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Planning Strategies Affect Design Decisions

 

Meet with all involved in creating and/or using website:

           Executives

           Programmers

           Marketing

           Sales Reps

           Customer Service / Tech Support Reps

           Anyone else who can add additional perspectives

 

Game plan during and after above meeting:

           While brainstorming with above folks, create a random list of things everyone might want to include on the site, without regard to which category it goes in or IF it will even be included when the site is finally developed.

           On separate post-its, write each segment of the website from the list above.

           Create some basic categories (on different-colored post-its) that seem to flow from the post-its you created above.

           Place initial brainstorm post-its under category post-its where they seem to fit.

           Ultimately decide which of the post-its to remove completely and which to consider at a later time and put these aside, but don't discard them.

           Prioritize remaining post-its.

           Assign specific researching and planning assignments to various people (in-house or outsourced)

 

 

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED:

 

1.  What is your budget?

 

2.  What is your intended launch date?

If Plan X takes 4 months and Plan Y takes 2 weeks, consider using Plan Y unless it completely destroys your web goals.

 

3.  How will your online presence differ from your current business model?

 

4.  Who will be hosting your website?

           In-house?

           Outside web hosting company?

 

5.  Who is (are) your audience(s)?

           Investors?

           People looking for employment?

           People looking to sell you something?

           People looking to buy your product/service?

           Competitor?

           Returning customers?

 

6.  Why are people going to come to your site?

           Order?

           Gather information?

           Build branding?

           Other?

 

7.  Who will be designing and developing website?

           In-house (1 person or a combo?)

           Outsourced

           Portions in-house and portions outsourced

 

8.  Who are the primary content experts?

 

9.  Who will be managing the process?

Only one person should have final sign-off authority and this person should have access to high-level management.

 

10.  Who will function long-term as the webmaster or senior site editor?

 

 

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