Website design is a many step process, but what should the first step be? Like all things in business it’s about knowing exactly what is needed and focusing on that before you even consider creating a site.

When thinking about launching a website, like launching a new business, you first need to understand your target Audience. It is important to understand not only what the purpose of the site will be, but also who your intended audience is. Getting this information before you even consider the site itself is imperative to not only save time but also money.

So how do you do it?

First of all you need to understand what the purpose of the site is. Is it going to be selling a service or goods? Does it need ecommerce or will it be just a static site for prospective clients to find out about you with contact information? Saying you need a website without truly understanding its intended purpose can lead to long development times, increased costs, and in the end a subpar site that doesn’t really suit your needs.

Once you decide on the site’s purpose, you need to understand the audience you intend to have view it. Unless you’re a large company with a huge budget that can create a Search desire, you are going to need to tap into search patterns that already exist. Creating a site without understand the search patterns of the intended users is doomed to fail, or at the very least, be ineffective.

For example, if you are going to sell and new product or concept, and no one knows it exists, how will they search and find your site? You have two options: create a search audience, or tap into existing ones that parallel your new product/concept.

Look at Uber for an example … when they first launched, no one really understood what ride share was, so if they had a website just about ride sharing it might rank well for the keyword, but if no one was searching for it, their message wouldn’t have gotten out. They would have looked at the market, seen what people were searching for like services i.e. taxi, transport, hire cars, etc, and tapped into that market to build awareness of the site. Obviously now everybody knows Uber, but everyone starts out small, and it’s easier and cheaper to tap into existing search patterns than to try and create a new one.

If you’re offering a service or product that is well known, the search patterns are easier to define but also present challenges. In established niches you need to get a foothold and expand from there, so narrow down your focus (at least initially until the site grows and you can expand). For example, if you’re a plumber in Sydney, you would be best to target locally to you rather than Sydney as a whole, until the site’s audience builds up and you can expand on that.

Once you understand your ideal audience and what search keywords you wish to target, then you can start to talk about the elements of the site that are needed.  Do not just launch a site and then think of the above, as you will waste valuable time and money doing adjustments that should have been done in initial development.

Better still, hire a web design company of experts like us here at SEOcycle. Unlike your traditional web design companies, we are heavily involved in all aspects of SEO as well, so all our sites are optimized towards the client’s target market. We will ensure you launch your website with the best chance of success.