How to make a Website

Components of a website:

Brand: What will people remember from your site?
Content: What do people want to know?
Function: What do people want to do?

1. Are you ready? Make sure a website is the right thing for your project or organization. Hint: if you don't have a logo don't start designing a website.
2. Have a clear brand. Who is your target market, how do you talk about your cause, what is your purpose.
3. Listen to your audience. Find people in your target audience and ask them what they would want from a site (content, functionality)
4. Decide what the end goal is for a user of your site. For example: donations, learn information, developing a community, etc.
5. Decide what type of site you are building. Community, Network, Content.
6. Find 3 to 5 keywords that relate to your cause. Use these words in your main menu and main content.
7. Create a site map and information plan. Draw a map that has the main pages and subpages organized in a way that would make sense to a user.
8. Social Networks. Promote your facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube or any other social network prominently. Note: you don't need to be on all of them.
9. Collect emails on the front page. Use Google groups or google forms to collect emails for your newsletter or user alerts.
10. Set a timeline for execution. If you are managing multiple people use basecamp or zoho to manage the process.
11. Collect information and test. No body gets it right the first time, think of developing your site as an evolving process. Google Analytics and watching users use your site can give you all the information you need to make valuable tweeks.