Before you build it, review & brainstorm

Site revisions are time consuming and expensive, to avoid them make sure you spend time reviewing other web sites and brainstorm ideas with others prior to the design of your site.

This is something that seems logical but many get so excited about having a web site of their own they jump the gun. When you don't plan out where you are going, you'll eventually reach a point where you get lost...or in my case, run out of places to add new pages. Before my second redesign I did not have navigation topics for several new pages, I only had links to them on the homepage and site map page. Once people went into the interior of the site, the chances of them finding the new content was slim. To avoid this come up with as many navigation topics as you can think of. Even if you don't have content for these site sections initially, it gives you a place to put content when it becomes available.

Navigation topics, for example, are: Audio Files/Oral History, Books about your town, Church Histories, Donation page, Early Families, Early Settlement, Famous People, Early Manufacturers, History of Schools, History of Town Incorporation, Town Parks, Photos of Town, Maps of Town, etc....

You can view my web site http://www.historyofredding.com/ for an example of what I'm getting at. It may seem like a large number of topics but in reality I could use more...once you post information, more comes in (at least that's how its been for me). If you don't have information but can foresee a topic(s) that would be of interest in your community, add it. But just don't place an "under construction" sign on that page, write a note that welcomes people to email or send you any information that they may have on the topic. I add notes like this to all my pages (even if I have content) and you'd be amazed what comes in.

Now before I babble on some more, what I'm saying here is think up all the topics you "could" cover before you start working on the design of the website. Once you have your list of topics down on paper share them with others to see if they come up with a couple more.

Now you are ready to explore what you want your web site to look like. A logo is a good place to start, logos can make or break a web site. You can make your own but with services like http://www.logoworks.com on the web you get a professional logo for a fraction of what it would cost ten years ago. Keep in mind you don't need a logo but it does help the overall look.

From what I've seen on the web, there aren't a large number of local history sites that can be considered "visually appealing" so when you're looking for a design idea do not think you have to review local history sites and local history sites only. A good source of web sites to review in bulk is http://www.coolhomepages.com/ that's the one I frequent when I get designer's block and I'm sure there are others like it on the web now...google it.

You are going to want to look for two different layouts: the homepage and the interior page. With a homepage and an interior page look selected, you are ready to get started. Next you'll have to decide if you are designing it yourself or hiring someone else.

I'll discuss that topic and more next post but here are some ideas that have worked for me:

The homepage is mucho importante! This is your front door and it needs to scream: "Come on inside" You can do this by:

1. Welcoming the visitor with a short note about why the site exists,

2. Add a "spotlight" section that showcases a topic your local newspapers are writing about. People will read the newspaper article and then hit the internet to see if there is more on the topic, this is one way to help those people find you.

3. Add a "recent update" section. This shows visitors your most recent additions and also allows you to direct them to topics you feel are important.

4. Place town data and demographics on the homepage. Many have found my site while searching for the "population of Redding". It is well worth placing on the homepage.

As far as choosing a navigation bar, this is personal preference. I like having both a vertical bar and a horizontal bar. The top "horizontal bar" has: Home Site Map Real Estate Recreation four important pages at my site, I placed them there so people could find them easily on every page. The reason I like having a "vertical navigation bar" too is because it gives me as much space as I want to add topics of interest. In other words, I'd run out of space with just a top "horizontal bar". The vertical navigation bar allows me to show visitors all the pages on the site and the horizontal navigation bar gets then to the important topics (according to my site stats) fast.

The interior page layout is easy once you have a homepage designed. In short you go from three (3) columns to two (2). In my example you'd remove the column holding the "spotlight", "town data" and "events". So you are left with:

1. the logo/top header area

2. the top horizontal navigation area

3. the content area (2) columns: left= vertical navigation bar, right= content

4. bottom area: copyrights, phone, email, etc..

More on design software (i.e. doing it yourself), selecting a designer, selecting a web host next post.