Chromand - Desiging, Developing, and Marketing for the Interwebs

When I mention to people that I work in web development/design, A common conversation comes up. People tell me they have a cool idea for a website, and it becomes apparent that they really have no idea what it takes to start a website. This is the way people think websites work:

1. Make a good website

2. Profit!

In reality, it’s nothing like this. Making a good website isn’t even step 1. If you are serious about starting a web site, here are some tips on things to do before you get started.

1. Get a focused idea of what you want your website to be

• Think about what niche you are going after.
• Get a focused idea of what kind of content you need for your site.
• Think about what kind of features and functionality you need for your site. You may want to look into a CMS, like Wordpress or Drupal.

2. Beginning SEO

• Once you have your niche picked out, start looking for keywords. You can use the Google Keyword Tool.
• Once you have a good list of keywords, pick out a domain and title based on this info.
• Make your title tags, meta tags, and description tags based on this info.

3. Monetization and Marketing

• Decide how you are going to make money off of your site.  You have several options here: PPC advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Selling your own advertising, our selling your own products are all options here.
• Decide  what you want to do to market your website. The internet is not a “build it and they will come” kind of thing. You may want to pay for advertising, or their are several ‘bum’ marketing strategies.

4. Design

• Choose the colors and layout of your site. Pick colors that are congruent with the theme of the site, and easy on the eye.  Choose a layout
  that will work will with the content and functionality you want for your site.
• Design a good logo and icon, for branding purposes. If you’re not a good graphic designer, you may want to outsource on this one. I know a guy who is pretty good at this stuff…

If you take these steps, it will save you tons of headaches down the road.  Trust me.