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1. Think of how to make your website profitable
If you're planning on having a website, it's either to make money or to create awareness with it. Brainstorm ahead of time how you plan to achieve that: It might involve a shopping cart, survey or any number of features (or none at all!) depending on your specific needs. This will help us present you different options, and a range of cost accordingly.
2. Determine your target audience
Will your website target primarily urban teenage girls? Or, will your audience be more diversified, such as anyone who enjoys gardening? You will need to study the age group, gender, cultural background, and geographical location of your target audience. Not only will this help you market your organization more efficiently, and aid in developing the most effective identity for your needs, but it will determine if your project will require special treatment, for example the use of a larger type size if your audience will primarily be seniors, or young children.
3. Plan on getting the word out
The most gorgeous and intelligently designed site is worthless if no one knows it's there! No matter what business you are in, you will have to promote your website somehow. There are multiple ways of doing this, including search engine submission, printing your URL (www.your-site.com) on all of your printed materials, generating a print or electronic mailing list of people who want to hear about your specials or updates, displaying banner ads on other websites, exchanging links with related businesses, displaying an advertisement in printed publications, and the list goes on. There are many sources for inspiration out there; make a note to visit the links page for our recommendations. Aurora Design can also help you find creative and cost-effective ways to publicize your organization.
4. Plan a budget
How much do you want to ideally spend with your website - during development and beyond? Your costs will most likely include development of the website (design & production), purchasing of a domain name (your-site.com), marketing, and a hosting account set up fee plus monthly charges. If your site is to be an online store, you will generally be subject to higher hosting fees, merchant account charges, and credit card processing fees. If you plan on maintaining your website yourself, you may be in the market for additional hardware (scanner or digital camera), and software.
 5. Make a map of your website
Draw up a loose model of your website. You can start with a homepage and branch out into the remaining pages, such as "About" or "Products", and include subpages (pages for specific products, for example) if you plan on having any. Be as specific as you can, and don't worry about it being perfect; we will help you make it the most efficient and user-friendly as possible.
6. Visualize your content
If you don't have your content developed yet, roughly visualize what each page in your website will contain, in other words, how much text and images do you expect each page to hold. This will help you get an accurate quote because, for example, a page containing basic contact information will take significantly less time to produce than a 20-page inventory listing!
7. Visualize your look
Your company may already have an identity (a logo, fonts, colors and layouts you always use for your printed material). But chances are you are starting from scratch. Getting started is simple; One solution is to gather printed materials and website addresses you are fond of. Think of why they appeal to you (colors, "look and feel", ). Next, determine which of the factors would work best to represent your organization. Or, the other solution is to leave it up to us entirely! Aurora Design has almost a decade of experience and formal training in the technical, creative and marketing aspects of design. We also offer graphic design services such as logo and identity development, as well as printed materials such as stationery, mailers, .
8. Obtain originals
If your company already has proprietary art such as a logo or photographs, it is highly recommended that you gather the original, uncompressed files for use in your website. It is possible to use graphics that have already been compressed for the web (GIF or JPEG files), but it is generally time consuming and/or can yield unaesthetic results.
9. Know your file formats
You might be asked what program was (or will be) used to type the content, or if it would need to be retyped from a hard copy. If you will be typing the content yourself, we recommend doing so in an unformatted Microsoft Word document (no indents, unnecessary tables, ). Similarly, you might be asked if your images need scanning or if they are currently in digital format. If so, which one? Common image formats are PSD (PhotoShop), TIFF, EPS, BMP, JPEG and GIF. If you're not sure what you've got, don't worry; we can help you find out!
10. Find a hosting service
Find a hosting service, so your website can be displayed online, once it is complete. It will also allow you to post a "Coming Soon" page (which we would provide free), until the website is fully developed -- this comes in handy especially if you have released printed material with your URL on it!. Aurora Design offers several hosting solutions to choose from. Just be sure to commit to a host, only when you have finished planning for your site; many hosting companies to not support certain programming languages used in e-commerce or other dynamic content.
11. Contact a professional
When you're ready to start development, or need additional insight on preparing for your project, contact us and we can help you turn your ideas into reality. If you'd like to see examples of other websites we have developed, visit our web design portfolio.
12. Have fun in the process!
Be sure to check out the other guides in this series: How to prepare for graphics and How to prepare for illustration.
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