Go over the points in the worksheet and jot down your answers. When you have all the facts together you can click on the link at the bottom of the page to fill in the form which will be e-mailed to us.
What are your reasons for wanting a website? (e.g. - to advertise a product or service, to increase public knowledge of your product or service, to reach a broader market, etc.)
What image would you like your site to project to the public?
Who do you want your site to reach? Be as specific as possible (e.g. - age range, special interests, etc.).
Do you have a logo or slogan that you would like to use? (This can be incorporated into the theme of your website.)
What main sections do you want to have included in your site? (Remember -
each of these main sections can have subsections - it's just the basic skeleton
outline that we need at this point.)
This will help to determine the navigational structure of your site.
There are only a few basic font styles which are common to most computers
systems. (Other fonts used for web pages will not show up in the viewer's
browser unless the font is installed on the viewer's computer, so the use of
different fonts is NOT recommended.)
We recommend you select one or two of the following font styles for the
content of your pages (the fonts are all shown here in 12 point size normal for
comparison):
Different fonts can be used sparingly for impact, and can even be embedded to ensure that Explorer v.5+ users will see them, so if you have a favourite font you would like to use please list it. If you don't have a font in mind we will suggest several that we feel would be appropriate to your design. (Unfortunately, Netscape does not support font embedding.)
If you have definite ideas about your preferences for the site's colour scheme
we really would like to know BEFORE we produce our sample pages for you!
If you specify your colour scheme please bear in mind that not all colours are "browser safe", and that the way
your visitors will see your pages depends on the way they have their monitors
adjusted, etc. Plain backgrounds are always safest, but if you do decide
on a
patterned background choose one that is subtle in
texture.
We need to know approximately how many pictures you want to include in your
site, and if possible, how many in each section.
When you are deciding about your pictures please remember that we WILL NOT
build pages that are so overloaded with pictures that download times are
ridiculous, but we WILL come up with ways for you to use all
those pictures and still have quick loading pages!
If, while browsing the web, you have come across a site that is very much the sort of site you would like to have make a note of the address so we can have a look at it. Seeing what YOU think is the ideal type of website will aid US in coming up with a design layout that is just what you have in mind as the "perfect" look for your site.
Make a list of keywords or phrases that describe your business.
Pick words/phrases relevant to your business.
List all keywords that would link search
engines to your website.
Phrases should be both specific and general, and
things that will be included in your site's text.
These words are used within the META tags and content of your website to
enable the search engines to find your pages, and are vital to search engine submission.
A few other things for you to think about are the "extras" that are
not common to the majority of sites
Would you like to have a personalized Guest Book, co-ordinated to your site's layout and colour scheme
rather than the "offsite" ones used by so many people? (Choosing one means that your
site will have to be on a host server that allows you to install your own CGI
scripts.)
Do you want to join web-rings? Will your site need forms for gathering
information from visitors? Will you require a shopping cart?
Will you need SSL for taking credit card orders?
Those are the kinds of questions you should be thinking about in order to
know what will be a part of your design from the beginning. and thus avoid
the difficulties that go along with having to rework the design to accommodate major
changes "after the fact".
You need to determine a tentative name for your website. You may just want to
use your existing business name. But your website focus may be broader or
narrower than your organization name implies. In that case, look for a name that
is descriptive, unique, short, and memorable.
Now give thought to your domain name. Do you want it to be the same as
your site name. (It should be a name that will be easy for people to
remember, and easy to type into the browser address bar!). Do you plan to
register your domain name? (If you do you need to plan on four
weeks lead time to register a domain name, so get started with that right away
if you're going to do it.)
Do you intend to pay for site hosting or use one of the free hosting
services?
Consider: With many of the free hosting plans you are required to have
banner ads at the top of every page, or have to deal with pop-up advertising
pages opening every time you move from one page to another. You also may
not have access to some of the "bells and whistles" - like
adding multiple POP e-mail accounts and running your own CGI scripts, etc.
Consider: There are many organizations which offer very reasonable hosting
plans for every type of website requirement (storage space, bandwidth, CGI, SSL,
etc.). Most of these plans come with access to all the "bells and
whistles" that the average site owner requires. For example - I pay
only $55 US per year for an excellent hosting plan with a company that has
amazing customer service and wonderful, true 24/7, technical support, with
no set up fee! If you plan on paying for your hosting I would not hesitate
to recommend them...