Website Planning Tutorial

There are several stages in building a Web site (website). The first one is planning: you must plan what type of site you are going to build, which includes selecting what will it about. This is called the theme of the site.

Therefore, the first step in building your website is choosing a theme for your site. This theme (or concept) must meet some criteria. First and most important, there must be people interested in searching this theme on the Internet. There is no point in developing a site that nobody will visit. People will come to your site by searching its theme in the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.).

Secondly, the theme must not be too broad or too narrow. If it is too broad, you will have to compete with many other sites, and if it is too narrow, there will few people interested in searching for it.

Thirdly, the theme must give your site a chance to land in the first positions of the search engine results pages (SERPs). If a search in the main engines does not return your site within the first twenty or thirty choices, there is little possibility that it will receive enough visitors to make worthy your efforts.

These three criteria are given in order of priority, and, of course, they are interrelated. You may not be overly interested in receiving many visitors if you are launching the project just for the sake of it. You may be interested only in the process and not in the results. In this case, you may omit the last one or even the two last criteria.

Ideally, you will have more than one theme in mind, so that you can evaluate them according to these criteria, and choose the one that meets them more closely. If you have only one theme in mind, there are still variations that can be considered and that must be judged.

Let us say that you will start with three themes in mind. These are themes that specially interest you and that you love to talk or read about. You must be passionate about these themes because passion will make that your work building your site be fun and easy. They may originate in your job or in a hobby, something that you do just for fun. At the same time, they must be something that people may be seeking on the Internet, something that can be of value to others.

Think about those things that you do every day, areas where you have developed knowledge. What sections of a bookstore or a market do you head to automatically? What are the activities that you like most about your current job? Have you discovered the means to make a process easier or to solve a common problem? Be sure to survey not only your current activities or preferences, but also those of five (and even ten) years ago. Sometimes one's interests change with time, but they may still be attractive to other people.

After choosing your three initial themes, you will have to perform a research and, based in its results, do a final evaluation to choose a theme or an approach. We are going to see next how to perform this research.

How to research a theme

First, let us define the term "keyword". This term is applied to just a word or to a short phrase (not more than four or five words). It embodies the theme of your site, and is what visitors will use at the search engines when searching for site like yours. It cannot be a long phrase because people do not use long phrases in a search box. Ideally, a keyword should be made of a verb and an object, or a noun and an adjective; for example, "build website" or "useful website". You can use articles or prepositions at your wish because search engines usually do not consider them.

Here are samples of keywords where the nucleus is the noun "mind".

mind language 
changed mind 
mind trick 
charity mind 
mind mood 
mind puzzles 
blow mind 
pharrell mind 
dirty mind 
mystic ball mind reader 
mind magic 
child minding 
mind the gap 
murder mind 
making mind up 
mind control stories 
mind tools 
open mind 
mind power 
the amazing mind reader 
map mind 
mind teasers 
mind matter 
poppa mind 
one mind 
bright minds 
windmill mind 
mind creps 
the mind 
reading minds 
solitary minds 
mind own business 
never mind 
body mind shop 

Countless of these keywords can be found at the Web sites that deal with keywords. You just have to seed them with a verb or a noun and they will provide you with the most common keywords that people use to search on the Internet.

A keyword site will not only give you the most used keywords, but also an estimation of the frequency with which they are used. This estimation is given as a number that is bigger for the most used keywords. It is usually stated that this is the number of searches made in a given period, say a day, a week, or a month, but it is better not to rely on these statements. Just take the number as a relative measure of the keyword's frequency of use according to a certain source.

The term "relative" means that you cannot compare data from different sources. If you are researching which of two keywords has the greater frequency, you must use data from the same source, i.e., only from Wordtracker or only from Ouverture. With this proviso in mind, you must define a keyword for each of your themes and research their frequencies at the keyword sites.

Chances are you will end having not a keyword, but more than one for each theme. We can say that these keywords have one thing in common, the theme, and that they define "topics" within the theme. These topics will later be sections of your website. For example, for the theme "mind" we may have the topics: solitary minds, reading minds, bright minds, mind teasers, mind tools, etc. It is better not to have more than five of these topics, for starters.

