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Planning your website (screen 2 of 10)
The Web is a new medium
The Web is not just a screen-based version of a magazine, or a fancy way of representing what you might otherwise have on your word processor.
It requires a freshness of approach, and a knowledge of the medium - of both its possibilities and its limitations.
For this reason a useful place to start in planning your own website is to critically evaluate the websites of organisations similar to your own and organisations different to your own.
You need an imaginative and interesting website
Because yours is a cultural organisation, people will expect you to have an imaginative and interesting website. In the same way you would hire professionals to develop a brochure or catalogue, you should consider doing the same for the development of your website.
Your website should:
- Positively reflect your organisation.
- Look attractive.
- Be part of your visual corporate/organisational identity.
- Download quickly.
- Be easy to navigate.
- Work properly on a wide range of browser/computer combinations.
Test your website
Your website should be thoroughly tested, with focus groups if possible, to ensure your users can find the information they seek on your site. Refine your site if necessary. If users are put off by an inferior site it is difficult to get them to return - there are hundreds of thousands of websites out there and yours is just one of them. You must ensure it provides a useful and pleasurable experience.
If you want further help with website development, the 
December
Communications Web Development site(1)may help.
Get your organisation's people involved in the planning process
Don't leave the planning process to the technicians and Web designers. Your staff know your organisation best. When your site is being planned, just about everyone in the organisation should be involved - to help them feel some 'ownership' of the site and to help create a site that is responsive to user needs. Remember that your staff deal with the same types of people who will interact with your website. They know what the public asks about.
Ask other cultural organisations about their experiences. This type of information is invaluable and will assist you in avoiding pitfalls.
Management must support the website planning process
While an enthusiastic individual or group can establish a website, its development and long-term maintenance requires support from all levels within an organisation. This includes management, who can sometimes be the least Net savvy people in an organisation.
Putting your business online is a major decision for the whole organisation that requires the full commitment of management to be successful.
This commitment will help to ensure that the site remains current, and that it receives the time and money required for its maintenance and upgrading.
Management's commitment to this will ensure that, regardless of changes in staff, there will be a website belonging to the organisation.
In addition to management's commitment, there should also be an Internet component in the business plan for your organisation.
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References
- December Communications Web Development site http://www.december.com/web/develop/
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