What is the purpose of your website?
It’s good practice to get clear about why you want a website before beginning the process of building one – and to review the reasons for having a website from time to time – as these are very likely to change over time.
Here are some common uses for a website – which ones apply to you?
- To get more work/clients/customers/visitors/students etc.
- An on-line shop – for physical or digital products.
- An ‘on-line business card’ – with contact details, map of location, etc.
- Offer information specific to your organisation or business – Opening hours, services offered etc.
- Cut down on time spent dealing with common enquiries – Easily accessible answers to FAQs. (To send as a link in an email for example.)
- Get support for a cause or charity.
- Get known about – eg as an authority on a subject, as a useful source of information, as a brand/name.
- To get feedback from potential customers or audience. To test ideas.
- Offer useful information and expertise about a specific area.
- Offer ideas/attractive/newsworthy/funny/shareable content.
- To share/recommend/list good sources of information/expertise.
- Somewhere to collect and store information for future reference – for yourself, or for your clients/students etc. – all in one place.
Consider the Look and Feel of your website, and also ‘voice’ – who are you and who are you talking to?
What other websites do you like the look of?
What websites feel welcoming and easy to use?
What are the alternatives?
- Local, charity or professional on-line Directories offer listings with contact details and a brief description.
- Social Media offers on-line pages where you can interact with potential clients or colleagues.
- EveryClick offers ways to raise funds for charities on-line.
- On-line selling: Ebay and Facebook
- Microsoft OneNote is a way of keeping all your stuff (notes, lists, images, links etc.) together in one place, accessable over all your devices – and you can share it with other selected people. Dropbox is a place to store and share files on-line.
- Traditional paper marketing – flyers, posters, adverts in magazines such as Reconnect Magazine.
- If you’re looking for interesting or useful stuff try Reddit or Youtube.
- Word of mouth – quality services and products get talked about and recommended!