Although a website is a very personal, individual thing, you’ll find that it’s easier to design and maintain a great one if you build strong ties to the online communities that share your interests. Even if you’re building a business site, you want to provide it with a distinctive voice that helps it stand apart from its competitors.
In order to do these things, you need to take the pulse of the people who’ll be looking at your site, and here are some great ways to do that:
- A great website is not going to spring fully-formed from your forehead one morning. It takes plenty of preparation and background research to bring together the proper elements for a strong site. You can get the process started on the right foot by putting plenty of research time into the first part of your schedule. Don’t rush things; give yourself time to learn.
- The first things you’ll want to look at are the websites that are already out there devoted to your topic. This has plenty of benefits and you can pick up a great deal of helpful information. Whether you think of these websites as the competition or as your colleagues, you definitely don’t want to end up replicating one of them, either intentionally or inadvertently. There’s no way to be sure that you’re not re-crossing old ground until you take a look at what’s already been done.
- As you explore the field of websites out there, try to think about your topic holistically, i.e.; consider every aspect of it. If there is some particular niche or specialized angle that is being minimally addressed by the current crop of websites(or not addressed at all), you may have found the core to build your own site around. As long as you know that there are people who will be interested in it, laying claim to a niche is a great way to guarantee yourself an audience.
- You may be fortunate enough to come across online communities that are devoted to exactly the topic you want to build your site around. An Internet forum can be a great place to gather ideas from the people that would be most interested in your site. You’ll have a tremendous opportunity to get to know your audience in advance if you devote some time to contributing to an appropriate forum.
If you’re having difficulty finding the right place for your website in the online community, consider turning away from the computer screen. Check out your subject from a real-world, local perspective instead. Talk your ideas over with friends, relatives, and business associates in order to do a little brainstorming. Because this is a step that many website owners neglect, it can produce some of the most promising ideas.
There are tons of tutorials over the net on how to make a website from scratch OR get a free or paid theme that suits your niche well. You can start by visiting a free creator that will help you create a nice enough site. A simple band site builder can be a great blog someday and people won’t even care if you started free.
You want your website to stand out, and that’s a good goal to have. Unless you devote some careful research to the crowd you want to stand out of, though, you’ll never be sure if you’re standing out in a good way. If you keep this article’s advice in mind, you’ll be able to use your research time more efficiently and get the information you need as quickly as possible.
Visits: 558
Thanks for the great tips – they will be wisely used as I develop my website.