The 5 W’s of Web Design

This is a strategy lesson for web design – who, what, where, why, and when?  You must answer these questions to design your website effectively in order to get a good response once you are online!

Who are you targeting? 

Your target audience should play into how you design your website – especially when it comes to customizing.  The first rules you may want to follow are:

Simpler is better.

Bold graphics for your bold statements. 

Where are they?  Why will they visit your website?

Are you planning to utilize the website in your sales cylce?  Are you going to use the website for lead generation or is the website going to help you sell more products to your current clients?

When (in the sales cycle) will your shoppers visit?

As a lead generating website, it will be new prospects that visit the website vs you referring a client to your site.  It’s important to address both audiences if both will exist.

What are you selling online? 

Are you just enhancing your reputation, moving buyers closer to a decision or do you actually have a BUY NOW button?  Is your buy now compelling?  Does your audience actually buy online?

Web design as a service is rarely purchased online – more often, by a magnitude of difference, web design and marketing sales are made in person.  With this in mind, a website for web designers is often designed to highlight the talents and services – as opposed to actual products. 

Keep these things in mind and look for a rewrite of this article in time – the 5 w’s of web design.