When thinking about building a website, it’s easy to first think about whether you want to create it yourself (or in-house) or ask a company that develops websites. Creating your own homepage tends to be less expensive than asking a production company or freelancer, but you should be aware that it will take more effort.
However, there are steps one could take in order to facilitate the creation of a website with less hiccups. It is important to first clarify the concept and purpose of it, for the project to have smooth direction. By having a set direction of “what kind of website design you want to create” even before the project goes off the ground, the entire process will suffer less setbacks that will force its development into halts.
Decide the purpose (goal) of the website
One of the main reasons for failure in creating a website is “beginning to design it with a vague purpose”. If the purpose (goal) of what kind of result you want to obtain by creating and operating a website is ambiguous, it can be said that it is impossible to proceed with its development appropriately and without going back to the drawing board.
On the other hand, if the purpose is clear, you can smoothly select its elements, appealing functions that appeal to its target audience, contents, etc.
Clarify the objectives you want to achieve by creating and operating a website, whether it be to “highlight your company’s achievements”, “improve sales of products/services”, “maximize advertising revenue from attracting customers from the web”, “be a guide to physical stores”, etc. If you move on to creating a site with an unclear concept, you may end up in a situation where there is a risk of wasteful costs or a situation where the completed website is different from the image. To avoid this, let’s proceed with the selection of the creation method after clarifying the concept.
Check the type of website that suits your purpose
Once you have its purpose figured out, the next step is to select the type of website to build.
There are many types:
Common website types include blog-type websites, corporate websites, owned media, and e-commerce websites that sell products. For example, if the purpose is to raise awareness of the company’s presence and business content, a corporate site or owned media is appropriate. If you want to sell your own products on the Internet, you should choose an eCommerce site. Consider what type of website is right for you to achieve your goals. Once the type of homepage you want to create is determined, it will be easier to understand the design and layout, the page content to be prepared, and the required functions. Look into design templates for inspiration when feeling kind of lost. Designmodo website html templates are an excellent starting point. They are a website creation tool – also called “website builder”. They offer a service that allows you to easily browse website templates which you can apply in your own site currently in construction.
Set the target (persona) to appeal to
Once the purpose and type of the homepage you want to create is laid out, you decide which users you want to appeal to, that is, the “target users”. Your site’s contents will largely depend on what attracts your target user. When thinking about target users, set up a “persona” (a specific and symbolic target user image) that will likely use your products and services. When deciding on a persona, try to set up a profile that is as specific and detailed as possible, not only about basic information such as age and gender but also about occupation, lifestyle, personality and hobbies. By doing so, you can proceed with website design while being aware of the target user’s perspective and needs.
Next, visualize the stage (situation, desire, interest, etc.) until the persona takes the final purchasing action. For example, it can be classified as “cognition stage”, “interest / interest stage”, “comparison / examination stage”, or “purchase stage”. This is the so-called Customer Journey Map, which helps to take an appropriate approach according to the persona stage.
Considering the target user’s device
Next, we will consider what kind of device the target will mainly use to browse the site. In other words, whether browsing from a PC, browsing from a smartphone, or browsing from a tablet device. For example, if you are dealing with services and products for enterprises, you can guess that viewing from the company PC will be the main. However, in recent years, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are rapidly spreading, and the use of the Internet on smartphones is becoming more popular than the use of the Internet on PCs. When dealing with a website design from now on, it is a good idea to consider creating a responsive web design for any device.
Once the target user has been decided, we will also decide what functions will be provided on the homepage. For example, there are various pages with different roles on the homepage, such as “top page”, “product page”, and “inquiry page”. Based on the purpose and type of the homepage you want to create, and the target user, let’s find out what kind of function page you need. If you know the necessary pages in advance, you can create a homepage smoothly, which can reduce unnecessary costs and labor.
Design and layout
The design and layout of the website are factors that influence the user’s first impression and are closely related to the bounce rate and stay time. The design and layout will be decided according to the type and purpose of the website you want to create. If you want to create a corporate website, consider a design that is based on the company’s image color, or if you are creating a medical information site, use a clean white design. When deciding on a layout, it is important to consider an arrangement that allows users to move smoothly to each page, considering the user’s convenience first.