|
Step Two Decide on Site Scope and Size
-
Offering Services
If
you offer a service, such as accounting, legal, event planning,
consulting, construction, auto repair, etc., here are a couple
of factors to consider:
- Will
it be enough to have a simple page to "supplement" your other
advertising, such as Yellow Pages, business cards, flyers, or
brochures, or will it be an asset to include informational articles,
and/or add information on a periodic basis?
- Can
your services be offered over a wide geographic area, or is
it primarily local?
-
Selling Products
If
you have products to sell, try to make both long term and short-term
decisions, to avoid time-consuming and/or costly re-design later
on:
- How
many categories and items do you want to start with?
- Do
you want to start with one category, and add more later, or
start with several categories, and add to the number of items
in each over a period of time?
- Will
you sell retail and wholesale, and if so, will you need a separate
section with information for your wholesale customers?
- Will
there be sales tax and shipping costs?
- Do
you want, at some point, to take credit card orders?
-
Deciding on Site Name and Hosting
- Do
you want to take a domain name, or will a sub-domain do?
- Will
free hosting (with ad banners) do? Or would you prefer a site
with no ad banners?
- Do
you already have space available through your ISP?
-
Budget Considerations
- How
much have you budgeted to get your site started, between design
cost, domain name, and setting up hosting?
- How
much are you prepared to budget on a monthly basis for site
maintenance, additions, and hosting costs?
Budget planning is a critical factor when deciding on web hosting,
shopping cart and ordering options, and the scope and complexity
of your site design. .
|
|
|
