Today almost every business needs a website to help customers find them. Your website is often your potential customer’s first impression of your business. Building an effective web presence also requires getting noticed by the major search engines.

The following is a list of considerations before beginning your website project.
Decide what you need:

• Set goals for your website
• Look at what your competition is doing
• Look at sites that do what you want to do
• Think of the features you will need (must have and like to have)

Then write it down:

• Define the full scope of the project – this will save you time and money later on.
• Create a top-level navigation schema (Homepage, Services, Contact Us…)
• Remember the more thorough the Site Plan the more likely success.

Web companies often charge extra to optimize your website which will get you higher listings on Yahoo and Google. This process of optimizing your website, adding metadata, search engine submission, paid sponsorships and the purchase of keywords needs to consider the return on investment – pay-per-click cost can be significant.

To launch a successful web presence you will need to be involved in the process. You should not expect a successful finished product with little time or effort on your part. The website development company should guide you through the process with sound advice.

Active Site Designs can make your website planning process easier.