March 13, 2024 • 36 secs
Are you ready to create a website that truly represents your business and attracts your target audience? It all starts with strategic planning. In this episode, your host, Chrissy Rey, walks you through the essential steps of crafting a website plan that sets you up for online success. To help you plan your website, Chrissy created a comprehensive Website Planner packed with worksheets and templates for each step of the planning process.
Whether you're building a new website from scratch or looking to revamp your existing site, this episode will give you the tools and guidance you need to lay the foundation for a successful online presence. Don't miss this essential guide to strategic website planning. Tune in now and start turning your website vision into a reality!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Welcome to website success.
I'm your host, Christy Rey, andtoday I'm going to go a little bit
more in depth on something thatI talked about in our previous
episode about how to make a website.
And that is going to be the firstphase of the process of creating a
website, which is planning your website.
If you want to create a websitethat truly represents your business,
(00:31):
attracts your target audience andhas all of the features that you need
to turn that target audience intoclients, you need to start with a plan.
And in this episode, I'll walkyou through the essential steps
of creating, just such a plan.
I very highly recommendgrabbing my website planner
from websitesuccessacademy.comto document your plan.
(00:52):
The website planner includesworksheets for each of the steps that
I'm going to cover in this episode.
You can find it in the resourcessection of the website.
Now, if you'd rather do your own thing,you can still document using a Google
document or word document or somethinglike that, but just make sure that you
take notes for all of the things thatI'm going to talk about in this episode.
(01:13):
All right.
Let's get started.
The first step of the planningphase is to identify your offer.
What are you selling orpromoting on your website?
Whether it's a productservice or information.
It's important to clearly defineyour offer from the get-go.
And this is true, even if you're anonprofit that's asking for donations
(01:33):
instead of giving information.
You need to let your target audience knowwhat they'll get if they work with you.
So you need to be very clearon what exactly that is.
After you identify your offer,it can really help to break it
down into features and benefits.
Features are the characteristics ofyour offer, while, benefits, explain
(01:54):
how those features help your customers.
Understanding that distinction isgoing to help you create compelling
content when it comes time to dothat, which is going to be in the next
phase of the website creation process.
Next you should set somegoals for your website.
What do you want to achieve with it?
Whether it's generating leads,making sales or building brand
(02:15):
awareness, it's really importantto have clear and measurable goals.
I recommend using the SMART framework.
And SMART stands for specific measurable,achievable, relevant and time-bound.
Now you need to thinkabout your target audience.
Who are you trying toreach with your website?
The target audience is goingto guide the branding design
(02:35):
and content of your website.
So knowing it is really importantfor creating a website, that's
going to resonate with them.
And you want to try to think in termsof a specific target audience and
not a very broad target audience.
So keep that in mind when you'replanning your target audience.
After you figure out who yourtarget audience is, you can take
(02:57):
that understanding to the nextlevel by creating an ideal customer
or client avatar or an ICA.
And this is a detailed profileof your ideal customer or client.
It's going to include things liketheir demographics, their goals,
their challenges, their pain points,and other information like that.
Having a clear ICA is going to guideyou with decisions about the design
(03:20):
and content just as the targetaudience.will, but it's going to go
a little bit more in depth into that.
Now let's shift gears a little bitand talk about your competitors.
Understanding your competitive landscapeis absolutely critical for creating
a website that stands out what makesyou different from your competitors.
In order to figure that out, youneed to identify your competitors
(03:42):
and analyze their strengths andtheir weaknesses and what they offer.
And that's going to help you differentiateyour website and your offer from the rest.
Now building on your competitor analysis.
You should also create a uniquevalue proposition or UVP.
The UVP is a clear statement thatcommunicates the unique value
(04:03):
that you offer to your customers.
Again, what makes youstand out from the rest?
A strong UVP is going to setyou apart from that competition.
And it's also gonna help your websitevisitors understand why they should
choose you instead of the rest.
With your offer, target audienceand UVP in mind, it's time to
brainstorm your website content.
(04:24):
What pages and informationwill your website include?
Think about your customer's journeyand what content they'll need
at each stage of that journey.
The next step is going to be toconsider your website's functionality.
