planning In Website Development
We all know how important it is to plan a project, but knowing something and doing it are different things. I know I should think before assembling furniture, but I am so keen to “get started” and “not waste time” that planning goes out the window.The same can be true of running a website .Saving time by shortcutting planning is a false economy. Before long problems will arise and without up front planning they will lead toslippages in the project. Unless a project is clearly defined from the outset, people will have very different expectations of the resultand their own responsibilities. This inevitably leads to conflict and more stress for the website owner.Planning is often perceived as time-consuming and heavyweight. When I talk about planning a web project, I am talking about a lightweight process focused on developing a clearly defined vision and ensuring that everybody is consulted. This approach can be applied equally to a single new piece of functionality or a major overhaul of your entire web presence. This lightweight approach consists of the following stages:
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‣ Understanding the broader context of your project
‣ Deciding how to judge the success of your project
‣ Assessing the project against your existing site
‣ Comparing the project to the competition
‣ Ensuring you understand the audience for the project
Know your site
Start planning the future of your website by analyzing what you already have. A more formal approach helps to better inform your decision-making throughout the web project. Qualitative and quantitative feedback are two ways to better understand your current website. Qualitative feedback is received by requesting comment from stakeholders and users.
Keep your planning lightweight
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‣ Do not plan in a bubble
- The context of your web project
- Gain context through consultation
- How to run a successful stakeholder interview
‣ Measure success
- Avoiding unrealistic goals
- Avoiding the blame game
‣ Look back to move forward
- Asking for feed back
- Collecting cold hard facts
- Weblog analyzers
- Technical validators
- Online visibility trackers
‣ Know your enemy
- Reviewing the competition
- Testing the competition
‣ Empathize with your users
- Who to target first
- Personalizing your audience
Take time to look at your competition and ask yourself:
‣ What is the message and tone of voice being used on this site?
‣ What content and functionality is highlighted on the home page and in the navigation?
‣ What image are they trying to project through the design?
‣ What functionality and content do they have compared to your website?
‣ What labeling are they applying to the content areas and site sections?
The aim is to better understand your competition’s online strategy. Why have they chosen to approach a problem in a different way to you? Does that alternative approach give them an advantage?
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