If you have several topics for each theme, you must add their frequencies to get the total frequency of the theme, which you will compare with the total frequency of the other themes you are considering. Finally, you will be able to rank the three themes according to what can be said to be their demand. Demand, however, is not the only thing that counts.

There are two sites that people usually visit in order to get information on keywords: Ouverture and Wordtracker. Both of them have a trial and a paid version. There are differences in the way this sites reports their statistics. Ouverture, for example, does not differentiate the singular from the plural. Wordtracker is considered more exact, and, in its paid version, it supplies not only the frequency, but also tells you in how many Web pages the keyword does appear, which you will need for your next step.

In addition to demand, you must also research how many sites are trying to fulfill that demand. You do this by using the search engines, and entering at them the keywords for each of your topics. On the first page of the search engine results, you will find the number of sites that meet that keyword. We can call this number the offer (or supply) for this keyword.

Now, here is the way to determine which of your three themes is likely to be the most profitable: it will be the one with the highest demand and the lower supply. In other words, the keyword with the highest demand will bring the greater number of visitors to your site, while that one with the lower supply will make easier for you to reach the first places at the search engines' ranking.

If you want to make a little easier your decision taking, you can divide the demand by the supply, multiply the result by 1000, and thus obtain a Coefficient of Profitability. This coefficient is also called Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI). The higher this coefficient, the best is the theme. I will give an example to end this section. Suppose three themes, A, B, and C, with the following values.

          Theme A Theme B Theme C
Demand       2399    1988    4529
Supply       1200   18200  224000
Coefficient  2000     109      20

You can see in the example that Theme A is the winner.

Choosing your site's theme: other factors

The broadness or narrowness of your theme will define if it can be considered a "niche", which ideally it should be. A niche can be defined as a subject that is enough wide as to attract a decent number of visitors and not too broad as to attract many competitors. A niche should be as narrow as possible, yet with lots of potential visitors. Be careful, however, not to choose a concept that cannot be broaden in the future.

The size of your theme will be also influenced by your knowledge of the theme and the amount of time you are prepared to spend. In an ideal case, you have a vast amount of knowledge and much time to dedicate to your project. These ideal conditions are not usually encountered and, if your knowledge is not so vast or your time is not so plentiful, you must consider choosing a narrower theme, that is, a smaller niche.

You may also be concerned about covering topics similar to those that others have already written about or, on the contrary, exploring new terrain. There is nothing wrong with the first option, especially if you do it better than the others do. Of greater importance with respect to your site's success is the rank you may expect at the search engines. If your theme is very broad, you may find it hard to get a place within the top ten (or twenty) sites.

When you are at the search engines looking for how many sites carry a given keyword, you may also pay attention to the characteristics of each site. In some instances, the decision of opting for a theme can be caused by the possibility of outranking the sites found during this research. If you find that the majority of The Top Ten sites for a keyword are not so good, from the point of view of the contents or the search engine optimization (SEO), then this can be your opportunity.

Also of interest when looking at your competition is the site's popularity. This can be checked using one of the toolbars supplied by the search engines. For example, Google's toolbar gives you the Page Rank of the site you are browsing, while Alexa's toolbar informs a number that signals the popularity rank of the site. Of course, these measurements must be considered only approximations.

Developing your site's concept

Once you have decided on your site's theme or concept, you must develop it into a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). A USP is what differentiate you from your competitors; it is a unique feature of your site that makes it stand out from the competition.

To find your USP, try to answer the question: Why should potential visitors come to your site, instead of your competitor's? Write down what your site provides, what is the benefit for the visitor. Summarize all it into a powerful phrase that, when read on the search engines results, will persuade the searcher to click on your site.

The USP you develop for your site will be useful when you make a name for the site, when you make a domain name, and when you write the description meta tag of the site's pages. It must transmit loud and clear what specific, high-value information do you deliver and why it is unique your approach to the subject.