What features and capabilities whereyour website need to deliver your
content and achieve all of your goals.
Do you need e-commerce opt-in forms,sales pages, courses, or something else?
(04:49):
Now at this point, you should have apretty clear vision for your website
and its functional requirements.
So now it's time to chooseyour website builder.
There are a lot of optionsavailable and each one has its
own strengths and weaknesses.
You are going to need to do someresearch and select a tool that
fits your needs and your budget.
And if you have no idea where tobegin, take a look at WordPress.
(05:11):
That's my personal favoriteSquarespace and other tools like that.
Now in addition to your website builder,you're probably going to need other
technologies to power your website.
And those are going to includethings like your payment processors,
your email marketing platform,analytics tools, and stuff like that.
And if you take all those toolstogether, you're going to turn them
(05:32):
into what's called a tech stack.
You definitely want to documentwhat your planned tech stack is
when you're planning your website.
Once you've got your website, builderand tech stack in mind, you also should
create a budget for your website.
Consider both the upfront costs likedomain name, registration, website design,
if you need to hire a web developer oranything like that, as well as any ongoing
(05:55):
expenses like hosting and maintenance.
And then the last step is goingto be to create a timeline
for your website project.
Try to break the project down intokey phases, like planning, design,
content creation, and launch.
And if you can, set target dates foreach phase to keep yourself on track.
Now, I know that was a lot, but reallyafter you document all of that, you should
(06:18):
have a clear blueprint for creating awebsite that's going to represent your
business and attract your target audience.
You're not going to havethe website just yet.
You need to still create the content.
You need to create thebrand for it and everything.
But you now have the information that youneed to move on to those next two phases.
And the content creation is what I'mgoing to talk about in the next episode.
(06:41):
So make sure you come back for that one.
Taking the time to plan yourwebsite upfront is going to save you
time and headaches down the road.
So again, make sure you downloadthe website planner or otherwise
document this plan in some wayand work through all the steps.
Start building your plan today.
If you have any questions oryou want to share your website,
(07:03):
planning progress, head over to theWebsite Success Lounge on Facebook.
I'd love to hear from you andsupport you on your website journey.
That's all for today's episode.
If you found this episode helpful, pleasesubscribe to the podcast and leave us
a review and be sure to tune in nextweek with the discussion of creating
content for your website, based on yourtarget audience and all of the other
(07:26):
information that you collected during theplanning phase until then happy planning.
Welcome to website success.
I'm your host, Christy Rey, andtoday I'm going to go a little bit
more in depth on something thatI talked about in our previous
episode about how to make a website.
And that is going to be the firstphase of the process of creating a
website, which is planning your website.
If you want to create a websitethat truly represents your business,
(00:31):
attracts your target audience andhas all of the features that you need
to turn that target audience intoclients, you need to start with a plan.
And in this episode, I'll walkyou through the essential steps
of creating, just such a plan.
I very highly recommendgrabbing my website planner
from websitesuccessacademy.comto document your plan.
(00:52):
The website planner includesworksheets for each of the steps that
I'm going to cover in this episode.
You can find it in the resourcessection of the website.
Now, if you'd rather do your own thing,you can still document using a Google
document or word document or somethinglike that, but just make sure that you
take notes for all of the things thatI'm going to talk about in this episode.
(01:13):
All right.
Let's get started.
The first step of the planningphase is to identify your offer.
What are you selling orpromoting on your website?
Whether it's a productservice or information.
It's important to clearly defineyour offer from the get-go.
And this is true, even if you're anonprofit that's asking for donations
(01:33):
instead of giving information.
You need to let your target audience knowwhat they'll get if they work with you.
So you need to be very clearon what exactly that is.
After you identify your offer,it can really help to break it
down into features and benefits.
Features are the characteristics ofyour offer, while, benefits, explain
(01:54):
how those features help your customers.
Understanding that distinction isgoing to help you create compelling
content when it comes time to dothat, which is going to be in the next
phase of the website creation process.
Next you should set somegoals for your website.
What do you want to achieve with it?
Whether it's generating leads,making sales or building brand
(02:15):
awareness, it's really importantto have clear and measurable goals.
I recommend using the SMART framework.
