How to Design Your Own Website

If you were looking for help building a website,
please see "How to Make a Website."

Our business clients have the best website design ideas under the sun. This article is for those prospective clients who want to design your own website before you come to us for implementation.

What do we mean by designing your own website? Well, you, dear client, know your market - you know your clientele - you know your competition.

You've spent time understanding what works and what doesn't work. Heck, you may have spent more time picking apart the "do's" and "don'ts" of your competition's website design, than they have!

Designing a website isn't just about visuals - that's our job. Your job in designing your own website, is about priorities.

The end result?

Some of our clients come to us with well-defined needs about their website before the first consultation begins.

We encourage this!

Although we provide expert professional web design services from start to finish, there's no better way to get exactly what you need for your website, than to know what you need in advance.

So, for those of you who want to design your own website before you come to 5 Shades Media, here's our checklist.

DIY Checklist - Design Your Own Website

Answer the following questions about your website's presentation focus. Keep in mind that we say "or" below, however, you can certainly answer "both" for a much more deluxe website design specification.

Image-heavy, or text-heavy?
Mobile-friendly, or land-lines only?
Eye-candy, or functionality?
Constantly updated, or fire-and-forget?
Comprehensive, or finely-focused?

This next list of considerations for designing your own website, is about your intended market demographic. You'll want to know a few things in advance that will lead to capturing your target market's full attention from the moment the first page loads.

All the points below will inflect how we implement your website's visual design. When you think of these things in an effort to design your own website, you'll bring us valuable instructions that help us serve your company best.

Young, adult, or senior audience?
Low, middle, or upper income bracket?
Specialty market? i.e. moms, dog owners, people who are quitting smoking?
What industries and products are related to your own? i.e. what else will your website's clients and visitors be thinking about, at the same time as they're thinking of your products and services?

And lastly, you'll want to think about how to get the most performance out of your web design budget.

Content is king. The internet is designed so that text is more important than visuals when it comes to getting people to find your website. Design your own website with this in mind - a picture isn't worth a thousand words if nobody sees that picture. It's the words that get visitors.

What's that mean? Your website's structure needs to address a variety of topics, also known as keywords. You'll want to figure out how to structure your website so that there's room for a variety of informational articles. This presents your website to the search engines as a topic authority - and that's what makes search engines give you a good search rank.
Design your website to encourage specific actions. You want your clients to buy something; you want your clients to set an appointment, or provide contact information, or request a quote. These actions are what makes your website generate revenue. When you think about how to design your website, be sure you focus on these actions. Encouraging, and enabling these actions are the utmost key in any business website design.

Conclusion on Designing Your Own Website

While this article is no substitute for a detailed consultation, it will definitely help new clients understand what matters most when launching or revamping a business website.

For more information about your website's design, and more pointers on what to consider when you design your own website, contact 5 Shades Media for a consultation.

Client Testimonials

Bare Leaf Tea
Patchwerk Recording Studio
SpeechArts
Innovative Closet Solutions

After trying many designers and waiting days for a response, I contacted 5 Shades Media. I received an immediate response. 5 Shades Media has done a terrific job. We love our website. 5 shades Media was not satisfied until we were. They always kept us informed of progress on the site and has done a great job in working with us to establish an identity. If you're looking for a professional site and equal service, 5 shades is definitely the way to go. We look forward to working with 5 Shades Media on future projects.

I am very satisfied with the level of service and the quality of the product that I received from 5 Shades Media. They personally consulted me on the needs of our website and provided the best solutions at the most feasible price. The service was prompt and done correctly the first time around. Even now that the work has been completed, 5 Shades Media is still as accessible as they were during the update of our site. They have also been helpful in answering all my questions as I learn to operate the new functions. I would (and have already) recommend them to anyone.

It is easy to recommend 5 Shades Media! They make contact immediately when notified and are consistent in that level of responsiveness. They were incredibly patient with my acillations and willing to 'listen' to my needs, vision, and wants, which only became clear after the work had started. Along the way and without being asked, 5 Shades Media took time to provide 'how to' advice that would help me with getting my business going. My website looks great, and I know that I got more than what I paid for! I'm indebted to 5 Shades for their dedicated efforts on my behalf!

I just wanted to say thanks for making me such an awesome web site. I described the look and feel of the website that I wanted and the team at 5 Shades pulled it off! The most impressive part of this company is the customer service. E-mails are returned lightning fast and they are to the point with a lot of great ideas and input towards pulling everything together. The website editor is a great addition and is very easy to use and navigate through. I am very happy with the overall experience and would recommend 5 Shades Media to anyone ready to take their company to the next level.

ecommerce-design

We're Experts In

Business Website Design
Website Redesign
eCommerce Web Design
Corporate Website Design
Internet Marketing (SEO)
Web Hosting & Domain Names
Logo & Corporate Identity Branding
Content Management Systems
Do-It-Yourself Website Builder
Real Estate Web Design
Wordpress Blog Design
Legal & Law Web Design
HTML/CSS Website Design
Medical Website Design
Lead Generation Websites

Name:

Phone:

Email:

Project Details: