A lot can be said about proper planning, particularly when you are talking about websites. Although your number one goal may be to get your website up and running as quickly as possible, you need proper planning of your design in order to effectively reach your target audience. If you want to generate more leads, make more sales and generally impress those who visit your site then you should carefully plan the design process.
The most important aspect of website design is to identify your target niche. You have to reach your target audience. When someone lands at your website you have mere seconds to impress them enough to make them stay. If your site is hard to navigate and your information is hard to find then you can expect them not to stay long. Your website is like a brochure for your business. It gives your visitors the information that they need as well as giving you the ability to gather information from prospects and sell your products or services.
The most successful websites have easy to navigate pages and easy to find information. You also need to take the time to determine just what is special or unique about your individual business as opposed to your competitors. Highlight your unique qualities on your website. You can look on major search engines such as Google for websites that are similar to yours. Look at these sites and see how they reach their customers. Many of the larger businesses have spent millions of dollars researching just how to build an effective site. You can model your site after these larger sites in terms of color choices, where to place specific site functions and even the fonts that you use on your website.
Be sure to also work on an effective strategy for sending traffic to your website. After all, a good site will do you no good unless you have visitors.