You’re thinking of putting up a new website and contacting a web designer in San Diego, but not sure where to start. Consider these 10 tips before you build your website.

1. What does your website need to do? Are you going to sell products online? Do you need an online brochure for your business listing your services and fees? Are you gathering leads or email addresses? Do you want to build a community and charge a membership fee? Having a clear idea of the goal of your website will determine all your decisions for your website.
2. Pick a domain name that describes your business or contains your business name. Keywords are vital in the URL (domain name) of your site. Ask your web developer or web designer to suggest a URL that will be keyword rich and appropriate for your business.
3. Choose a web host. The web host is the virtual “land” that your “virtual” business stands on. You’ll need to rent space to host your website at. There are two types of hosting un-managed and managed hosting. It’s just like it sounds, managed hosting takes care of security and script up dates. With un-managed hosting, you’ll need to do your own updates. Keeping your updates current keeps your site from being hacked.
4. Get keywords for your site. Keywords are what your potential customers type into the search field to find your site. A good list of keywords is essential for people to find your site. Usually web professionals will give you a list of about 30 words with various difficulty to rank for. Your keywords should be built into your website.
5. Make sure your website user is friendly. Use more than one navigational menu, make sure that your logo shows on every page, have a site map and a privacy policy on your site. Make sure your webcopy is clear and understandable. (Edit, edit, edit, eloquent copy makes for the best copy.) Remember that visitors to your site will have different technical levels and you need to cater all their different skill levels.
6. Utilize pictures, images and colors on your site. Reading on a computer is twice as hard as reading a paper. Break up the text on the page with pictures and images to rest a readers eyes. Images on your pages make a site more attractive, and readers will want to read the page.
7. Sharpen your marketing message so that it converts your visitors to sales leads. You’ll need to talk from the benefits that your business can give clients. Feel their pain and solve it.
8. Write your website copy. This is the single most impactful item on your website. Your content needs to be clear and concise. Write your copy set it aside and come back it the next day. Reread it and cut out words. Send it to friends or business colleagues, have them read it and give you ideas for improvement. Make changes, reread it and cut out words. Then send your copy to an editor or proofreader to clean up the grammar and make the final touches.
9. Market your website to bring in visitors. If people can’t find you, they can’t visit your site, and they can’t purchase your product & services. Include a link to your website in your email signature, list your website on your business card and include it on all your printed materials and marketing. Utilize social profiles, social media and directory listings to market your new website.
10. Don’t forget to monitor your site’s search engine performance. Google Analytics is an awesome free analytic tool for your site. It’s easy to use and will let you know how visitors use your website. Your web statistics will tell which and how many pages are visited, how long your visitors stay, the links the visitors came in from and the keyword your visitors used to find your website. You’ll need these statistics to fine tune your site and your marketing message.

Have a question about any of these steps? Give us a call at 888-249-8884. We are local San Diego Web Developers available to consult on your web design in San Diego.