or Wix.

These website builders include all the ongoing maintenance in their monthly fee. They all include a range of starter themes or templates you can modify the design of by uploading your logo and changing the colour scheme to suit your branding.

The functionality they offer is often enough for basic sites but once your business starts to grow you might find they are too limited in functionality for your needs.

If you’re willing to get your hands dirty you could set one of these up yourself or find someone who knows how to do it.

If you’re looking to test the waters and save some money in the early stages of your business this could be the way to go at first. You can always upgrade down the track to a more custom solution.

Have you thought about a logo and branding?

Do you have a logo and branding designed?

This is key in presenting your business in a unique and professional way but is something many people haven’t thought about and assume is all included as part of having a website built.

Graphic design is a completely different process to building a website and as such, it should always be treated as a separate service on top of the website build.

Who is your audience?

Another thing to think about is who specifically are your target audience. This might seem like an easy question, but it’s really important to think about who specifically you want to target.

That could be parents between the age of 25-40 with children under 3 living within 20km of the city you live in, as opposed to every single parent in the entire world.

It can really help to narrow down your target audience when it comes to thinking about a marketing strategy as you can focus more specifically on their needs instead of trying to cater to everyone.

Once you have established an audience you would need to think about how you will get the word out to them through the website, social media, email, and other forms of marketing.

How will people find you?

Things like email marketing, social media, search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and lead generation are all different potential ways you can reach your potential clients.

For example, a lead generation strategy could be set up to target internet searches by your target audience in a specific city or suburb that would help to attract the right kind of clients to you.

With all the noise on the internet, you need to try and stay at the forefront of your audience’s mind. A good way to do this is by having a content creation strategy for things like blog posts and social media. This can all be tied together with a solid email marketing strategy.

There is also quite a bit of ongoing work involved with all of these things and as such, they are an additional service on top of the website build.

I hope I haven’t overwhelmed you!

The thing I see time and time again is people wanting a website but not realising the amount of time, learning curve, and other things involved with it.

They go ahead, find a web designer and get only a website built without thinking about all the other factors needed for running a successful website. It fizzles out after a few years of frustration and they give up on their business.

The last thing I want is to see people throwing away time and money. As with anything worthwhile, there will be an investment at first, no matter which way you go, but if you do it properly, utilising the correct tools, the return on your investment has the potential to be way beyond what you originally put into it.

You need more than just a website, you need a strategy designed to reach your goals.

Feel free to contact us if you have any more questions about developing a custom strategy for your website and everything that goes with it.

The post Why you don’t need a website appeared first on Abepe.

Going through this process up front will save you a lot of time, effort and money down the track by ensuring you do the right things instead of basing everything of some random guesswork.

What questions should I (and should i not) ask?

By now you may have found some web designers and are ready to contact them to start the ball rolling. You may have received a referral from someone you know which is a big plus.

Before contacting them its a good idea to have links to at least five websites that you have seen that you like the look of to help explain the kind of website you’re looking for.

Look through the potential candidates portfolio of sites they have completed to see what kind of work they offer.

If you’re an artist and all their sites are for lawyers and accountants, they’re probably not going to be a good fit for you. Finding someone with knowledge and interest in your industry will make communication of ideas a lot easier.

How much does a website cost?

Never ask “how much is a website”. This is the equivalent of asking “how much does a car cost” or “how much is a house”.

Your investment in an online strategy that happens to include a website is dependant on so many factors that it’s impossible to give a flat cost in an email.

A good provider will ask a lot of sometimes difficult questions to try and get to the bottom of why you want a website in order to uncover the best possible solution that will provide the most value to your business.

These questions will form the basis of formulating a solid plan for your new website and online strategy and make it possible to work out more accurately what your investment will be.

How long will it take?

The same goes for “how long will it take”. Generally a website can take anywhere from 1 day to 6 months and longer to complete.

Once you have a clearer idea of what you want, the timeline will be estimated more accurately. Again there are so many variables that you will often need to allow some wiggle room on the timeline.

If you’ve answered all the questions above you will have a good idea of the kinds of things you need to go with your website which will make it easier to get an accurate quote and timeline.

Ask what content management system (CMS) they use

There are many different CMS available and the industry standard has changed and will change over the years. One of the things you will find by going through a thorough discovery process is which website system will be most suited to your project.

WordPress is a hugely popular option currently powering around 27% of the internet. It is supported by a huge community of developers which makes it easier, quicker and cheaper to add features and functionality.

Finding someone skilled in WordPress is a great place to start. It will also make your life easier if you decide to switch website providers down the track as the chances of finding someone who knows WordPress are much higher than with some of the less widely used systems.

Ask what kinds of things do they recommend in addition to a website

Some website providers may specialise only in the technical and coding side of website development. You may need to also find a graphic designer to provide the front end design of the look and layout, a marketing company to help attract visitors to the site, a social media expert to handle your social media campaigns and more.

Ask if they provide marketing

Some web design companies will be able to help with an online marketing strategy including email newsletters, blogging, social media, and everything else that goes with it. Some only provide website design and development.

