Need advice-Best way to plan a website

[C.Quill]

I definitely need some advice so I can stop putting this off.

I've been wanting to redesign my website for months.
I have the ultimate tech site builder kit, and tons of ideas.

My main problem is that I don't know where to begin to design a website,
I made my first website but I did that years ago. I could use some advice regarding how you guys plan and start building your websites, what steps do you start with, what order, etc.

Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

I definitely need some advice so I can stop putting this off.

I've been wanting to redesign my website for months.
I have the ultimate tech site builder kit, and tons of ideas.

My main problem is that I don't know where to begin to design a website,
I made my first website but I did that years ago. I could use some advice regarding how you guys plan and start building your websites, what steps do you start with, what order, etc.

Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you.

I have a graphic design department, so I personally don't do it, but usually you start with the design, then add main pages etc... and finally content.
When planning your design take your logo, figure out colors etc....
our site - www.sprintertechnologies.com just had a massive facelift about 5 months ago into a full ecommerce, and we are adding more content daily.

Honestly the rest at least IMO is really up to you.

 

[16k_zx81]

A lot of people seem to start with inspiration from another site (or siteS) that they like the features of, and then work from there.

If you like the front page from one, the navigation from another, and the footer from another, then you have the beginnings of a good website. All that remains is to translate it into your own preferred vision.

I reckon the home page is an easy starting point.

Then decide top level nav

For computer repairs sites, there are two services pages models - either 'all in one' (page) or a separate page per service (easier for SEO)

If you're mobile, dont forget to include a service map

Personally I think prices are important to state. If you're expensive this may not be an ideal approach though.

Buzz me if you need a hand

Jim

 

[C.Quill]

Thank you guys.

I'll get working on it soon. It's hard to balance out everything, but this needs to be done.

 

[marcink99]

I would use wordpress for cms

 

[Mase_00_7]

Wordpress is absolutely not user friendly to a novice, so I would stick with a basic website for now.

As 16k has said, have a look around at other websites, not just tech websites, and make a note of what you like.

Think about colours and how they work together; a great tool is Adobe's Kuler (kuler.adobe.com), just put in a colour that you know you want (i.e. part of your logo) and ask it to give you complimentary colours.

Think about why you like the design and what elements of that website you can port across to your design.

Once you have an idea of how you want it to look start to construct it in photoshop; start from the top and work your way down, making changes as you go. Coding is the easy part

 

[drpcfix]

I would second the suggestion for Wordpress, it's not really easy to start out and build an amazing site your am first day. But what you do put in to learning with it will pay you back 10 fold as you are able to quickly add huge elements to the site, lots of pages, etc

Worth spending 3~ hours trying it out for sure.

 

[Maniaman]

Wordpress is the easiest CMS out there for a novice to work with, as far as adding/editing pages and such. It's really not that difficult to code templates itno either (especially if you make a barebones template that cuts out a bunch of the unnecessary things from the stock templates).

 

[fooTunny]

Honestly, I have sat with small company owners who have never built a web page and shown them SquareSpace.com and not 15 minutes later have had a professional web site up and running. It is a very simple to use, then learn more advanced features as you grow in your understanding of HTML service. Give it a try, bet you will love it!

fooTunny