This is so basic it SHOULD go without saying. I’m writing it down for you so you will know without a doubt that you should NEVER throw a site together until you have solidified a subject, a theme, and a goal. This isn’t SEO, honestly. It’s common sense. But it’s common sense that many people lack.
Why am I wasting my time mentioning this? Because so many clients need major overhauls to their site and need to start from scratch in order to accomplish their goals. Why waste the time and energy getting frustrated with your first website? Why not do it right the first time? What a novel idea.
Everyone’s in a rush. Everyone needs a website yesterday. Most small business throw something online quickly because they need to legitimize themselves in order to land the next client or reach the next growth phase. That’s nice and all, but any decent director of operations will tell you that the ONLY efficient way to handle your website is to spend less time and money by doing it right the first time.
Go ahead and limit your site to a theme and a goal. Despite the popular advice, keeping your options open is a dumb idea. You want to be known for what you do best. That is your key to success. Define who you are, who your audience is, what you have to offer, and how you are going to deliver. Again, I know this is ridiculously basic, but you’d be amazed by how many sites need to be blown up and rebuilt. That only happens from either poor planning or evolving identity.
Once you’ve honed your subject down to only what you REALLY do, make sure your domain name fits the niche. Keep in mind that an optimal domain name contains the primary keywords you will be targeting. This is not a requirement, only a suggestion. But keep in mind that there is automatic authority given to websites based on their domain names. I automatically ranked #1 for my name when I launched danieldessinger.com even though other sites had ranked well beforehand.
This step is half web strategy and half branding. In all things, know who you are, what you offer, why you are worth it, and how you will deliver it. Once you’ve got that down, it’s on to step two.
