Creating a roadmap for your website
When you’re starting out on a new website project, you might already know the basics you need to include: a home page, an about page, a contact page, your product/service pages, and some photos to go along with it all. But if you don’t plan out exactly what you need in advance, you might find some challenges further down the road when you’re trying to figure out what to do next.
There are certain steps that can make it easier to get your website live. In general, it’s best to do the following:
- Discovery and research: find out who your target audience is, what they want, what your competitors are doing, and define what you want to achieve with your website.
- Planning: create a sitemap so you know what your website is going to include.
- Create and collate content: gather and complete your website copy, your images, your videos, and any other materials you’ll need.
- Design the site: some might argue that you should design the site before creating and collating content, however, gathering all of your website content ahead of time can help you with knowing exactly how you want your site to look.
- Test and launch: check the website and then upload it to a server. Your web developer will make sure this goes smoothly!
- Maintain and update: be sure to review your website every three to six months to update content, improve SEO, and fix any broken links.
- The type of content you should consider including on your website
For basic websites, you’ll want to have the following ready to go:
- SEO copy for all your pages
- Metadata
- Images (with optimised file sizes)
For eCommerce sites or more complex sites, you might need the following:
- SEO-friendly product descriptions
- Product images
- A few blog posts ready in a queue
- General brand photos
- Product or promotional videos
Why adding content at the end doesn’t work well
If you’re looking to create your dream website, it’s easier to create a website based around the content rather than retrofitting the content. It’s like writing a book or building a house-- you need to know the plot before you get started writing and need a layout of the house before you start building.
You might also find that your project gets halted if you don’t plan your content ahead of time. Even though it might seem doable to take your own product photos, create your own videos, and write your own content, it takes a surprising amount of work to create content from scratch. What might seem like it should take a day or two to complete could take weeks or months to finalise.
Getting a professional to help with website content
Sometimes it’s easier and less time consuming to hire a professional to help with website content. They can make sure your site will rank well on search engines, ensure your photos don’t slow down your page, and be able to communicate your vision to your customers. If you’re on a tight deadline, it can speed along the process of getting your website up and running.
Work with us
Digital Bridge is a web development agency based in Fitzroy. We can help you every step of the way with your website. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at hello@digitalbridge.com.au or give us a call at +613 8658 2434.