Strategizing
When planning for a website, there are five stages or "planes" that can help you when planning for a website, covering tasks from analyzing the site's users and purpose, developing the content, and designing the surface elements. The key plane that you need to begin with is called the Strategy Plane, in which you develop a strategy that will determine what content is included and how it is presented on your site. Without an effective strategy to drive all of the planning for your site, you will likely fail to achieve your goals.There are two key factors to consider when developing your strategy: purpose and audience.
Purpose
In considering the purpose of your site, you need to ask yourself what you want to get out of it: is your goal to sell a product, raise awareness about a cause, share information on a certain topic with the general public, etc.?Audience
Once you have determined the purpose for your website, you then need to consider who your audience is. Below are several suggested questions that you should ask yourself as you begin your audience analysis:- Is your audience comprised of one basic demographic or will people with varied demographic information use it?
- What attitudes and beliefs might your audience members already have about the subject matter of your site?
- What are their needs that your website can meet?
- What are their skill levels with the various technologies that your website will use (e.g. the Internet itself, any forms or special features on your site, etc.)