An well-organized and planned site will always be a welcoming sight to visitors. Careful planning right from the start could help save you lots of time and effort in redesigning your site at the later stage. Imagine stepping into a library where even the librarian is not aware of where or how the books are shelved. Will you stay for long or revisit the library again?

Highlighted below are 6 guidelines to planning and structuring your web site:

1. Determine the purpose and objective of your site. What is your main aim in creating this web site?

• To collect customer info / email addresses for future reference
• To collect product feedback from users
• To promote your products & services
• To sell your products & services online
• To create an online catalogue
• To provide 24hrs customer service support

1. Weigh your objectives. Set goals and targets.

Quantify your sales targets. Forecast your hit rates. Setting targets will encourage companies to implement plans towards achieving it.

2. Content Management

Consolidate your contents in tune with your site's structure. (See Content Planning below).

3. Implement FAQ or "Frequently Asked Questions" section on your web site. Answer your prospects or visitors' query while they are still on your site otherwise, they will turn to some other source for answers.
4. Add strategic links, site maps and info-related links to lead or guide your visitors to related info or solution you are selling.
5. Analyze your competitors' site. Study how they promote and sell their services or products online as well as their navigational structure.

Choosing the right domain name for your site is equivalent to choosing the right name for your child. Your domain name must have a certain significance to your site' s nature. Review your purpose and objective when selecting the domain name.

Some pointers to bear in mind when selecting your domain name:-

• Get names that are easy to remember like Yahoo!, Ebay, Amazon, Can, etc.
• Names that spell your company's name, products or services like Singnet, Starhub, or flowersonline, booksforsale, etc.
• Try to make it short and precise.
• Make sure it is easy to say and catchy.

Avoid having an "and" on your URL and having the last alphabet of your first word similar to the first alphabet of your second word, e.g. myyacht.com, theempire.com, etc. Surfers will have problem figuring out which is which.

The cost to owning a domain name is:-

• Domain names ending with .com (US) is $75.00 per two years.
• Domain names ending with .com.sg (Singapore) is S$60.00 per year.
• Domain names ending with .com.my (Malaysia) is RM100.00 per year.

Always remember to include the following must-haves for your web site:

1. Headlines is one of the elements that catches your visitors' attention when they visit your site. You can add a "Welcome" message to greet your surfers, or strengthen your marketing strategy "One-stop Solution for all your Hosting Needs", or an informative slogan "Today's Promotion", "Vacancies waiting for YOU Here", etc.
2. Introduction. Talk about your site's purpose and benefits in not more than 3 paragraphs under the headline. Reinforce the visitors' purpose in coming to your site by stating the information or solution your site can offer.
3. Site Menu. The site menu is the main navigation tool for the entire web site.
4. Site Map. A good-to-have for the "direct-to-the-point" visitors as well as the "lost surfers".
5. Contact Information. Include your snail mail address, department email addresses, phone and fax numbers for your prospects or customers to contact you. This indirectly will show the credibility of your company as well as the reliability of your products or services.
6. Privacy Statement. This is to declare that you respect your visitors' privacy as this will make them feel safer surfing your site or doing a transaction with you online.

Generally contents are categorized into two main elements.

1. Information your visitors need to know

• Individual products and services overview
• Followed by detailed products and services description and its usage/application
• Who your customers are
• Projects portfolios
• Customers' feedback

1. Information you want your visitors to know

• Post useful and helpful info on your site e.g. white paper, how-to articles, e-books, etc.
• After sales service and support
• Advantages of using your products and services

Good content can attract surfers to your site and lots of it can ensure their return. Content is the key to your web site's success. Visitors to your site expect to learn, gather information or to look for a solution to their query and needs.

Design your web site for your visitors not yourself. Always have their interests at heart. Present your web site that's easy on the eye and interesting to read. Stay focus. Refer to your site's purpose and objectives every now and then.

One final thing, check your web site before you make it "live" on the Internet. Look out for typo errors, grammars, broken links and downloading time for all your pages using a dial-up connection.

Finally, when everything is completed, just upload or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) your site to the Web Server (check with your Hosting Provider for instruction) and enjoy your efforts online.

Good Luck!