And SMART stands for specific measurable,achievable, relevant and time-bound.
Now you need to thinkabout your target audience.
Who are you trying toreach with your website?
The target audience is goingto guide the branding design
(02:35):
and content of your website.
So knowing it is really importantfor creating a website, that's
going to resonate with them.
And you want to try to think in termsof a specific target audience and
not a very broad target audience.
So keep that in mind when you'replanning your target audience.
After you figure out who yourtarget audience is, you can take
(02:57):
that understanding to the nextlevel by creating an ideal customer
or client avatar or an ICA.
And this is a detailed profileof your ideal customer or client.
It's going to include things liketheir demographics, their goals,
their challenges, their pain points,and other information like that.
Having a clear ICA is going to guideyou with decisions about the design
(03:20):
and content just as the targetaudience.will, but it's going to go
a little bit more in depth into that.
Now let's shift gears a little bitand talk about your competitors.
Understanding your competitive landscapeis absolutely critical for creating
a website that stands out what makesyou different from your competitors.
In order to figure that out, youneed to identify your competitors
(03:42):
and analyze their strengths andtheir weaknesses and what they offer.
And that's going to help you differentiateyour website and your offer from the rest.
Now building on your competitor analysis.
You should also create a uniquevalue proposition or UVP.
The UVP is a clear statement thatcommunicates the unique value
(04:03):
that you offer to your customers.
Again, what makes youstand out from the rest?
A strong UVP is going to setyou apart from that competition.
And it's also gonna help your websitevisitors understand why they should
choose you instead of the rest.
With your offer, target audienceand UVP in mind, it's time to
brainstorm your website content.
(04:24):
What pages and informationwill your website include?
Think about your customer's journeyand what content they'll need
at each stage of that journey.
The next step is going to be toconsider your website's functionality.
What features and capabilities whereyour website need to deliver your
content and achieve all of your goals.
Do you need e-commerce opt-in forms,sales pages, courses, or something else?
(04:49):
Now at this point, you should have apretty clear vision for your website
and its functional requirements.
So now it's time to chooseyour website builder.
There are a lot of optionsavailable and each one has its
own strengths and weaknesses.
You are going to need to do someresearch and select a tool that
fits your needs and your budget.
And if you have no idea where tobegin, take a look at WordPress.
(05:11):
That's my personal favoriteSquarespace and other tools like that.
Now in addition to your website builder,you're probably going to need other
technologies to power your website.
And those are going to includethings like your payment processors,
your email marketing platform,analytics tools, and stuff like that.
And if you take all those toolstogether, you're going to turn them
(05:32):
into what's called a tech stack.
You definitely want to documentwhat your planned tech stack is
when you're planning your website.
Once you've got your website, builderand tech stack in mind, you also should
create a budget for your website.
Consider both the upfront costs likedomain name, registration, website design,
if you need to hire a web developer oranything like that, as well as any ongoing
(05:55):
expenses like hosting and maintenance.
And then the last step is goingto be to create a timeline
for your website project.
Try to break the project down intokey phases, like planning, design,
content creation, and launch.
And if you can, set target dates foreach phase to keep yourself on track.
Now, I know that was a lot, but reallyafter you document all of that, you should
(06:18):
have a clear blueprint for creating awebsite that's going to represent your
business and attract your target audience.
You're not going to havethe website just yet.
You need to still create the content.
You need to create thebrand for it and everything.
But you now have the information that youneed to move on to those next two phases.
And the content creation is what I'mgoing to talk about in the next episode.
(06:41):
So make sure you come back for that one.
Taking the time to plan yourwebsite upfront is going to save you
time and headaches down the road.
So again, make sure you downloadthe website planner or otherwise
document this plan in some wayand work through all the steps.
Start building your plan today.
If you have any questions oryou want to share your website,
(07:03):
planning progress, head over to theWebsite Success Lounge on Facebook.
I'd love to hear from you andsupport you on your website journey.
That's all for today's episode.
If you found this episode helpful, pleasesubscribe to the podcast and leave us
a review and be sure to tune in nextweek with the discussion of creating
content for your website, based on yourtarget audience and all of the other
(07:26):
information that you collected during theplanning phase until then happy planning.
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