A sample case

Let us suppose that you have a slant for astronomy. Amateur astronomy is your way of spending idle moments, and so it is only natural that you think in building a site about this theme and even making some money with it. However, what type of site will it be: a community site, an on-line store, an auction site? Here are some ideas for different approaches.

 º First, you must concentrate on putting lots of content in it, and eventually when it grows and grows it will the moment of thinking in money. Do not make it clear from the start that you are desperate to make it lucrative.

 º It could be a site introducing astronomical terms, phenomena, and perhaps some stuff for hobby astronomers or people who want to become one, with information on galaxies, stars, etc. Put facts on astronomy, needs of equipment, and even a store to sell equipment, posters, or t-shirts.

 º Start a forum where people can talk about astronomy and post pictures that they have taken.

 º Create an educational site oriented towards the kids. Have a news page that just lists all of the most interesting things that are happening in the sky. Make the site simple, easy to use, and colourful. When you have a popular site, make a commercial site that sells books or telescopes.

 º Make a site where users would be allowed to auction equipment: telescopes, binoculars, etc.

 º Comment on the many aspects related with astronomy, such as weather, amateur shortwave radio, NASA information. Find a way to coordinate this information, via RSS feeds and working with many other astronomy related sites to build a portal that one can visit to find all the current information across these sites. Weather information as to when there will be clear skies across the world could be very helpful.

 º Make a site that reaches the all-new space lovers. Get people on the fringes to become more and more interested with astronomy. Surprise people everyday with little known facts. It is very important to make things understandable. Once you have a lot of people coming to your site, you can decide how you want to make it into a business.

 º Make a site geared towards the amateur astronomer, with forums, classifieds, and such. Incorporate the idea of each user having an "observer logbook" in which they could upload images and make notes about the equipment they own and what they like viewing. Have an articles section that would group things by topic and be oriented towards the beginner/intermediate astronomer.

How to find a theme

Suppose that you are decided to build a web site, but you have not chosen a theme and, moreover, you have not the slightest idea about what theme could be. Sounds unusual? Why publish a website if you have no idea about what its contents should be? There are cases of people that must work at home or may work only at odd hours. They have heard of people making money with the Internet and are wanting to give it a try. Other case can be of people that just happen to have free time and want to employ it this way. What can be done for finding a theme?

There are several strategies that can be used to find a theme; ideas for a website are all around us. First, look at your hobbies and interests. Take notice of what you enjoy reading and talking about. These are the best sources for themes because you will find easier to work on what you may find.

Next, it comes your job. Chase those special abilities that you have developed after years of working in a field. What problems have you detected that you can provide the solution for? What workarounds have you found for common problems that people can find when doing a similar job? Have you developed checklists that you can publish for the benefit of other people? Do you know of methods for obtaining materials cheaper than usually?

If you do not have any special knowledge, maybe someone near you has it. Think about your relatives, your neighbours, your friends. Which of them does something that can be of interest for others? You can talk with him and ask his permission for publishing whatever he can tell you.

Peruse the newspapers and the magazines. Read not only the news and the articles, but also the ads. Be careful to peek into those sections that you normally skip. Watch the TV with an attentive eye for topics that can develop into a theme. Do not forget that the Internet itself can be a source of ideas. Visit forums and subscribe to email lists. Look for problems for which people are searching solutions.

Look around you for items that may interest you: perfumes, jewels, rugs, tableware, etc. Stand in front of a magazine rack and see what magazines catch your attention. Consult the products or services section in your phone directory. Use the keyword research sites to find topics for specific works like "toothbrush" or generic ones like "tips" or "problems".

If you decide that you are going to write about consumer products, seek consumables like batteries or inkjet cartridges, or look for products that are currently in high demand. Use wisely the Internet resources for detecting trends. Well-known sites like Yahoo, Lycos, Google, CNet, Amazon, eBay, have pages dedicated to list what people are seeking most in this moment.

If everything else fails, and you cannot find a theme that interests you, choose a theme that does not overtly disgust you and begin to learn about it. You will find that when after much research and study you end being an authority on the subject, you will become deeply interested in it.

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