Having it all under one roof has its benefits but at the same time, the two services are quite different in terms of what skills are required so it can be good to find specialists in each field. Be sure to ask what specific services they offer.

Ask where the website will be hosted

Some website companies provide hosting as part of their service. This can be great because you have everything under one roof and you don’t have to deal direct with a hosting company.

As long as the hosting is managed by someone who is experienced in managing website hosting and they are confident in the reliability of the hosting then this is a good solution.

If they don’t provide their own hosting, ask for some recommendations and do your own research. There are hundreds of thousands of website hosting companies out there so it’s not difficult to find the reputable ones at a competitive price.

Ask if they offer ongoing website maintenance

Websites are built using software and need to be updated regularly, much like any other software. With this comes the potential for breakages and loss of data. You need to have a plan for ongoing backups, software updates, security and everything that comes with managing a website.

If the provider doesn’t offer this as a service you will either need to find someone who does or manage it yourself. If you like getting your hands dirty, maintaining your own website can be fairly straightforward, if not I would highly recommend finding an expert who can do it for you.

By now you should have a much better idea of why you want a website, who your audience is and what things you need to do to pull together a successful online marketing strategy.

I encourage you to ask a lot of questions and don’t rush the process. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions too. Building a website can be a large investment both in monetary terms and also time. It’s important to spend the time to get it right and that includes some work on your part.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or to find out how we can help with your new website and online marketing strategy.

The post How to find the right web designer appeared first on Abepe.

You understand that building a website is a complex process with a lot of variables so you need to find the right person to look after the project.

I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction with a few tips and tricks to help you find the best person for the job.

Why do you want a website?

Let’s take a few steps back and ask why you want a website? This might seem like a really obvious question, but so often people cannot answer this.

Working out why you’re embarking on a journey to internet dominance will provide massive amounts of help to setting and reaching your goals.

If you don’t know why you want a website, you will struggle to come up with a strategy to reach your goals. If you don’t have any goals it will be like driving somewhere without a map or knowing where you are going.

• Do you want to increase the amount of leads your business gets?
• Do you want to sell products online?
• Do you want to show off examples of your amazing skills?
• Do you want to connect with an audience?

Maybe it’s all four?

There are so many variables when it comes to building a website so it’s really important you have a good hard think about why you want to set off on this journey.

Who is your website for?

Who is your audience? Where do they hang out online? Do they read blogs, hang out on social media, or do you just want as much traffic to your website as you can get?

Knowing your audience will help you narrow down where you need to focus on certain aspects of the design, structure and functionality.

There’s little point spending all of your time integrating your website with Instagram if all of the members of you target audience hang out on Facebook.

If you already have an audience, great! If not you’re going to need to think about a strategy to start building one TODAY. Throwing mud at a wall and hoping it sticks is not a strategy. Get specific about who your audience is and where they hang out and focus on them.

Do you only need a website?

One of the biggest misconceptions i see all the time is people thinking they can build new website and that’s it. The traffic will come flowing in and all this new business will come through the virtual door. It ain’t gunna happen.

Your website is one important piece in the puzzle of an online marketing strategy, but it’s only one piece.

You need to think about building an audience, speaking to and engaging with your audience in a meaningful way that will make it irresistible to buy from you.

Of course you need to traffic in some form to be able to do this, but what kind of traffic and how it’s attracted to the site will be determined by your goals and who your audience is.

Do you have branding and a logo?

A lot of times, especially with new businesses a business owner will assume a web designer is capable of designing a logo and branding for a new business.

While this might be true some of the time, often it’s not the case. Graphic design and branding is a totally separate area of expertise and should be treated as such.

A well designed logo and branding has the potential to add a massive amount of value to your business and the way it is perceived by your potential customers. This should be a factor in deciding on what kind of investment you’re willing to make.

It’s true you could have someone design you a logo for a few hundred dollars, but it’s also true this will reflect the quality of your business.

Look for a graphic designer who has a style that fits with how you see your business being represented. If you approach a graphic designer with a specific style and try and get them to design something in your head, you’re really only hiring someone to drive a piece of design software.

Other things to consider

Do you have content?

• Do you have content ready to go?
• Do you have your copy written and edited for the pages of your website ready to add?
• Are your images resized and organised neatly into folders and named correctly?

What about the technical stuff?

• Do you have a domain name and hosting?
• Do you know where your website will be hosted or do you need to have that provided too?
• Does this include email hosting or will you be using a third party email service?
• Do you know what hosting is?

What about marketing and tracking progress?

• Do you have a Google account for setting up things like analytics, webmaster tools and other useful services?
• Do you have an email list manager such as Mailchimp?
• How will you be marketing the site after it is launched?

Have you thought about an ongoing strategy for search engine optimisation (SEO)? How will you attract visitors to your website?

So far we haven’t even touched on how to find a web designer or developer. We’ve asked why, who and what. I’ll cover more about finding a website designer and developer in the next post.

By now you should have discovered why you need to build a new website, who it will be targeted at and what other goals you need to achieve to reach success.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or to find out how we can help planning your new website and online marketing strategy.

The post Developing a plan for your new website appeared first on Abepe.