| ign="center"> | | | | Answering this question will help you identify new |
| Do you really think you can create a website? No? | | | | opportunities and leads directly into our next question; |
| Not true, of course you can! Most people wrongly | | | | What is the purpose of your website? This is the most |
| believe that they'll never be able to create a website. | | | | important question to answer as it will drive the whole |
| The terms geek, guru and nerd spring to mind and you | | | | website design process. You'll design a store front site |
| already feel intimated. Then you think about how to | | | | in a totally different way to an information site. |
| design a website and worry that it takes a lot of | | | | Next try to determine whet your main products are |
| training, time and effort. Not to mention a boat load of | | | | going to be and write them down. This will help you |
| programming skills! | | | | with the website design and navigation. Finally who is |
| Nothing could be further from the truth! I won't lie and | | | | your audience? The language you use and to a lesser |
| say that it takes no time and effort, there are some | | | | extent the style of your site will be dependent on this |
| skills that you will need to learn, but it's not as hard or | | | | answer. You'll use different language and look and feel |
| time consuming as you may think. There are lots of | | | | if you're trying to appeal to teens of college students |
| programs and helpful sites that can take you step by | | | | than a website designed to appeal to business to |
| step through the process of designing a website and | | | | business. |
| then building it. You don't need to break the bank hiring | | | | Pulling the Website design Together |
| a web design company, With a few skills and some | | | | Now go through your answers and on a separate |
| forethought you can build a website yourself. | | | | sheet of paper start grouping your products (or |
| Where Do I Start? | | | | information if its an information website) into main |
| Your website does not have to be complicated and | | | | categories. These will all become web pages and form |
| loaded with loads of flash animations, videos, graphics | | | | the first tier of navigation off your main page. Make |
| and the latest audio feeds. In fact these types of sites | | | | sure the focus here is in keeping with the purpose of |
| are often difficult to navigate,slow to load and not very | | | | your website. There may be some further sub |
| nice to look at. Adding some multimedia into your | | | | categories and these can be your second tier web |
| website design can be done at a later stage, often the | | | | pages that flow naturally from the first tier. |
| best and most successful websites are the simple | | | | For instance if your main site is about golf, first tier |
| sites and this is where you should start. | | | | web pages will be things like Golf Clubs, Golf Shoes, |
| It's all in the Planning | | | | Golf Bags, Golf Accessories and Gold Courses. A |
| Before you dive in and start trying to create a website | | | | second tier may come off Golf Accessories that |
| there are a few questions you should ask yourself. Go | | | | covers Golf Balls, Golf Tees, Golf Club Head Covers |
| and get a pen and paper, then answer these next few | | | | etc. Keep the design of your website navigation clean |
| questions. | | | | and easy to follow so that your visitors can find what |
| Why do you want a website? This may seem like an | | | | they want quickly and easily. |
| obvious question, but take some time to think about it. | | | | |