#3: Decide What You Want On Your Website

This very easily could have been the first topic but I decided to have this topic as Step 3 since you can get the domain name, hosting, and email set up with just a general idea of what you want on the site. But at this stage, you'll need to figure out exactly what you want.

Don't start thinking about the bells & whistles now...THINK CONTENT!! You are not a designer and you don't focus on that part. Besides, on the next step, I'll show you where you can go to find great looking designs that you can buy for cheap and set up for your website. But right now, you need to think about the content that will go on your site! Your message is the MOST important part of your website and in this section I'll help you focus your message so later on you can create a more effective website and get better search engine results.

Here's some questions to get you started:

• What are you offering?
• What sets you apart?
• Why would someone want to come to your site?
• What is your main message?
• What can you show off?
• What other information do you share?

What are you offering?

Whether you are selling products, providing services, or sharing information about you/your business, you need to put together a value proposition for you or your organization. Wikipedia defines it simply:

[V]alue proposition = what the customer gets for what the customer pays.

What sets you apart?

What is your competitive advantage?

A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service.

Basically why should customers or visitors come to you instead of going elsewhere? If it's a lower price, then make sure that is part of your message. If it's because you have better benefits or service, determine what that advantage is and incorporate that into your message.

Why would someone want to come to your site?

Similar to competitive advantage, this question focuses more on your target audience. Who would come to your site and how are you going to appeal to them?

What is your main message?

From the 3 previous questions you should be able to formulate what your main message is. For example, if you're a sign company and you're rates aren't competitive but you have superior quality and timely service, then you'd want to incorporate that into your main message:

ABC Signs provides premium custom business signs and our talented staff will complete your order on time and exceed your expectations!

Once you have this main message figured out, you have a direction. Everything on your website should reinforce this main message. Wow, sounds like Marketing 101 doesn't it?

What can you show off?

Do you have some work samples or illustrations that would show off what you do? As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. For example, if you are a building contractor, including photos of impressive projects would definitely make a good immpression. You may also want to include relevant stock photography to reinforce your message. iStock Photo is the best site to get high-quality, cheap stock photos.

What other information do you share?

You'll probably want to include other essential information. Some possibilities include: information about you, employment opportunities, how to contact you, your staff, downloadable forms, etc.

In Summary

Now that you know what kind of content you should include on your website, you'll need to put it all together. Figure out what pages you need and start writing the content and figuring out what photos will go on each page. If you are having trouble with this, don't worry--in the next step, you'll be choosing a website template. Looking through all the different options may give you some good ideas. And of course, you can revise your content as much as you want!