Starting a Website 2 - Theme and Design

image from https://pixabay.com/photo-3374825/

In the first post on this series I talked briefly about the theme and design of your website.  Those were important there, so that you could start thinking about them when you were starting to look at the services you would use to host your website.  This post will go more in depth to the things you want to look at for your website, and the things that are important to consider when you are building it.

Theme

What do you look for in a theme?

This starts with your own comfort level, and the time that you have.  If you are very comfortable with building websites, knowing how to code them, and you know that you will have time to maintain it....then you probably aren't reading this post.

If you are reading this, then you're more than likely just getting started, or trying to figure out what you want to do.  My first response is to always start simple.  You want something that doesn't look cluttered, doesn't require any fancy code or building blocks, and it focuses on what you want to do.

You can always make it more complex, but sometimes complex features can make it harder to keep things cleaned up.

What you want to keep in mind is what people will see when they get to your website.  Most people are looking for information.  You can have the coolest, most amazing, awesomest (yes I'm making up words) page ever, but if people can't find what they're looking for, then you're sunk.

This is why you start simple.  

It can still look good being simple, but most importantly, it will tell people what you want them to know. 

To go along with that, you want to make sure that it is "mobile friendly." I put those in quotes on purpose.  When you're looking at at theme, from any of the services that I mentioned in the first post, then you'll want to make sure that they say that.  They need to have an option that automatically converts what you design to be used on phones/tablets/etc.

Many of us look at a lot of things on our phones or other devices.  Any website you put together has to look good there.  If it doesn't, then you're limiting your audience and showing that you are out of touch with the people you're trying to reach.

Design

What design elements are most important?

This is where you need to know what you're wanting to accomplish with this website.

If you look at this blog, its very simple.  What I wanted was a way to write down a lot of my thoughts, and then make sure that others could find it.  I don't need much in the way of design for that.  What's most important is that folks can find what they're looking for.

Other websites that I have experience with are church websites.  When you're putting together something that is more complicated than a place to organization information, then you need to do some planning.

In order to make that work, you need to know two things.

1. How much time do I have?

Are you going to spend an hour or more every week (or more frequently) working to keep your website up-to-date?  If you are, then that means you can be more complicated and do more with your website.

If you aren't going to have a lot of time, then you will need to pare down what you put up.  Nothing is worse than a website with a bunch of outdated information, or that looks like it's been abandoned or neglected. 

2. Know your audience 

Who is it that you're wanting to use your website?  Is it an average person that is looking around for things on the internet? Is it someone who has a passing familiarity for your topic and interests?  Is it someone who can be characterized as an industry insider?

Knowing your audience helps you to organize your website.  Always remember that the person your website has to make sense to is the person coming to look at it, not you.  You're going to know just what you meant when you put things in certain places, others may not.  Always look at it from your audience's perspective.  Better yet, have another person take a look at it before you publish it.

Another good rule of thumb is to make up a personal profile for the average member of your audience.  Then approach it from their point of view.

An Example

I mentioned earlier that I do a lot with church websites.  For many years the basic rule of thumb has been to always keep your church website up to date.  The inference is that you will spend time every week making sure that it is.

That's not always the best policy.

When you answer the two questions, that will help you know what to do.  Take a look at a basic church website, and as an example, it's one that you don't have much time to keep updated.

In that case, you post very little information, and you certainly don't post anything with dates on it.  It's bad for your website (and your church) if someone comes to it, and they can tell it hasn't been updated since 2016.  Mostly because that means its easy for someone to see that you haven't been keeping things up because you probably have a calendar somewhere that tells folks that.

The other part of that is that you don't want to post things like bulletins, newsletters, flyers, and those sorts of things.  Those all have dates on them, and if you aren't going to keep things up, then those are all things that will give you away.

Also, if you post pictures, make sure (in this scenario) that you check it a few times a year to rotate out pictures.  You don't want someone who is graduating from High School in a "recent" picture that has them at VBS when they were 10.

Then answer the next question.  If you don't have much time to keep it updated, then you aren't putting together a website for the members of your church.  That's a more advanced website because the web based needs of the members of your church are different and need more work.  If you don't have time, then the reason you put together a church website is to direct visitors to your church.

For that, you only need basic information.  Most important is a name, address, phone number, email address, service times, Sunday School times, and a google maps link.  Check out the "Who Are You" section on this post about Google Maps.

Under this scenario, you can even put up pictures, just remember to rotate them out a few times a year.

Websites don't have to be complicated, and they don't have to require a lot of time.  However, you need to know some basic information before you set one up.  If you don't know that information, then it's not worth your time to set up.