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5 Rules on Planning Your Startup Website

Written by: Mark Brimm

Article Overview: Too many clients rush to buy a domain name, and in a fever, develop it at the lowest bid they can find, only to discover later that 1) their domain name is not branded well for the web, and 2) their site will need massive revision in order to accommodate organic search marketing needs, while 3) the design and usability of the cheapo site itself is showing...big time. Here is advice from a web marketing planner on how to avoid serious pitfalls when planning a new website.

5 Rules on Planning Your Startup Website

Rule #1: The Domain Selection Wheel of Fortune

Contrary to what many may think, domain selection is not subject to the luck of the draw. Don't assume that you somehow know what domain name would be best. Naming a site involves a lot of factors, such as the search marketing component, as well as being a memorable internet-based brand. The big mistake is to assume this is intuitive enough that anyone can do it. Your mechanic fixes cars. A domain naming expert selects domains. Experience is as crucial here as everywhere else. Once named, changing names can create serious issues later on, so it really does have a huge impact on what you choose. In some cases you may be asked to pay several hundred or several thousand dollars for a suitable domain name that someone else is holding for ransom (easy to snatch them up, difficult to develop all those ideas). Consider the price against the projections for your profit margin or your most reasonable expectations and go from there. Domain selection play a substantial role in most search engine marketing efforts that follow.


Rule #2: Logo Selection - "But my 5-year old likes it!"

A logo is meant to be a memorable representation of your brand, not a work of art or a personal statement. I've seen so many bad logos (and even have been asked to produce one or two) that resulted from a site owner being too emotionally invested in the imagery or even the color scheme selected, when different imagery and colors would have made for the most compelling and memorable logo. Remember that the name is more important than the imagery. The name is what is going to get stuck in the mind, pictures are not so easy to remember and cannot usually be reproduced in your offline advertising. Additionally, your business site's logo should be based on your target audience, that is, upon the brand you are trying to create and position in contradistinction to or in comparison with one or more ALREADY EXISTING brands who currently have a substantial market share. Don't just go with the logo you think it fetching or that matches your baby's eyes. When Google picked their domain name "randomly" out of a dictionary, I'm pretty sure that, if it was the first try (let's assume it wasn't) they would have not gone with "doofus.com" or "carborator.com". If there is any truth in the dictionary story at all, rest assured that these savvy, capitalist-forward IT college boys went with the most unusual, least understood word they could happen upon in that dictionary, because they couldn't come up with an entirely new word themselves, and because that is the foremost trait of a good brand name. Coca-Cola. Pepsi. Rolling Rock. Hubba Bubba. A word that is not already standing for something else. Ultimately, you could name your new brand "Gigimo" and it stands to do well, simply because there is no existing "Gigimo" out there, and nobody is going to mistake you for something else in conversation. If you are a PC memory card manufacturer, then it's the perfect name, because it has "gigabytes" and "mo[re)" jammed together into a cute new word. See how marketing departments work? They are involved in creating industry-relevant, positioning-aggressive catchiness, not originality per se, and not virtue, and not a personal statement or talisman safe word.


Rule#3: Cheap Website Design & Development Create Serious Web Marketing Problems

Cheap web site design & development and creates inappropriate, less-than-usable sites which confuse your target audience and do not create sales or newsletter sign ups (conversions). Don't choose a site developer or designer based on the lowest bid. Allow an experienced web marketing expert with project management experience to bid on contract help for you, select the winning bid, and then manage the project or at least allow him/her to select the project manager him/herself. What you don't need is amateurs at the wheel while you cross your fingers and pretend that you chose the most "able" person for the job. Search engine optimization, among other things, needs to be the top consideration at the beginning of the new site's creation. Not at the end, when it will require a complete site makeover in order to implement a "late-comer" SEO strategy. Issues like navigation, usability, keyword density, rich text planning, all need to be mapped out from the very beginning by someone with a track record of getting sites whipped into shape and visible in short time. Get a web marketing veteran who's planned entire sites before from A to Z (this is what I do as a Web Marketing Analyst, BTW, while SEO is just a small but crucial part of that).


Rule#4: Do Research before Selecting Your Web Marketing Expert / Project Manager

Now that we have a solid background on the major pitfall areas of creating a new website business front, we can go back to that magical point where you've just registered the domain name your web marketing expert and several other savvy friends of yours all agree is pretty nifty. Once you've selected and registered that perfect name that everyone agrees has great potential, LISTEN to your web marketing expert like he were a beloved spouse or a trusted lawyer in a serious trial. Don't switch back an forth between more than one if you don't like his price on an item or his criticism of your current site's faults. Carefully select one expert, and then go with him all the way. If his price on something isn't possible in your budget, tell him your concern if it is legitimate and based in reality. If you want to check his ideas against another authority, go back to your For Dummies books and check the general methodology, remembering that you can get an idea of what should be covered in this way, not learn how to do it yourself.


Rule #5: Strictly Professional

Remember, you DO NOT need to like your web marketing expert (or any of the other workers involved) to improve your site by leaps and bounds, you just need to listen and rationally consider what is put on the table against what you are learning about web marketing gradually on your own. The best laid plans are those that even people you don't like agree has potential. Your web marketing expert-cum-project-manager should make it easy for you to get the info and decision-making tools you need, including detailed proposals, which you're going to read thoroughly (aren't you?), and graphs and charts that make visual all that concrete info and projection data. If you need funding, you're going to need that info, so make it clear you intend to take all of that stuff seriously and you want the fullest proposal possible given the value of the project. Lunches are not a good idea if the implication is that you're making a new friend. All interactions with your team should be of a professional nature. Never letting the standards or expectations slip on either side of the equation is the best way to ensure the quality of your project, and the satisfaction of the team you work with. Keep this in mind: if the team is satisfied with working with the client, the projects will tend to get more efficient as time goes on. You want to take care of your team's needs pro-actively and avoid serious problems before they can occur. If your team isn't taking YOU seriously or lets you down in a big way, let the man in charge know about it immediately in a calm and polite manner that befits the boss.


Rule#6: Keep it Real

Don't lead others on to think your budget is bigger than it is. This creates a deteriorating
situation when one side senses the other is lying and stirs up mutiny within the ranks and neglect or even sabotage of the actual project. Be straightforward and observe the golden rule when doing business, even on the web. The web is not a quasi-world where anything can happen and stay there, like the mythical Las Vegas on the TV commercial. The web is part of the physical world, and everyone is subject to the same morals and laws as in every other situation. Everyone has rights, as well, including the right to get what was agreed upon. Your contract is your friend, get one and make it clear. Also, correspond or at least confirm your phone conversations in writing, faxes or even emails. Anything submitted to a business partner in writing can also be submitted in a court of law, and so don't underestimate the value of doing so.

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Article Tags: domain name, domain name selection, massive revision, planning a website, starter website, startups, usability, website planning article



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