So you want a new website?

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So you want a new website.

Fantastic responsive design that works equally well on large screens and mobiles.

Amazing sleek design.

Beautiful appearance.

But how can you be sure that it’s worth it?

It’s going to be a significant chunk of cash; how can you avoid the horror stories?

Well, we can’t guarantee success, but there are two questions you need to ask that will help.

And they’re not complicated questions either. However, if you don’t have the answers you may end up with something great looking but ineffective.

So what do you need to know?

Firstly, who are your visitors going to be? Is the site aimed at your prospects, customers, experts in your field, are you trying to recruit staff or partners?

Write out a list of who these groups are.

Then, we move on to question number two.

Who, out of these groups, is most important to you? Give each one a weighting. If it’s a sales site, getting prospects to sign up is probably your main aim. Or maybe you’re really interested in repeat business.

And once you have a weighting for each group you can decide on your page layout. Give the most space and the most prominent positioning to the important groups. Relegate the minor groups to navigation items or buttons.

As so many things in software, this is a process of identification and prioritisation.

Identify who you’re interested in and give the important people the most attention.

If you can’t do that, you’re site will be muddled and confused. If you get it right, your visitors will believe you can read their minds.