So what is a great plan? It is your essential roadmap, something you can go back to if you happen to get lost. It is a plan that answers the following questions:
- What is the purpose of your website? What are you trying to achieve?
- Who are you designing for? Pokemon Go players? Engineers you want to hire? Mid 30s office ladies with shopping addiction? Tourists wishing to explore Permaculture in Japan? Be specific. Build your user profiles and behavior scenarios. How do they browse the web? Using smart phones or laptop PCs? What media are they reading? Which social networks are they using? Do you want them to share your content? Comment? Subscribe? Download?
- Your next step would be to think about your content strategy over time because you don’t design your website so that you can forget about it once it is released. You need to think of the plan on how to maintain it, keep it fresh. Maybe you want a blog. Maybe you want to write two articles a week. How about social channels? Does your business need an Instagram? Facebook page? Twitter account? Think about how to divide your content across multiple social channels. And what about a mailing list? Perhaps, you should also think of your SEO optimisation strategy.. Sounds overwhelming? Don’t overthink it. Just keep in mind, your website is an ongoing project. Take it one step at a time. ^-^
If you can gain clarity on these questions, it will help you make your decisions much faster and faster is what you are after and the results will turn out to be way better.
AND NOW YOU CAN START THINKING ABOUT HOW TO PRESENT YOUR CONTENT
There are three things that you should aim at regardless of what kind of website you are designing.
- Simplicity
- Transparency
- Approachability
Whenever you are trying to present something to someone, it is important to stay on point. Having a huge amount of information, tricky navigation and complicated designs can drive away even the most patient users. Plus, simple is always easier and takes less time. Keep your layouts simple, uncluttered, your navigation easy to understand with minimum of clicks. Make sure your website is quick to load because no modern user will wait for your images to load however cool they are.
Be transparent. Don’t hide behind stock images and generic phrases. Let your users see your real face, hear your own voice. Let them reach you through your social media channels. Let them read your blog where you post real stories, real pictures even if they are taken with your smart phone. When I was discussing corporate culture with a friend of mine, CEO of a tech company, he said that he gets a lot of feedback from potential hires and clients about how much they enjoy reading his company’s blog where he posts reports and snapshots of their daily meetings, corporate get togethers and learning sessions. Their users really appreciate the honesty behind those blog posts. By being transparent, valuing your own voice and your own culture, you are opening a real dialogue with your users. They feel connected to you.
Approachability is a variable from transparency. In your attempts to look and sound professional, try not to overdo it. Choose the language that reflects your personality. Don’t try to sound smart and use terms only a few can understand. Let your users reach you through multiple inbound channels. Let them feel like they can contact you any time, if only to ask for directions.. Try not to sound as if your sole goal is to sell them something. Replying in time will also be a good plus to your image.