Planning your website design project can help things run more smoothly and save you time, money, and frustration. When planning a website design project, it is important to first articulate the goals of the website. Are you creating an informational website or are you selling products? What kind of designs most effectively convey your message?

Here’s some steps you should take to make your next project a breeze:

Clearly define your goals and objectives for the project

Before beginning the design process, it is important to have a clear understanding of what your website needs to accomplish. This includes identifying your target audience, the main purpose of the website (e.g. selling products, providing information, etc.), and any specific functionality that needs to be included.

To help determine this information, you may want to review other websites, especially those of your competitors. Decide what you like in other websites, and also what you dislike. Think about what features and functionality might be wanted by your targeted customers and what items might give them reason to spend more time on your website and increase conversion.

Brand guidelines can include colors, styles, typography and much more

Use or create a style guide

Branding guidelines are important to ensure your company presents the same ideas and feel no matter where it’s seen. If you don’t already have a style guide, creating one before you embark on a new website design project can help you get the most out of your project and make later marketing and representation projects much easier.

Things to include in your style guide include: color schemes, typography, image guidelines, and even just an overall aesthetic. Include anything that you think can help others understand the message your brand is trying to tell your target audience.

Create a sitemap or wireframes for your website

Creating a sitemap for your website not only help you decide what pages you’d like to have and how they should be laid out, it also assists web designers in their decisions when they’re thinking about how your site should look and feel. Figuring out how to organize and plan the structure and navigation of your website helps you plan content and design and makes sure that everything is going to work together.

You might want to go a step further and create actual wireframes. If you have a good concept of how your individual pages should be laid out, you can make sure you’re driving the website design in the correct direction and getting the results you need.

Don’t settle for a generic website. Trust the professionals at ThisGals to create a website that is tailored to your needs and exceeds your expectations. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and see what we can do for you.