When planning to design your first website and re-designing an existing one, there are several important factors that must be taken into consideration before beginning. If you are willing to spend the financial resources and effort required to build your site, then you are already one step ahead of the game. However, the development of your website can be as complicated or streamlined as you're willing to make it, so to prevent major problems from occuring later into development its good to start with a plan.

1. The first step is deciding what purpose your website serves: who is it for and why should they visit your site? Be very specific with yours aims and objetives for the site, making sure that it meets the needs of your target audience. Are these individuals who can be considered web-savvy or are they older? Are they looking for entertainment or educational information? Are you selling a service or product that you want them to buy online? These are all very important questions that should be decided before you ever hand the project off to your web designer(s).

2. In conjunction with this is the "meat" of your website, also known as content. Content can be considered everything from text, images and video that might inhabit your site. The presentation and frequency of which this content is updated and added is also important to the functionality of the site. Will you have a blog that visitors can read for tips, tricks and inspiration on a weekly basis? Do you have the time to keep it updated on a regular schedule? Is there an archived media section with images and/or video of products, promos or commericals? Make sure that the content of your pages are laid out in such a way that each visitor is guided through all of the information you want them to see. For example, if you are an artist/designer you might want visitors to start on a homepage, then view your portfolio, testimonials, history, staff bios, blog, legal jargon, contact info.

3. Once you have a solid idea of who you are speaking to and what you want them to gain from your site, then its time to ensure that your site stays consistent with your pre-existing brand guidelines (or if you don't have any that it establishes a cohesive look for your company). This "branding" is more than your logo and a few colors, but encompasses the entire philosophy, mentality and voice of your company. For example, when most of us (this excludes those with coulrophobia) see McDonalds we think of economical food (not necessarily nutritious), fun, and bold colors. Target = Trendy, Young, Hip, Economical. And so on. Every company, whether they realize of not, has a brand value that includes these elements. Its how they greet their customers, how they dress at work, how that communicate over the phone, and most importantly how they treat their employees.

By assessing all of these factors, you and your web designer(s) will have a much better idea of where to begin with the design and structure of the site. Those there are other guidelines that your designer(s) will need to keep in mind concerning web compliance standards, font styles, and image size you are well on your way to a professional (and effective) website that will net you more customers and, most importantly, their brand loyalty.