Planning Your Website With Zencil

Today, there are billions of websites on the Internet providing information, selling products and services, and promoting new ideas. Distinguishing between those which are successful and those that fail is a matter of proper planning and strategy. Here, we have provided the basic architecture for a successful website. Website owners, new and existing, need consider these elements as a blueprint for a professional and profitable website.

A blueprint for your site

As an existing or potential website owner, planning your website demands you become an architect of information, creating a plan and a structure for the content on your site. If this sounds intimidating, don't worry, it's not. At Zencil we've done our best to create a step-by-step plan that allows you to integrate your ideas and information in a streamlined and organized manner, maximizing the potential of your online venture!

Getting Started

There are three important factors to take into consideration when developing a blueprint for your website:

• Audience: the customers or clients you want to visit your site.
• Content: the subject matter, includes text, images, media, design,etc.
• Navigation structure: how will visitors discover the content once they've found your site.

Carefully considering these three factors will help you to build a successful website.

Audience

Know your users. This is the only way to begin planning your content and decide how it will be presented to your target demographic. Start by making a list of all those who would conceivably visit your site. Structure your content so that it becomes relevant to these users. Be sure the audience you are catering to will be informed and interested in your website.

Content

Once you have determined who your users are most likely to be, you can then begin organizing your content. At this point it is a good idea to involve a team of users or co-workers to help facilitate the process. Everyone has a different idea about how a website should be organized. Synchronizing the input from a number of people may help to yield the most optimal flow of information.

Start by making a detailed list of everything you would like to include on your website. Decide what content is most relevant to your audience or principal user group. If you have many different user groups who will be visiting your site, you may wish to organize content according to subject matter. Both ways are acceptable so long as the information is relevant and professional.

When you have your content grouped in a way that you are pleased with, give each content group a decisive, descriptive label. If you have chosen to organize content according to subject matter, give each subject a heading and sub-heading if necessary. This step will help structure the navigation of your site, as well facilitate and direct users to the information they are looking for.

Navigation

A good navigation scheme is imperative to any successful website. Navigation allows users to quickly and efficiently access the materials and information they are looking for. Since you have already organized your content into subject areas, it is logical to use this structure as the basis of your navigation.

First consider your main navigation bar. The main navigation bar will appear on all pages of your site in the same style and in the same place. The main navigation bar should include standard links such as contact information and home page, as well as the priority-level groups of content. Try to limit the number of links on the main navigation bar. An excess of links will only confuse the user and make navigation more complicated.

Next, consider your subsidiary navigation. Subsidiary navigation refers to the links specific to one section of the site or to content within a single priority-level content group. Creating coherent subsidiary navigation can be the most challenging part of the overall navigation scheme. The most critical thing to remember is that as users access a subdivision of your site, they should be able to easily access content above that level and find their way back to the home page. On smaller sites, subsidiary navigation will be much more straightforward.

Supplementary to these navigation schemes, some websites have secondary navigation. Secondary navigation is simply an alternative way of providing users with a pinpointed route to highly specific content on your site. For example, users who know exactly what they are looking for might appreciate a drop-down list box containing links to the main content groups in an online store. That way, they can go directly to where they want to be. Secondary navigation is a value-added feature to a website, but not always essential in creating a successful web presence. As the owner of your site, any navigation scheme you create should simply be an easy way of accessing relevant information. The size and type of business you're promoting will help in determining your navigational structure.

Choosing a Designer

Choosing the right designer for your site is a crucial part of building a successful web presence. Working with a designer to create an appearance that fits your business, audience, and budget is typically a tedious process that involves research, negotiation, input, and planning.  Fortunately, Zencil has made this process easier than ever. As a member of Zencil, you'll have access to a global community of designers, where you'll be able to view portfolios, set a budget for your design, and choose the designer that best fits your needs. Alternatively, if you have a designer you know you'd like to work with, it is easy for them to become a member and begin using our technology.

In selecting a designer, a website owner must have a good idea of what he/she is looking for in a design. After all, no one knows your business as well as you do. The following are a list of considerations that will facilitate the design process of your new website.

•  A budget.
•  A written plan on how to market your new site.
•  A mission statement or central concept around which your website will revolve.
•  A list of examples from websites that appeal to you and more importantly, your audience.
•  A color scheme that will create a mood and consistent theme throughout your site.
•  A compilation of content you would like to include on your site.
•  Any existing marketing or promotional materials you have for your business.
•  A time line for when you would like to have your site completed.

Not all items on this list are always necessary, as the designer may be able to provide you with some on his/her own ( i.e. color scheme ). Nonetheless, the more input and organized information you are able to provide, the more likely you'll end up with a successful website.

Good Luck With Your Web Venture!