If you are in the process of creating a new website for your organization or a personal site, these questions are a good place to start.
1. What is your message? In this section you should ask yourself what you want to say on your site.
2. Who are you targeting? Who is your audience? Who would use your site? Why would they come to your site?
3. What is the budget available in your organization for web development? How much for setup and how much for maintenance? What are the ways that you could get funding for your website? Do you know what type of website you can afford (large-scale database type, or online brochure type?)
4. How can you present your point of view effectively? What kind of voice is appropriate for your audience? What kind of content will be available? What are your featured categories? Should your site be consistent with other collateral materials in your organization? Do you have several other sites that you want to emulate?
5. What will your website accomplish? Will your website be a research or a development tool? What would your site’s main use be? How will it improve what you do have? What will be the benefits of online exposure? What will it bring you that you don’t already have?
6. Can you do it in-house? How will you reassign staff duties to provide for ongoing maintenance and updating? If not in-house, do you know whether you would like an individual consultant or a web design firm?