You would probably like your WordPress site to look stunning, represent your business accurately, and attract lots of visitors who, in turn, become loyal customers. A daunting task to say the least, but here are some practical steps to take in planning your website.
Meet your Target Audience
Imagine the person that visits your site and becomes your new customer. Write down as many things as you can about this imaginary customer; their interests, age, gender, comfort level on the internet, social media engagement, pets, children… You should be able to create a personal profile of at least 2 or 3 visitors. There would be different profiles for new and returning customers. Do not forget to give them actual names – Alice would be your returning customer, a 25 year old sales representative from NY; Tom, a new visitor, a 60 year old retired math teacher from CA.
Decide on your Website Content
Now that you became very familiar with Alice and Tom, write down everything they might be looking for on our site and everything they need to know about your business. Once you have the list, you can organize it into pages and menu sections. Tom and Alice might have different sections of the site dedicated and targeted to them. Do not forget to include in your content key words Tom would be most likely to search for in order to find your site.
Include a Call to action
What action would you like Tom to take when he visits your site? Order a product, give you a phone
call, send you a note, or register for an event? How about Alice? Would she be writing a review, referring her friends? All these are “calls to action” and WordPress provides you with an array of plugins to help accomplish those goals. Remember to place the “calls to action” in prominent and relevant locations across your site.
Select your Visual Design
You have worked hard on preparing your site’s content, now it’s time to make it all look attractive. Think of what design style would represent your companies brand well (modern, hipster, traditional) and what would be the most appealing to Alice, or easy to use for Tom. What ratio of text to images would be most appropriate? It’s perfectly OK to look at other sites you know for inspiration. WordPress also has a great selection of themes to choose from.
Following these steps will give you great mockups for your site’s design and content and set you up for success. Let us know when you are ready and we can make your website plan become an online reality.