If You're Going On a Journey, Shouldn't You Plot Your Route?

I asked myself the questions I would ask my clients.

• Why do I want a website ?
• Where do I see my company in ten years time ?
• What is my business model and basic strategy ?
• Who are my potential clients?
• What exactly is it that I'm selling?
• How will my website help my clients?
• How will my website help my business?

One aspect that emerged from this questioning was the need to educate clients. Busy business owners don't have the time or the interest to keep up with the latest web developments. Therefore I have to bring them up to speed quickly.

This means marketing Alchemweb at two levels - to novices and more experienced web users.

Who Are These Strangers?

Bearing in mind my strategy and business model I then came up with several customer personas.

Carol, early 20s, is toying with the idea of starting up a plumbing business. She's broke, knows nothing about websites but thinks it would be a good idea to have one. She wants a good looking, cheap 'brochure' site to give customers more information than is possible on a business card and would be best off with a £300 Pro site.

Jo, early 30s, uses an E-bay shop for selling drumming accessories. She's very hard working, focussed and analytical. She plans on starting a family in a couple of years time but wants to get her business off the ground first. She wants a professional looking site that she can update and that can be found by the search engines and linked to. She has a small budget and wants to see if e-commerce will work for her. A Wordpress site with a semi-integrated shopping cart and additional ten minute phone consultations as and when needed would probably be her best bet.

Kevin, early 50s, is outgoing and bossy. He runs a small and very successful motorcycle repair company with ten employees and is very involved in the motorbike club circuit. He has a token website - his son thinks he should move with the times and do more, perhaps showcasing special offers on accessories and vintage spares, running a forum, setting up a mailing list etc. Kevin can’t yet see the benefits. An initial step would be a one hour tutorial with Kevin and his son. For an existing and successful business such as theirs that requires a constantly updated website, WordPress with semi-integrated shopping cart, a forum and a mailing list would probably be the best solution.

If you Build a House to a Plan ...

It'll Look Good and Last for a Long Time.

Next step: I jotted down notes on the Information Architecture for this website.

Purpose of this site: credibility, information, reassurance, personality, window-shopping, search engines / adwords first point of contact, ease of contact.

User goals: speed, credibility, ease of use, ease of contact, printed brochure, friendly, peace of mind, not too many links, simplicity.

Visual design: Simple, uncluttered, lots of white space, minimal clicking from page to page, friendly (faces of people), non-corporate, limited navigational choices.

Maintenance costs: low to zero.

Visitor flow: See diagram below

Everyone Likes A mirror, Especially If It Lies!

After this I designed the graphics. A good rule of thumb is to design the main graphics as a mirror that reflects the idealised self-image of your potential customers. Alternatively, create eye-candy that's restful on the eyes, or allow form to follow function as in Amazon or Google.

With the main graphics in place and a 'feel' for the site emerging I tweaked the colours to see what fitted in best.

Is This Your Voice?

Then it was time to create the body copy. What purpose would the headlines have? What personalities would the body text appeal to? What overall tone of voice should I adopt? Were there plenty of Calls To Action, etc.?

Proud Mum or Dad!

A good quality website takes time to design and build.

It needs love and attention.

But it's worth it!