A website is a very public representation of your business or organization. It is, therefore, a very important tool and one of the greatest resources for your prospective audience.

Before you embark on developing your website you need to consider the following points.

Your audience.

How old are they? Where are they located? Which language do they speak? What are their biggest concerns? How will you address those issues.

The goals of your website.

What do you hope to achieve in with your website? Making more sales,  increasing engagement with your clients, providing support to them, getting new customers, creating a movement (following), etc

Your organizational branding.

Have your logo, organizational profile, website content, and images/photos ready. Some types of businesses require use of photos more than others. Ensure they are good quality pictures, which communicate the appropriate brand your company represents.

Marketing techniques

You need to plan in advance how you will be marketing your website, this will help you in budgeting appropriately. A website can be marketed using sponsored advertising either on search engine or social media channels. You can also do content marketing, which involves writing blog articles which provide useful information for your clientele, that can make them make the decision to buy your product or service

The type of website you will develop

There are different types of websites, including brochure websites, listing, online shops, portfolio websites, lead generation websites, community building, app websites, online comparison and many more.

It is usually advisable to start with as lean a website as possible, especially if you will need a dynamic website, which is likely to cost a lot of money. This will enable you to test and see whether the market is ready for your product, and you will also get to know what exactly are they looking for.

Finally, my observation is that a lot of people create websites for their business and grossly under-utilize them. Another misconception people have is that a website should not cost a lot of money and that they just need something, anything online.

Look at your website as your online office. For some businesses, this is the only first impression you will create with your prospective customers, especially if your target market is international.

Don’t be afraid to spend cash to get a quality website done.