Before you start your website, there is a lot of planning to do. Following the steps below can ensure your website turns out to be the best reflection of your business as possible. The three basic areas of planning are:

- Parameters and Needs
- Content
- Design

1.) Parameters and Needs

Figure out what you want your site to do for you. These types of decisions include secured content, login capabilities, social media integration from blogs to Facebook. It can also include things like special scripts like calendars, booking systems, product ordering, shopping sites, databases, searching and capabilities. Do you have specific market needs such as IDX MLS for real estate, custom mapping, process payments and orders, and/ or store location search?

These decisions help plan the initial design of the website, can save you money from adding web features/content after the initial design phase has started. A good plan will also create a better website as its features are well incorporated as opposed to add on features.

2.) Content

Often I am asked to design a website. Naturally, I asked more specific details on what the business is. Their response is, "I just need a website." Then I never hear back from them. I wonder if they ever found a person who can build them a website that is effective and meaningful to them and their business, not to mention full of content about what they do and how they sell their products and services.

Website content doesn't make itself. We make websites, but we don't know much about you and what you do. At the least, we do expect to get some basic information about your products and services. Most of the time, you already have the content to get you started from your brochures, handouts, flyers, and existing logos. If you don't feel like you can gather the remaining content for your site, let us know and we can help you with filling in the blanks.

For those people who are looking for "just a website" we do actually have the exact product for you.

- Template Websites
- eCard Sites

3.) Design

Once the idea has been planned, design is the next element to consider. Concrete design elements do not have to always be considered, but do ask yourself if you need your site to be designed to a certain window/browser size, be fixed or adjustable to browser, require specific colors to your branding.
Then take a look at sites that appeal to you in terms of design, functionality, features, and colors. Take a look at this site to help you determine the colors: Color Comobs