[...]... long-range business goals And then, when the really important things come around, your business will suffer because you will not have laid the groundwork to address them and your available funds will have been depleted The bottom line is… you must do the prep work So fire up the word processor or go get a pencil We will walk through the basics together It will then be up to you to complete the full business. .. “These are the requirements for the Web site as I understand them.” You want the client to agree to them before you continue STEP #7 Create the storyboard You are getting dangerously close to starting the layout, but you are not there yet There is one more step “storyboarding.” Do you know how cartoons are developed? After the story and the dialog are written, but before the animation starts, the animators... automatically provide the URLs of the most popular sites for hundreds of keywords/topics related to your client’s business theme STEP #4 Define the features of the site The features of the site can best be described as those things that add functionality and utility These include the client’s requests, the features that you found during your Internet searches, and those items that you know need to be there (based... Define the features of the site 5) Identify keywords 6) Develop the wire frame 7) Create the storyboard 24 8) Build the prototype 9) Complete the final design Now, a closer look at each step… STEP #1 Define the purpose of the site Just like a business, a Web site needs clearly stated goals Without clear goals, the site will be much more difficult to design The design will lack direction and the Web... everything you know about each page in the site Every page in the wire frame will get its own storyboard page These pages will define all of the functions, features, and content of the corresponding Web site pages This means more than just rewriting the information found in the wire frame The storyboard is where you write the text for the page and insert the copy provided by the client Develop keyword-focused,... and as a result, there is no traffic generated The content on these sites is not focused on the needs of customers so that when visitors do stop by, they “click out” instead of clicking on the client’s money-making links those links that lead to sales/service contracts/leads/referrals/contact These sites may be beautiful… but they are failures all the same They are failures because they don’t get results... a Web site design, they typically begin by laying out the major functional blocks of the home page or by doing a color and graphic layout But designing a site is just the same as building a house You have to start with the foundation and work up If the foundation isn't solid, it will need reinforcement work later on If the foundation isn't the right shape, then the final form of the house will not... for the footer, and for all of the features of the site Go through your storyboard sheets and make sure that every page can be comfortably mapped into the proposed layout If something isn’t right, change the layout or revise the storyboard until everything fits together Once you have a rough layout, start the detailed graphic design Pick the colors for the site based on client preferences, site themes,... amateurs These tools boast about how easy they are to use and how beautiful their templates are, but few (if any) address the business side” of site design They don’t consider Search Engine ranking They don’t address the importance of customer-oriented copywriting The simplest ones just let you get “something” online Even the more complex ones don’t do much more than that In short, most of these tools... http:/ /webmaster. sitesell.com/ for more details Okay The next two challenges go hand in hand… attracting new clients and then dealing with them First things first… 34 5 Attracting New Clients Too many new designers make the mistake of putting up a Web site, sitting back, and waiting for the phone to ring If only business was that easy There are thousands of designers promoting their services on the Internet . on. But here’s the catch… Every day, most of these people do nothing but dream. The Webmaster BUSINESS Masters Course was written for Webmasters who are. Home- Based Website Design Business. ” I am sharing some of them in The Webmasters BUSINESS Masters Course but there are many more outlined in the book. (Additional